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 Post subject: Re: Carving the Braces
PostPosted: Fri Jan 09, 2009 11:02 pm 
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Brazilian Rosewood
Brazilian Rosewood
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Joined: Wed Feb 20, 2008 9:12 pm
Posts: 6994
First name: Mike
Last Name: O'Melia
City: Huntsville
State: Alabama
Focus: Build
Status: Semi-pro
I went and bought some good paper and a granite tile today. USed my new veritas jig to hone an edge on the Two Cherries curved chisel. Dang! You can really get those puppies sharp! Helps a lot too.

Mike


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 Post subject: Re: Carving the Braces
PostPosted: Sat Jan 10, 2009 12:15 pm 
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Brazilian Rosewood
Brazilian Rosewood

Joined: Fri Dec 14, 2007 3:21 pm
Posts: 3444
Location: Alexandria MN
I like a 1" chisel for most work as well. There is much less chance of it slipping of the brace with the increased width and as mentioned the mass makes the initial wood removal more controllable for me. I use the ibex planes with flat bottoms for removing mass from the peaks and tapering into a triangular shape.
Terry

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 Post subject: Re: Carving the Braces
PostPosted: Sun Jan 11, 2009 1:56 am 
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Brazilian Rosewood
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Joined: Wed Feb 20, 2008 9:12 pm
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First name: Mike
Last Name: O'Melia
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State: Alabama
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Well, my two cherries curved chisel, flipped over, has proved to be my best approach yet. Plus, depending on the thickness of my brace, my 8mm ibex has also come into play way more than I ever anticipated. I think I am going to buy a 12mm ibex (convex) for thicker braces. Small is good.

Mike


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 Post subject: Re: Carving the Braces
PostPosted: Sun Jan 11, 2009 1:56 pm 
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Brazilian Rosewood
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Joined: Tue May 02, 2006 9:02 am
Posts: 2351
Location: Canada
First name: Bob
Last Name: Garrish
City: Toronto
State: Ontario
Country: Canada
Status: Professional
The few times I've done it, and trying different tools, I ended up coming back to my 1" Sorby paring chisel. Since I had no instruction when I started woodworking, I always flipped the chisel over to use the bevel side down when necessary and didn't think anything of it; it really helps in a lot of cuts, especially cutting curves like on braces! Sometimes it helps not knowing the 'right' way to use a tool :)

If I were hand carving some braces today, I'd use the paring chisel, a scalpel, a small very sharp scraper, and a razor blade. Unless the wood is too hard to push an edge through, these are my go-to tools for any sort of manual wood shaping. A small spoke shave would work really well, too, if it was well put together.

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 Post subject: Re: Carving the Braces
PostPosted: Sun Jan 11, 2009 7:51 pm 
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Brazilian Rosewood
Brazilian Rosewood
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Joined: Sat Jun 21, 2008 10:58 am
Posts: 2774
Location: Tampa, Florida USA
I always use it beveled down for scaloping braces. That is the correct position for making curved cuts. Weather or not the bevel is up or down depends on the type of cut you are making.


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 Post subject: Re: Carving the Braces
PostPosted: Sun Jan 11, 2009 10:56 pm 
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Brazilian Rosewood
Brazilian Rosewood
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Joined: Wed Feb 20, 2008 9:12 pm
Posts: 6994
First name: Mike
Last Name: O'Melia
City: Huntsville
State: Alabama
Focus: Build
Status: Semi-pro
Chris,

There is nothing special about the curved two cherries, bevel down (compared to a flat paring chisel) except for this one point: The ergonomics of holding the curved chisel bevel down kept my attack angle much lower... and thus much more controllable. I could apply more force without fear of slippage. And if I did slip, the bevel down approach minimized any damage to the the top (if any at all).

I still ended up using the 8mm ibex for pre-shapping of the end taper. At least 40% of it.

However, I will be buying one more ibex, 10-12 mm for the wider braces.

BTW, how in the heck does one accurately sharpen these SMALL ibex (rounded) blades???

Mike


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 Post subject: Re: Carving the Braces
PostPosted: Sun Jan 11, 2009 11:31 pm 
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Brazilian Rosewood
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Joined: Sat Jun 21, 2008 10:58 am
Posts: 2774
Location: Tampa, Florida USA
I didn't understand you were talking about a bent chisel. But what ever works to make the cut as far as I'm concerned is alright. The one thing that will make carving easy is getting the tool as sharp as possible. Woodcarves get their chisels extremly sharp and spend half of the time sharpening their chisels.


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