LINE CARVING for WOODTURNING Incising and Accenting Your Work RON HAMPTON

LINE CARVING FOR WOODTURNING Incising and accenting your work RON HAMPTON

INE ART IS A SIMPLE YET EFFECTIVE grain of the wood should not com- transferring his design to the wood, L way to dress up your turnings. A pete with the image being carved or because the glue on the back of the decorative graphic design, either a burned into the turning. Light-col- graphic transfer mask he uses comes picture or a pattern, can be added to ored, bland, dense, and tight-grained off the finished wood more easily. your turning by using a small carving species such as hard maple, dog- Silva also finishes his work before tool, a woodburning tool, or a high- wood, boxelder, persimmon, or carving so that he can finish the speed dental drill. It is one of the bloodwood work very well. For plat- carved areas differently, achieving a quickest, least expensive methods ters, I often choose alder. two-toned effect. Painted work, such through which a turner can become a as Bill Johnston’s, requires that the wood carver and add beauty to his or Turn and prepare the wood wood be unfinished in order for the her turnings. With modern transfer A plate or small platter is an excel- paint to properly color and adhere to techniques it is not necessary that lent choice for attempting your first the wood. More on Silva’s and John- you be able to draw (see my first arti- line carving because a flat surface is ston’s techniques later. cle in this series: “Carving Turned easier to deal with than curved areas. Wood,” AW, December 1997). All The plate can have a wide rim that Carving with a veiner you need to do is transfer a pattern to you will carve a design into, or you Starting out, you can go with an in- your turned piece and then start can work on the inside area of the expensive high-quality veiner. A #11 carving, woodburning, or engraving. plate. Turn and sand the plate so that palm-handled 1mm veiner is an ex- To get started, you will need only all tool and sanding marks are re- cellent tool to make a simple line a few basic tools. If you decide that moved. drawing. With a little practice, you you enjoy this art form, you can buy Whether you seal the wood now can lift a consistently thick, neat line more expensive equipment later. But or leave it unfinished until after carv- off the wood. If you do not have a you can accomplish a lot with no ing depends on what you’re trying to carving set, I recommend that you more than one small carving tool, or accomplish. If you intend to ink your buy one good tool instead of a set of an inexpensive woodburning tool. line carving to accent it (as I do), you inexpensive tools. I have been very In this article we will be looking at need to apply a sealer coat of finish. pleased with the Pfeil veiner, which I two accomplished line artists: Nick This can be either lacquer sanding got from Woodcraft. This 1 mm Silva, of Garland, TX, and Bill John- sealer or thinned polyurethane. The veiner is a nice tool with which to ston, of West End, NC, who have finish acts as a barrier to help keep begin your carving experience for learned how to add beautiful line ink or paint from seeping from the two reasons: it cleanly lifts a pencil drawings to their turnings. They carved areas into the uncarved areas line, and it is easily sharpened. both use the Paragraphics system, of the wood. Line carving is fairly simple, but which uses an advanced graphic Nick Silva finishes his work first, there are a few things to consider. transfer system and a high-speed not only before carving but before First, your tool must be very sharp. dental drill. We will also look at simple line carving and woodburning.

Wood for line art For many types of woodturning, we like to choose colorful, highly fig- ured wood. Flaws are often desirable because they add interest to the piece. The beauty and uniqueness of the wood is a major part of the design. With line art on turnings, the wood takes on a different role. Here, the wood is like a canvas to be painted on or, perhaps more closely, like ceramic pottery to be glazed. The A 1mm #11 palm handled veiner is an excellent tool for line carving.

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Copyright 1998, 2016, American Association of Woodturners. All rights reserved. www.woodturner.org Woodburning You might want to do your first carving with a woodburning tool, thereby incising and accenting your work in one step. An inexpensive woodburning tool from your local woodworking supply store will work fine, though the blunt factory edge will give you a fat burn line. If you put a sharp edge on the tip, you will find that you have a much finer Accent your line carving with an ultra-fine felt-tipped permanent marker. Sealing burn line and that the tip moves over the wood before carving keeps the ink from bleeding into the uncarved areas. the wood more smoothly and easily. If you find that you enjoy woodburning, you will probably want to Most good quality carving tools, keep the ink from being drawn into invest in an adjustable-temperature such as the Pfeil, arrive with a razor the wood grain by capillary action, wood burner like the Nibsburner edge already on them. After some which would result in a fuzzy, rather dual unit. It has separate controls for carving, however, they will need to than a sharp, ink line. I use a fine-tip two tips and the temperature control be stropped or rebuffed. I find that a black pen like the Sanford Ultra Fine is much more sensitive than in the 6-inch felt wheel with some buffing Point Sharpie to ink in the carving. inexpensive units. The handpiece has compound is effective in bringing Be careful! Any mistakes here show a comfortable cork handle to insulate back the razor sharpness. Always up forever. (Or at least until you your hand from the heat. I have been buff with the wheel rotating away have done a lot of sanding.) pleased with this woodburning unit. from the edge After inking, let the piece dry for a There are several factors to con- Before you begin carving, it is a day. Then finish the piece with lac- sider when you start woodburning. good idea to make some practice cuts quer or polyurethane to protect it. First, different types of wood burn on waste wood. You should cut with the grain whenever possible. Occa- sionally, you will have to cut across the grain, which is difficult to do smoothly. It is far too easy for your tool to lift out of the wood and skate across the bowl, leaving an ugly scratch. This is where patience pays off. Proceed slowly, controlling the depth of your cuts, making them shallow and even. Strive to barely lift the ink line without removing any ex- cess wood. Remove all the lines with your veiner and then lightly sand. You can use a tack cloth (which can be bought from woodworking sup- pliers or hardware stores) to pick any fine sawdust out of the carved lines.

