New To Carving

[Thumper]

while some others have replied....I'm so new that I squeak.

At least you have tools and leather to work with. My daughter has already tooled up all the leather projects we bought and now I'm out of money and leather. The price we pay to be a dad.

I think you stuff looks good, but just that your stamping needs to be a bit deeper to make that images more clear....I guess that's what I'm saying.

[Spider]

Pretty good for being new to carving. Keep it up.

[fletch]

Thank you all. Have been a bit busy with family and home.

I will be tooling pretty soon.

Thank you for the suggestions, seems that I will just pick more and more up as I go.

I need to work on the casing of my leather. I am right now only using water and a moist sponge while I am tooling.

I think I have finally sharpened my swivel enough to cut crisp lines, well the angles are almost mirror polished, proud of that :D

Thank you all again. See you soon

[joquarter]

I already learned that the leather must be wet enough and to keep patience to wait that the top grain is dry enough,

before start to cut.

What kind of blade you all use in your swiffel knife?

Had the same problem at my first piece of carving.

Still damping with a sponge , but if the leather get's to dry , damping it again.

[Ferg]

I already learned that the leather must be wet enough and to keep patience to wait that the top grain is dry enough,

before start to cut.

What kind of blade you all use in your swiffel knife?

Had the same problem at my first piece of carving.

Still damping with a sponge , but if the leather get's to dry , damping it again.

I have always cased my leather before doing anything else. I wet it thoroughly both sides, most of the time I simply place it in a pan of warm water until the bubbles stop.

I then role it loosely with an old T shirt on both sides and leave over night. When I am ready to cut with the swivel knife I uncover it, flatten it out, let it dry until it is just about it's original color.

If you can allow the leather to dry in an air conditioned area I think it is best. Your swivel knife should "glide" through the leather with little effort making the cuts look really smooth.

If the knife drags or feels choppy to you, your knife is dull or not polished enough on the strop, or your leather was not properly conditioned.

A NOTE: Some folks never case their leather if they are just carving and stamping. If this is you, try my way just once and see how you like it

ferg

[Duke]

I use an 1/4 inch ceramic filigree blade as that is what I am most comfortable with. the thing with the ceramics is you have to be super careful with them, not to drop them or tap them on anything hard as they will chip. if they chip, theyre done. kiss that 30.00 bucks goodbye.play with a few different blades, and find what you like the most, and what works well with your style.and remember to cut 2/3rds of the way and then bevel as deep as you cut. you will be happy with the results. oh yea, an you can never have too many strops.I use a few different kinds. one is just a leather strap that has been rubbed vigorously with a stick of jewelers rouge. the other is a business card with rouge rubbed onto the back of it.this method helps keep the bevel on your blade at the optimum(sp) angle. when you use just a leather strapwith rouge, you can over time concave your blade. I also strop my blade just about every 12-15 strokes.overkill? maybe.

[biker55]

just saw this. looks good to me, but unfortunately I can't really critique your work since I'm new to carving. meaning I just got my swivel knife yesterday! trying to gleam some info while trying to get a feel for the instrument. hope my attempts look halfway as good as your's.

[OdinUK]

Just seen this post. The width of the the circles on the 2nd design may be a little ambitious for your first projects. Id try to make circles slightly wider if possible so that errors in transfering the outlines and cutting are less obvious. The same applies to cutting them with the swivel knife.

I would use something round to trace around or use a compass to scribe the circles. As has been already mentioned, try to make few, long sweeping cuts with constant pressure to achieve more uniform depth as you go around. A well stropped knife is essential on properly cased leather.

Keep practicing and feel free to message me if you would like me to clarify anything. Good luck.

[camano ridge]

Good chance the op has improved since this was posted in 2010

[Jimbob]

Ur cuts are not deep enough, when you start beveling you are all over the place...u need to walk/slide your tool alongside the cut and dont let it jump up when u hit it....do you use a solid platform like granite slap or such....also your designs are too detailed for now trying to learn....the leather seems like it was not wet enough and not ceased right...wet it, wait, wait some more and then let it get back to original color....test tool....if you get a burnished looking tool mark you almost ready to start....start by practicing swifel knife cuts....rounds, straights and such.....controling the swivel knife is 60% tooling !!!

Ohh and you did well as a beginner....just need much more practice....guess how I know that....hahahaha....

keep it up and post some more

Jimboob