Capital City Carvers

Tips and Techniques
by Barbara Mann

The British wood carving magazine, Carving, offered a solution for a common complaint — getting veiners sharp enough to create the perfect cut. A veiner is a small No. 10 or 11 gouge. They can be used to put details in carvings and making hair on figures. If veiners are not honed regularly and kept sharp, they will tear wood when cutting across the grain.

Peter Benson, who some of you might have met at a Florida Woodcarvers Roundup, made the following suggestions. The suggestions assume the edge of the veiner is in reasonable shape to start with. Get an offcut of MDF (medium density fiberboard) and cut a long groove in the surface with your veiner. Then, keeping the tool at a constant angle in the grove, drag it back along the groove. The MDF is so abrasive that it will hone the edge for you. Several passes will give you a very good cutting edge. There is no need for any compound with this technique — if the groove gets shiny, you simply cut another groove. Any suitably shaped offcut will work similarly on the inside of the tool.

This method of honing is particularly suitable for small tools, including V–tools that can be difficult using other methods. It is also clean and can be used for every tool in your box without having to carry lots of equipment with you.

While on the subject of honing, a buffing wheel needs a patina of compound to do its work. However, it will not function properly with layers of compound so thick that it is caked on the fibers of the cotton wheel. This has happened to the club buffing wheel. Each person using the wheel does not need to add another layer of compound. There is now enough compound on the wheel to last until spring.

Two Local Woodcarving Competitions

The Pensacola Interstate Fair takes place October 22 to November 1. Entries can be made in 18 categories of wood carving, intarsia, wood burning and woodturning. The items are due on Oct. 20 or 21 and must be picked up on Nov. 1. No entry fees. If several people want to enter carvings, we can work out a delivery and pick up system. Secretary Adelle Grosskopf has the information and entry forms. Robert Christian and Lance Peterson came home with ribbons last year.

The North Florida Fair takes place November 5 to 15. There is one category for wood carving, but different divisions for professionals and amateurs. Entries due Oct. 30 or 31. No entry fees. Pick up Nov. 16. For rules and entry form go to www.northfloridafair.com. Click on Exhibitor Handbook. Scroll down to Dept. 610, Open Fine Arts & Crafts. Click for event details (rules & categories) on left; click for entry form on right. If you do not have a computer, see Secretary Adelle Grosskopf for a copy. Ribbons and cash prizes. Several members are awarded ribbons and prizes each year.

Woodcarving Gloves Rated

Carving magazine also had an article on carving gloves. I learned that there are many other products out there that offer better protection than the glove we use, but at a greater price. I also learned that there are European and U.S. standards that rate gloves that can be used for carving.

The European standards utilize tests which do their best to mimic what might happen in real life. Rubbing a standard abrasive head over a glove and counting how many standard cycles it takes to go right through measures the abrasion resistance. Blade cut resistance is measured using a circular rotating blade with fixed stroke length under standard pressure. The result is the number of strokes to cut through divided by the number needed to cut through a standard material. Tear resistance measures the force to pull the material apart in standard jaws. Puncture resistance measures the force to push a standard, rounded point through the material at a fixed speed.

In the European system, the tested item is given a performance rating of 1 to 4 — 1 being the lowest and 4 the highest — for all those four factors except Blade Cut Resistance where a performance level 5 can also be awarded. A rating of 1 does not mean no resistance at all. It means the glove reaches a certain standard and should not be thought of as failing. However, an X means no test done, which might imply very poor performance. I was not able to track down comparable U.S. standards and ratings on American made gloves, but they exist.

The British equivalent of the glove we use (Ansell GoldKnit medium weight) was rated 1 – abrasion; 3 – cut; 4 – tear; X – puncture. These ratings reflect my experience with the Ansell glove. I can abrade a hole in a finger of a new glove in two hours of working on a piece of cottonwood bark; have never cut through a glove; can't tear the glove; but the knife point can slip into the weave and make a small puncture wound. Without the glove the knife point would have made a severe gash, so the glove does have a lot of value.

By contrast, the highest rated British glove is the Skytec Ninja Knight with perfect ratings in each category — 4–5–4–4. You can view the gloves at www.skytecgloves.com. Click on Ninja Max, but Ninja Knight is so new it's not on the website yet. I did find the American equivalent of this glove. It is also made by Ansell; go to www.AnsellPro.com. Click on cut resistant gloves, then on HyFlex, and look for the 11–501. It has very high U.S. ratings. When I searched for suppliers on the Ansell website, the 7 or 8 I checked indicated the 11–501 was out of stock. I have seen other carvers at Roundups use this glove and am going to continue searching.

FYI — glove sizing. XS is men's 7, women's 6; S is men's 7 1/2 to 8, women's 6 1/2; M is men's 8 1/2 to 9, women's 7; L is men's 9 1/2 to 10, women's 7 1/2; XL is men's 10 1/2 to 11, women's 8. This will help in ordering the right size.

This Month's Pattern

"Lars the Repairman" – Caricature Wood Carving by Gerald Ekern
"Finger Puppets" – Carving Wooden Finger Puppets and Cane Toppers by Ross Oar

See Barbara for cutouts.