Wood carving is one of the oldest species applied arts, which has not lost its popularity today. Artistic carving- a very labor-intensive and complex, but very exciting activity for which you need special tools- wood cutters.
Exists a large number of types and forms of these instruments intended for different methods cuttings depending on the specifics of the relief areas wooden blank. The cleanliness of the carving depends on their quality no less than on the skill of the carver.
Types of incisors
All wood cutters needed for self made, have the same design and consist of a metal blade with a shank on which a wooden handle is attached.
For cutting simple geometric patterns on flat surface you can get by with a pair simple cutters, but to create complex volumetric and openwork works from wood, you will need to use large number special cutters.
Most widely used the following types these tools:
- jamb knife - a tool like a shoe knife with a short triangular blade, the bevel angle of which can be different, which makes it universal and suitable for a wide range of jobs;
- The chisel is the most common type of wood cutter. It performs the bulk of the work when creating most carved products; it has a smooth blade with a cutting edge at the end, which can be straight, oblique, semicircular or angled in the shape of the letter V;
- cranberry - a tool similar to a chisel, with a blade that has two bends of one hundred and twenty degrees (so that the handle does not catch the plane being processed when working). With a variety of cutting parts - semicircular, bracket, straight and others;
- spoon cutter - a cutter for cutting spoons and other utensils, made in the shape of a ring or half ring with a sharpened side edge;
- hatchet - a knife similar to a slightly beveled ax blade, which is quite universal tool, with the corners of which you can make cuts both towards yourself and away from you, and with the middle of the blade you can cut off the bulges.
For those who are just starting to master the technique of wood carving, at first it will be enough to buy 5-6 cutters - a jamb knife, flat chisel and two semicircular and corner ones with different radii and bending angles. But you need to take high-quality, professional tools, despite their rather high price. Cheap kits for beginners are made of poor steel, they become dull very quickly and working with them will not bring pleasure to the carver.
Experienced craftsmen prefer to make wood cutters for themselves. Making them is not very difficult and can be done by anyone, even at home.
DIY making
In the manufacture of these tools one cannot do without electric power. sharpening machine(electric sharpener) with a set of abrasive wheels of different grain sizes. In most operations, it can be successfully replaced by a grinder with cutting and grinding discs.
Wood cutter blade
To make a tool blade, any used high-quality steel products are suitable - springs, drills, scalpels, rasps and even bearing rings.
For knives the most simple choice is a blade for a hacksaw for metal. Manufacturing consists of cutting it into pieces of the required length, forming the desired shape blades and sharpening.
The best option for chisels is a disc circular saw, the thickness of which is very suitable for this purpose. The carbon steel from which it is made holds an edge for a long time, even when processing hard wood. Cutting strips the right size and their grinding to obtain the required blade shape is carried out using a grinder or an abrasive disc of an electric sharpener.
An old punch is perfect for a semicircular chisel - it already has the desired shape. It is enough just to cut off the excess metal from it and sharpen it.
During intensive grinding, the metal heats up, which causes a tempering, making it softer and unable to maintain an edge for a long time. Therefore, after giving the blade the desired shape and sharpening, hardening is required. To do this you need to heat cutting part using a gas or kerosene burner until raspberry color and place it in a container with machine oil.
Lever
The most suitable handle material suitable tree considered oak. Well, where it does not grow, it can be quite successfully replaced by birch, which, being burned black gas burner and polished, does not require any coating and is very comfortable to work with.
For wood knives, the handle can be made in the following way:
- cut two bars about 12 centimeters long and 12x22 millimeters in cross-section;
- attaching the shank of the blade to the block, circle it with a pencil;
- Use a chisel to select wood to the depth of the blade thickness;
- apply wood glue (PVA or EDF can be used) on the surface of the bars, connect the structure and tighten it with clamps or clamp it in a vice;
- After the glue has dried, plan the handle or grind it on an electric grinder and sand it.
For chisels, the handle can be turned to lathe or plan it from a whole block. Then drill a hole to the size of the shank and, having first put a crimp ring on the handle, which protects the wood from splitting, carefully place it on the blade.
