Lovespoon Angst

Welcome to my new blog. I'm going to be talking about my journey through the world of woodcarving, good and less-than-good. I've been carving most of my almost six decades on this planet although most of it has been in fits and starts. I guess if you put all my carving experience end-to-end you would come up with about 3 years of carving. I started carving consistently and seriously in the latter part of 2008. Since then I have progressed much further than I would have thought.

I'm going to try to publish at least once a week, and I would appreciate it, if you like what you see, if you would "follow" me by clicking on the Followers gadget on the sidebar. If nothing else, it will make me feel better to know that my posts are not disappearing into the Great Bit-Bucket In The Sky without being read.

Now, to business! I'm going to start off this journey by talking about a work-in-progress (WIP). This is my latest attempt at a lovespoon of my own design. If you are not familiar with lovespoons, the best place to learn about them is David Western's site. He is a master of the form and has been of great help to me.

Most carving blogs and websites tell you how to do things after the author has worked out all the details and made his mistakes. He tells you the right way, bypassing the mistake phase. I think that is incomplete information. My blog will expose all the mistakes I make along the way to getting a good end product. Mistakes are learning opportunities, and I want my readers to get as much information as I can give them, so let's start.

This lovespoon is my own design, as I mentioned earlier. I LIKE this design. The problem is that it basically outstripped my current level of skill. It is a complex design, and, thus, there are a lot of things to keep in mind as you carve it. Too many things, as it turns out, for my feeble mind to follow just now. One of the first "uff-da" mistakes I made was in drawing the patterns for the knots in the tails of the fish and the "flying heart". The strands of the knots are supposed to alternate over-and-under, so that you don't have two or more consecutive overs or unders. This was my first effort at drawing knots, and I was too excited and anxious to get started carving that I didn't pay attention. Because I drew the knots wrong, I carved them wrong even after having read David's book, FINE ART OF CARVING LOVESPOONS, and reading his blog which warns of this very thing. So, Caveat Number One: draw your design and check it, line by line, before you start carving it.

Another item about carving knots. Most people cut them out on a scroll saw before carving. I don't. I don't have a scroll saw, nor do I want one. I used a drill, the only power tool I use in my carving, to drill holes in the pierced areas to give me a starting point for my knife. I used a coping saw in some of the piercings, but not many. This leads me to my second mistake regarding knots: making them too small for a knife. The fish tail knot was fine, but the flying heart knot was too small for the knives I had. This was dealing me fits until I got a mini detail knife from my friend Carl, the Carver/TurnerfromNowhere. His tiny blade has made carving that knot immensely easier. Not faster, mind you, just easier and less frustrating. Just like a scroll saw would for those of you who don't mind using power tools. So, Caveat Number Two: make your design appropriate for the tools you have.

A further item about carving knots: as you are carving the strands, pay attention to BOTH sides of the knot. Unless you do this with every cut, it will be difficult or even impossible to keep the size of the strands consistent. I have made several cuts trying to smooth or even up one side of a strand where the other end of the knife blade, the end I wasn't paying attention to, cut too far into the far side of the strand, making it too narrow or cutting a step into the strand. Caveat Number Three: be aware of the entire length of your knife blade. While the base of the blade may be doing exactly what you want it to, the tip could be cutting into something you don't want to cut.

BTW, those shiny sections of wood on the right wing of the flying heart are caused by super glue. While carving another part of the spoon, I broke that wing off. Inherent hazard! I glued it back on with super glue and soaked the area around the break to toughen up the wood. Not twenty minutes after this photo was taken I broke off the same piece AGAIN! Back to the super glue, The Carver's Secret Weapon! Duct tape for carvers!

I'm going to end this for now. Next time I'm going to be talking about the twin birds at the top of the spoon. I haven't totally decided how I'm going to do them. I originally started out thinking I was going to kolross them or chip carve them, but I'm leaning toward doing them in the round. We'll see.

Before I go, I'm going to address a question that I'm sure will come up: If you made so many mistakes in this carving, why are you still working on it instead of tossing it out and starting a new one? I believe that every carving I do has something to teach me. If I don't finish the carving I'll be missing some of that instruction. I've learned a lot doing this carving, making mistakes and figuring out how to correct them as best I can. I've learned these lessons a lot better and a lot faster than I would have just reading how to do it right the first time. So I try to finish every carving I start, for good or ill.

Until next time, let the chips fly!