Accenting with ink After carving with a veiner, you might want to accent the carved area with ink. This is where the impor- tance of sealing the wood before- Woodburning incises and highlights in one step. The Nibsburner dual unit, above, hand comes into play. The sealer will has separate fine-temperature controls for two tips. (Plate turned by Ray McAdams.)

SPRING 1998 AMERICAN WOODTURNER 29

Copyright 1998, 2016, American Association of Woodturners. All rights reserved. www.woodturner.org doing the entire pattern on your buddy board until you know that you can do a good job on your turned project. Always work in a comfortable position with good lighting and ventila- tion. Some fumes cause allergic reactions. Be careful, especially, with the fumes from cedar, walnut, fruit- woods, and exotics. Also, the fumes from cyanoacrylate glue are toxic. Be careful handling your handpiece. It can burn skin as well as wood.

The Paragraphics system Paragraphics (800/624-7415) was de- Nick Silva executes his line carvings veloped by a dentist, Dr. Lew Jensen. using the graphic-transfer mask and It uses a high-quality dental hand- high-speed drill of the Paragraphics piece and an advanced graphic trans- system, which allows him to etch a de- fer system. The handpiece achieves sign and then stain the etched areas. 300,000 rpm. With this high speed, it can cut wood or steel, and even etch glass with no vibration. You use it as differently. Practice on some scrap though it were a fine-tipped paint wood, called a “buddy board,” that brush. As long as you keep the bits is similar to the type you will use for clean and use a light touch, the tool your finished turning. Transfer the moves through the wood virtually full pattern to the buddy board and unaffected by grain direction; there find a comfortable position for your is no drift or travel. The handpiece is hand. This likely will mean that you small and comfortable. Bit changing need a support block underneath is fast and easy. both your hand and the board. The graphic transfer device that Sharpen the burning tip as you comes with the Paragraphics is actu- would a carving tool, and keep it ally an architectural mask, which is sharp. A fine Arkansas stone works similar to a clear acetate sheet with a well, stropping with leather. Clean sticky back. The important advan- the tip periodically as you work by tage to this material is that it will not rubbing it on 600-grit sandpaper. ruin the drum of your photocopier as Don’t stop half-way through the material I used did. Another ad- making a burn line. If you pause, vantage of the Paragraphics mask is you will create a dark, thick spot. its low-strength adhesive, which Practice cutting with and across the comes off the wood easily when you grain of the wood, as well as using a are finished carving. light and a heavy touch. Each creates To make a transfer, you first pho- a different effect, and both are use- tocopy onto the mask the design you ful. Practice your speed. The faster want to carve, then apply the mask you go, the lighter the line you will to the turning. You carve through the burn. Moving slower produces a mask with the drill. darker line. If you have an adjustable woodburning unit, try mak- Coloring carved areas ing strokes at different temperature After carving and removing the settings. Try different tips. Practice Paragraphics mask, Nick Silva ap-

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Copyright 1998, 2016, American Association of Woodturners. All rights reserved. www.woodturner.org Bill Johnston also uses the Paragraph- ics system. He paints using acrylics, as in the cherry plate, “Autumn Leaves,” above, or in the walnut bowl, right. He also colors with lacquer, carves, and then dyes the carved areas, as in “Chi- natown,” top right.

plies a stain to the wood. Having sealed the wood before carving, the stain colors only the carved areas. In this way, Silva obtains two-toned carved turnings. Bill Johnston integrates color with his carving, using various media. In he paints directly in the line carv- quer resists the dye, so the dye colors the cherry plate, “Autumn Leaves” ings, the thicker paint bleeds less and only the carved lines. (photo above left), he used acrylic helps keep the lines sharp. paint. First, he turned and sanded After the paint is dry, Johnston Conclusion the plate, then painted the raw sprays a light coat of lacquer over the Line carving is a simple yet versatile wood—background first, then the piece as a fixative. This last step is way to add attractive designs to your leaves, after sketching them freehand important for creating a finished con- turnings. You can start by rendering with a watercolor pencil. He applied sistency to the whole piece. simple line drawings or patterns the acrylics in watercolor fashion, Usually, when Johnston plans to using a veiner or inexpensive wood- modulating the color and the degree color first and carve through the burning tool. With a little practice, of gloss by mixing the paints with color, he prefers to carve through lac- you can convert any photograph into more or less water. Next, using the quer. Stains, dyes, and watery paint a line carving. If you enjoy the work, high-speed handpiece, he outlined soak into the wood, especially on end you can purchase more sophisticated and detailed the leaves, carving thin- grain, while lacquer is a film finish. equipment. Integrating line-carving ner, shallower lines to delineate their Carving through lacquer therefore in your turnings offers unlimited op- veining. yields cleaner lines. In “Chinatown,” portunities for creativity. Johnston prefers acrylics over thin (photo above right), Johnston fin- dyes and stains because he can con- ished the rim with black lacquer, Ron Hampton turns and decorates wood trol them better. Sometimes he ap- carved the line pattern through the in Texarkana, TX. He will be a featured plies acrylics thick, directly from the lacquer, and colored the carved wood demonstrator at the AAW symposium, tube, to add gloss and texture. When by wiping on an aniline dye. The lac- next June 12–14 in Akron, OH.

Photos this page: Seth Tice-Lewis SPRING 1998 AMERICAN WOODTURNER 31