Sharpening wood cutters
The final stage in the manufacture of wood cutters is the formation of the cutting part and sharpening. The main part of the metal with cutting edge can be removed on abrasive wheel electric sharpener or grinder grinder disc.
The sharpening angles of the chamfers of all types of cutters are approximately the same and lie in the range of 18-25°, and the length of the sharp part is about 20-35 mm, depending on the total length of the cutter. During the processing process, it is necessary to constantly cool the blade in a container with water.
Further work is performed manually in the following sequence:
- sharpening on an emery block, which is recommended to be periodically moistened with water;
- sharpening on a thinner block or on sandpaper placed on a hard, even substrate;
- final editing and polishing of the cutting edge on a leather belt rubbed with GOI paste.
During operation cutting tool its blade inevitably loses its sharpness. Regular thorough sharpening of wood cutters - necessary condition for comfortable work of the carver and high quality of the carved product.
Wood turning tools
A turning cutter is a tool designed for manual processing of a workpiece rotating in a machine. Such tools, unlike handmade wood cutters, have a long handle. It is necessary so that the turner can hold the tool comfortably. The presence of such a handle allows you to control the blade without putting much effort into holding the cutter.
The blade of all types of turning tools is also longer than that of hand tools, since the turner needs to clasp it with his left hand when working.
Most types of wood turning on a lathe require only two types of cutters: reuter and meisel.
Reuter is a tool with a cutting part in the shape of a semicircle, which is used for roughing, initial processing of the workpiece. With the help of a rater, the workpiece is ground to give it the approximate shape of the future product.
Meisel is a cutter designed for finishing wood workpieces until finished product. The blade of this tool is a plate with a beveled cutting part, similar to a jamb knife.
For self-made Old files are most suitable for the blades of these cutters, and the process itself is no different from that described above.
In the process of gaining experience, the beginning carver will determine for himself the most convenient types of cutters, their shapes and sizes. He will learn to create great tools and beautiful wood carvings, and this activity may become a lifelong hobby for him.
Today's video is about making a homemade wood cutter or chisel from bearing steel. Will be shown general principles, on the basis of which other tools can be made. Chisels and wood cutters are not a cheap pleasure, so using bearings you can profitably make the tool that you need.
A German bearing was used as a donor, outside diameter 22 mm. The bearing is not running, it is for a long time worked, for 30 years it had neither exhaustion nor backlash. Here we can say for sure that the bearing is very good and of high quality. The first thing we will do is disassemble the separator, remove the balls and we will only need the outer race. From this clip you can get a workpiece 65 millimeters long. This will be enough for the cutting part and a little will be left to insert the wooden handle.
The workpiece is ready, now we will straighten it. But after it has cooled, you can separate it using a regular hammer. The length turned out to be 63 millimeters, quite enough. It is not necessary to straighten it completely. It already has a small groove for the balls; it needs to be enlarged using a drill. Diamond dental discs will be used. These are diamond coated discs.
We have obtained a semicircular inner surface for our future incisor; there is no need to make it the entire length. Now you need to make it semicircular outer surface. This should be done using a sharpener on a small stone. Now there is no need to worry about overheating, because we still have hardening to do. Now give a small finish using a fine abrasive disc. The most important thing is to process it well inner side and you can start hardening.
Hardening of bearing steel
Read more about how to harden metal for... In order to harden the bearing steel that we decided to use for a homemade cutter, we need to heat it to a temperature of 830 - 860 degrees and cool it in oil. The temperature will be determined by the color of the metal burning. It should be bright red. You can find metal heat colors online. For normal hardening, only the front part of about 10 millimeters needs to be heated. If you heat it evenly along the entire length of the workpiece, it will simply burst. You should also take into account that while you are carrying the metal to the oil, it has time to cool a little. Therefore, it is advisable to first slightly overheat, bring it to the oil, and when the metal has received desired color, dip into it. The workpiece is hardened, this is done very easily.
Now, out of curiosity, let's check for hardness. To do this, we will use a file to sharpen the chain. This is a very good hard file. Let's try what we have on the cutting edge. The file does not take this steel. If we take the shank, then the file is a wonderful material.
