Pattern To Cut Comes Out Thin.

[EKbar]

Hello all,

This may be something that has been addressed in the past but have not had any luck finding a thread discussing this so my apology if I am reopening a topic. Hopefully I can word this right not to spark to many questions.

Sometimes when using a carving pattern designed by someone else (i.e Chan, Tandy) I find that when I follow the pattern especially the stems, scrolls seem to look thinner than the original design. Is it something I am missing in the carving by following the lines, do others carve just outside the line to adjust? Or is it something in the reproduction of the original drawing??

Signed

The Curious One

AKA EK

[Bob Blea]

Hello Curious One,

It's not just you! I have had the same problem and I think lots of people do. I recently asked the same question because my vine work often has that problem. Part of the reason is how the beveler is made. Because of the sloped face, when you strike the tool it will actually slide forward, toward the cut a bit. This causes your vine work to shrink a bit and the background areas to grow a bit. The recommendation I got was to either adjust for this when you draw your pattern (if you draw your patterns, which I don't yet) OR when you cut the pattern, carve slightly outside the line to allow for this. Since I got this advice, I actually haven't had the opportunity to put it into practice. I haven't done a floral carving since that time but I'm about to start one. Seems to me that it will take a bit of thought to know when I should cut outside the line and when I don't need to. I might start working on this tonight.

One other thing I've noticed that may help: I am not the worlds greatest beveler, so I sometimes had to go over an area with a beveler to make sure it was smooth. I am pretty sure that each time I went over it, the vine work got shrunk a little more. I have recently been trying to improve my beveler walking ability, and I think that because I am getting a smoother bevel in one pass, the shrinkage is less noticeable. Also, I am casing following Bob Park's techniques in the topic pinned in this thread, and it seems to make my leather behave in (good) ways that I've never achieved before. So I can't rule out that proper casing helps too. I think it makes my beveling easier, and thus less shrinkage.

Hope this helps,

Bob

[EKbar]

Bob,

Thank you for the response you have confirmed my thinking.

EK

Hello Curious One,

It's not just you! I have had the same problem and I think lots of people do. I recently asked the same question because my vine work often has that problem. Part of the reason is how the beveler is made. Because of the sloped face, when you strike the tool it will actually slide forward, toward the cut a bit. This causes your vine work to shrink a bit and the background areas to grow a bit. The recommendation I got was to either adjust for this when you draw your pattern (if you draw your patterns, which I don't yet) OR when you cut the pattern, carve slightly outside the line to allow for this. Since I got this advice, I actually haven't had the opportunity to put it into practice. I haven't done a floral carving since that time but I'm about to start one. Seems to me that it will take a bit of thought to know when I should cut outside the line and when I don't need to. I might start working on this tonight.

One other thing I've noticed that may help: I am not the worlds greatest beveler, so I sometimes had to go over an area with a beveler to make sure it was smooth. I am pretty sure that each time I went over it, the vine work got shrunk a little more. I have recently been trying to improve my beveler walking ability, and I think that because I am getting a smoother bevel in one pass, the shrinkage is less noticeable. Also, I am casing following Bob Park's techniques in the topic pinned in this thread, and it seems to make my leather behave in (good) ways that I've never achieved before. So I can't rule out that proper casing helps too. I think it makes my beveling easier, and thus less shrinkage.

Hope this helps,

Bob

[Chief31794]

What I do on small lines (Stems, leaf stems, etc) is tilt the beveler back toward me so that the impact of the beveler is concentrated away from the cut line. Hard to explain in text but focus on tapping the cut away from the line as opposed to just putting it next to the line and letting it dig in toward the line and press back against the background. Perhaps someone more eloquent than I will chime in. Not saying this is the only way, but it works for me. I also then use the beveler to make the line even like on stems if one area is a little wider than it should be, I straighten the beveler and tap lightly to move the line in a little. Hope this helps,

Ken

[Its all about Leather]

I can't remember where, or who said it, but through all of my searching in these forums I found someone say to cut on the outside of your marks and this will help with your patterns from getting skinny.

Bill

Hello all,

This may be something that has been addressed in the past but have not had any luck finding a thread discussing this so my apology if I am reopening a topic. Hopefully I can word this right not to spark to many questions.

Sometimes when using a carving pattern designed by someone else (i.e Chan, Tandy) I find that when I follow the pattern especially the stems, scrolls seem to look thinner than the original design. Is it something I am missing in the carving by following the lines, do others carve just outside the line to adjust? Or is it something in the reproduction of the original drawing??

Signed

The Curious One

AKA EK

[Sylvia]

I think it was the late Paul Burnette who said to cut outside the line. The trouble comes from tracing with a stylus which human tendency is to trace in the center of the line. Then when we cut and bevel down the line that narrows the pattern even further.

[TwinOaks]

I've found it works well to transfer through the pattern with a fine tipped ball point pen.....in a different color than what you printed. The pen acts as a stylus, but also allows you to see where you've been without needing to lift the pattern to look. If you get a little off the line, it's immediately obvious. The transfered line (through the pattern) is also a bit finer, so if you DO get off the line, you can correct it, then flex the leather to 'erase' the wrong line.

When using your beveler, don't set it on the leather before you strike it. Hold it just above the leather and let the tension in your fingers provide some "spring action". When you hit it with your mallet/maul/hammer, the tool will go straight down (with practice) and leave a beveled impression without sliding towards the line.

+ X^nth for proper casing of the leather!!!!