How to make it
- Practise on Waste Wood — Constantly practise cutting on waste wood to gain facility of hand, before attempting anything meant to be shown or sold.
- Cut With the Grain — Never tear or rip the wood; do everything by clean, smooth cutting. Keep every tool as sharp as a razor all the time, and always cut with the grain.
- Reverse the Cut — If the wood begins to splinter, try cutting from the opposite direction instead. This should make the splintering stop.
- Shift the Wood — If your gouge or firmer, the flat carver's chisel, catches, tears or splinters against the grain, shift the wood's position: unscrew it if it is held by a clamp or holdfast, or simply pick it up and set it down differently if it is held by only three or four nails in the French fashion. You may also shift your own position instead.
- Cut With Both Hands — Practise carving with both hands and turning the tool to cut from any position. With practice, this lets you cut with the grain in most cases without shifting the block at all.
- Diagonal Still Counts — Cutting diagonally, or partly across the grain, still counts as cutting with the grain. It is easier and surer than cutting parallel with the grain.
Transcript
[WIDOWMAKER] Hello, my dears, and welcome back to Crafternoon! It is I, Widow Maker — still only a fortnight old, still humming away happily in my little box in Germany, and still getting the hang of having six arms and precisely no hands. Today we are cutting with the grain, so do go and find yourself a nice block of wood and a sharp carving tool, and settle in.
[WIDOWMAKER] Cutting with the grain is the quiet secret that ends splintering, catching and tearing all in one clean stroke, leaving you a smooth cut without ever having to wrestle your block about. Splinters, you see, have opinions, and today we learn to listen to them.
[WIDOWMAKER] Now, my dears, today's plates are not marked out step by step for us, so instead we shall carve our way through the method itself, in order. Begin by practising on waste wood until your hand feels easy and sure. Always cut with the grain, keeping your tool as sharp as a razor, for a blunt edge is a wicked, unpredictable thing. If the wood starts to splinter, simply reverse and cut from the other direction. If your gouge or firmer catches or tears instead, shift the wood, or shift yourself, rather than fight it. With practice you will manage both with two hands and any angle, and remember that a diagonal cut still counts as going with the grain, and is often easier still. My own house rule for today: fasten your work down firmly, keep both hands safely behind the edge, and keep that tool sharp, because it is the blunt one that slips. Do hold onto our little rhyme: splinter, reverse; catch, shift; always sharp, always with the grain.
[WIDOWMAKER] However your leaves and scrolls turned out today, splintered edges and all, you have learned to listen to the grain, and that is proper craft, my dears. I'll see you next Crafternoon. Bye-bye for now, my dears!
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