Tempering of metal workpiece
Despite the fact that the blank for the future wood cutter is hardened, it is not finished yet. The cutter is very strong, but very fragile. If you work with such a cutter, it will definitely break. It is necessary to perform a tempering, which reduces brittleness without reducing hardness. Vacation is carried out at a temperature of 150-160 degrees. There is a slight difficulty in this, which lies in the fact that tarnish colors, for example, when heated, start from 180 to 200 - 220 degrees. This is already the temperature at which we cover the steel and its slight tempering occurs. She's losing hers mechanical properties, its hardness degrees.
How do we understand these 150 degrees? We'll need a piece of polypropylene that starts to sit at about 140 degrees and starts to melt at 160 degrees. We will use a regular iron for the holiday; we will produce it within 2 hours.
Using a clamp, secure the iron in a vertical position and plug it into a power outlet. We will add heat until the polypropylene begins to settle and leave small marks on the sole of the iron. This roughly corresponds to a temperature of 150 degrees.
The process of wood carving is an exciting hobby. The possibilities for creativity are almost endless, there are many techniques and styles of carving. In order to take the first steps towards this art you will need professional tool, and it costs a lot of money. You can make a wood carving tool with your own hands.
For the entry level, a few devices will suffice, which can be used to apply a design to wooden surface. This article will talk about how to make your first wood carving kits. First, you need to decide what woodworking tools for beginners you will need.
Chisels
You can make chisels for wood carving with your own hands if you have a metal blank and a grinder with a sharpening stone. The final sharpening of chisels is done manually, without the use of power tools; after giving the desired shape to the tip, it is necessary to harden it.
The cutting part of the chisel must be hardened after shaping and sharpening the tip. To do this, heat the sharp part of the tool to a crimson color using a gas or kerosene burner and lower it into a container with machine oil or waste.
Advice! Immediately after placing the working part of the chisel in the liquid, move it into the sand, this will save you from the procedure of cleaning the chisel from fuel oil.
The point of a chisel can be straight or shaped; the easiest to make is a straight point; in order to make the right shaped chisel you need to know the proportions.
The handle can be turned on a home lathe, assembled from an engine from an old refrigerator and a corner of different sizes.
Types of chisels for wood carving have different sizes and shapes of the working part; it is expressed in numerical values from 1 to 12.
The curvature of a chisel is determined by the number assigned to it; the smoother it is, the lower the numerical value is used to designate it. Smooth chisels for wood carving are used mainly at the initial stage of processing the workpiece. More V and U shaped curves, numbered 12 and 11 respectively, are used to give the final appearance product.
Advice! When making a handle for a chisel, try to make it more flat shape, this will prevent the tool from unintentionally rolling off the table. When dropped on the working part, it becomes dull and requires frequent sharpening.
Wood carving is done with small chisels, the size of an adult's palm. There are smaller tools available that are used when working with small parts.
Incisors
One of the most commonly used wood carving tools is the cutter. Wood carving cutters should be of various shapes; the set includes a total of six varieties. The types of wood cutters depend on the factors described below.
The difference is the shape of the blade and its angle of inclination; depending on them, the cutter is selected for each specific case. Of the six devices, one is usually considered the main one; most operations are performed using it. Here are some requirements applicable to all types of cutters:
- Convenience - the handle should fit well in the palm of your hand and not have sharp edges so as not to damage your hand during operation;
- Sharpness – the blade should always be well sharpened. To ensure sharpening lasts longer, the blade is made of alloy tool steel.
Sharpening cutters is a responsible and complex process, since sometimes they have a bizarre blade shape.
When buying a cutter on the market or in a specialized store, do not hesitate to pick it up and check whether it will be convenient for you to work with it in the future.
Knives
When working with wood you cannot do without good knife When choosing this tool, you should give preference to the one that will be most convenient in wood processing. It is also important to find out what grade of steel was used in its manufacture.
Choosing a knife from foreign manufacturer it is necessary to compare the specified steel grade with a domestic analogue, and check what properties it has according to the steel grade.
