{"id":63,"date":"2026-04-20T21:09:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-20T21:09:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mikedesantis.com\/press\/?p=63"},"modified":"2026-05-08T21:40:36","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T21:40:36","slug":"carving","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mikedesantis.com\/press\/2026\/04\/20\/carving\/","title":{"rendered":"Carve the block"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Time to carve the block. I use a set of Power Grip chisels plus a Pfeil D12\/2 parting tool (i.e., a 2mm V-gouge).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I also have a piece of suede tacked to a small board to use as a strop. It is charged with brown honing compound, and I’ll use it to hone the edges of the chisels as I work. I usually hone as I switch between tools, or as I start a new section of the block.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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If the design has texture, I will carve that first. Otherwise, there would be tear-out if the edges were already cut. In my recent blocks, I have been using the 3mm U-gouge to add a textured pattern to certain areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My primary tool to cut edges is the skew chisel. I basically make the first cut at an angle away from an area that is to be preserved, then make a second cut (which effectively makes it a “V”) to remove the waste. I use the Pfeil 2mm V-gouge to clean up and deepen the edge work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The image below shows the block with the texture and edges cut.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I use a 3mm U-gouge to clean waste out of detailed areas, and the larger, shallower gouges to clean up the rest of the block.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the image below, I’ve rough carved the waste areas with a 6mm U-gouge (it casts cool shadows at this stage). There will be one more pass to really reduce and flatten the waste areas with a shallower gouge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I rub the block with a graphite stick (the block cleans up easily with a kneadable eraser) and\/or take a rubbing of the block on paper to see if there are any parts that need clean up or further adjustment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In which I make a mess with wood chips<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":69,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-63","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mikedesantis.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mikedesantis.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mikedesantis.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mikedesantis.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mikedesantis.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/mikedesantis.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":77,"href":"https:\/\/mikedesantis.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63\/revisions\/77"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mikedesantis.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/69"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mikedesantis.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mikedesantis.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mikedesantis.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}