A good knife is characterized by a high carbon content with the addition of alloying elements.
Knives for working with wood are divided into three types: folding, with a replaceable and fixed blade. A blade with a length of 40 to 50 mm and a thickness of 4 mm is considered optimal.
Power tools
Wood carving involves manual processing, but initial stage It is allowed to use power tools for wood carving. These include:
- Electric jigsaw;
- Drill;
- Lathe;
- Electric planer.
Preparatory stages involving optional equipment are needed to give the workpiece the necessary proportions for further processing using hand tools.
A wood carving workshop should be equipped standard set power tools.
Making a knife
There are a huge number of options for making knives yourself; let’s look at the most popular of them.
Blade knife from a hacksaw for metal
A broken or sharpened blade is suitable for such a knife. The process of processing it is quite complicated, this is explained high quality steel, but on the other hand, the better the tool will be.
Using a grinder, cut the blade into three parts at an angle of 45 degrees, this angle will be the working surface of the future knife.
The grinder accelerates to high speeds during operation, which will affect the quality of the metal; all alloying elements near the cut will simply burn out. Therefore, after sawing, you will need to clamp the desired part of the blade in a vice and use a file to remove two or three damaged millimeters.
If the blade is too thick, then it is recommended to remove excess metal with a small file or needle file. Sharpening a wood carving tool requires a thorough approach; this will require a needle file and sandpaper.
When the sharpened cutter is ready, you can think about the handle. The easiest thing would be to simply wrap it with electrical tape or raw rubber, but professionals prefer handles made of wood.
Video: homemade wood carving tools
One of the most pressing topics for any carver is where to get a good wood tool? High-quality, well-sharpened wood cutters can help out even a less experienced craftsman. The cuts are smooth, clean, and working with such a tool is much easier! Having tried different variants source material To make tools for woodworking, from scalpels to razors, I settled on metal cutters.
They are quite fragile and strong at the same time. Carbon steel allows you to keep the edge of the blade sharp for a long time; it does not dull even on hard wood.
So, first we cut the cutter on a metal cutter according to a pre-applied drawing of the future cutter:
In our case, this is a small knife-cutter, which is the main tool of the carver:
The presence of such an abundance of sparks during cutting indicates that the steel is good, carbon, and therefore suitable for wood carving:
The result is something like this:
It is desirable that the part that will be in the handle be larger than the blade. This is for durability.
Sand the knife blade by constantly dipping it in cold water to avoid overheating:
Now you need to make a handle for the knife. To do this, we take slats made of durable wood. In one part we draw the outline of the knife, the other as an overlay:
We cut a notch in the tree in the shape of a knife so that it is flush, coat both parts with PVA glue:
We glue the knife in a vice. It takes about 12 hours to glue:
After gluing, we sand the handle and sharpen the knife to the desired sharpness.
Using this principle, you can make a knife with your own hands.
By the way, excellent wood chisels are made from metal drills:
A semicircular chisels from punches:
A knife-jamb can be made from a rapite saw:
Here are some more wood cutters that I made with my own hands from a metal cutter:
The main tools of any woodcarver are blunt knives:
They are needed different sizes and with different angles tilt
Wood jamb knives use all zones (blade, toe and heel). The main requirements for knives: 1) they must be well adjusted to the master’s hand, 2) they must be made of good carbon steel with good sharpening. You can make a jamb knife for wood carving with your own hands ()
In addition to jambs, figured wood carvings are also used auxiliary knives:
They come in different sizes and shapes, some of them are needed for rough cutting, others for cutting fine details.
For geometric wood carvings, various chisels. They are semicircular with varying degrees of convexity
And also with straight section
And triangular cross-section
Semicircular chisels are sometimes made with a cutting edge beveled at an angle of 45 degrees
Carvers often use cranberries. These are the same semicircular chisels with a blade curved near the cutting end
One of the best materials For decorative design The interior was and remains wood. Being completely natural, wood does not emit substances harmful to health either during processing or during use. Wood is practical, wood is beautiful. Taking advantage simple tool, you can create a unique carved decoration: a panel, a box, a figurine.
Wood carving – best decoration own home and a great gift. Carving is not difficult, anyone can become a woodworker, you just need a little talent, a lot of perseverance and, of course, good tools for wood carving.
What a beginner carver can't do without
Anyone who is lucky enough to be in the workshop of a real master of wood carving will be horrified - he uses so many different tools. My eyes just widen. The master will easily determine how to perform this or that stroke, what is best suited for this or that detail. Choice the right tool for carving largely determines the quality of the product.
A novice carver does not necessarily need to purchase a full set of tools; to make entry-level products, you can get by with a few of the most universal knives and chisels. This will give you the opportunity to gain work experience, develop your own style, and then acquire exactly the instrument that will really be in demand.
Blunt knives
The most common knives for wood carving are jamb knives. They are used by both seasoned professionals and beginning carvers. Knives of this type have a beveled blade, making them convenient for creating small recesses. Their use is justified both for flat-relief sampling and for creating volumetric compositions.
A separate type of joint is a flag knife. It looks like a triangle, one corner stuck into the handle. This knife universal, all zones of the blade are used in the work.
Blunt knives differ in the angle of the cutting edge and the width of the blade. Based on the type of sharpening, a distinction is made between single-bevel and double-bevel. A beginning carver's toolkit should have several of these knives: at least three of different widths.
Geometric thread cutters
When making relief panels, you cannot do without another common carver's knife - a cutter knife. Thanks to its longer blade, this knife is ideal for creating shaped ornaments. geometric shapes. They are convenient for processing curved shapes and roundings. So, triangles and other shapes are cut out with a hatchet knife.
In addition to creating flat reliefs, cutters are widely used for three-dimensional products. IN in capable hands a small cutter can be compared to an artist's brush.
Bogorodsky knife, “Tatyanka”
The phrase “Bogorodskaya toy” is familiar to many. This wooden figurine self made. Almost the entire carving process, from preparing the workpiece to smoothing out small irregularities, is performed with a special knife, also called a Bogorodsk knife. Such a knife should definitely be in a carver's workshop.
A modification of this knife, popularly called “Tatyanka,” is widespread. When cutting soft wood, the full cycle of work can be completed with one tool. It is excellent for power carving; thanks to its comfortable handle, it ideally transfers force to the blade.
Chisels for wood carving
It is convenient to make samples of various configurations using chisels. Carvers use various instrument, but the most common are:
- straight chisels;
- semicircular or radius;
- cranberries, semicircular chisels with a bend at the cutting edge;
- stapled, having a U-shaped profile;
- corner
Unlike knives, the use of wood carving chisels allows you to make a groove of the required depth and profile in one pass. When working with soft wood, the chisel is pressed in by hand; carving on hard wood requires a striking technique. Here the master will come to the rescue wooden hammer, mallet.
In addition to differences in profile, chisels also differ in size. There is a tool with a working edge from two millimeters to several centimeters.
In addition, there is another type of tools for engraving and wood carving - a graver. They can produce beautiful artistic works.
Other necessary tools
A carver cannot get by with knives and chisels alone. It is necessary to acquire another tool designed for processing wood. The list can be very extensive, it all depends on the qualifications of the master and the list of products that he plans to produce. In any case, you will need:
- hacksaw or electric saw for cutting the workpiece;
- hatchet for roughing;
- plane and rasp for preparing the surface of the board;
- a set of patterns for transferring an image onto a workpiece;
- drill, manual or electric;
- nichrome wire for burning thin elements;
- sandpaper of different grain sizes for final finishing of the product.
It would also be a good idea to worry about safety when carving with a sharp tool. To fasten small products, a carpenter's vice or several clamps are needed. A protective glove made of steel wire will help protect your hands from injury; this is especially important for beginning carvers. If the job involves multiple movements sharp knife“for yourself”, it’s worth purchasing an apron made of thick leather.
Tool sharpening
For wood carving to be enjoyable and the created masterpieces to be pleasing to the eye, the tool must be sharp. If during work you feel an increase in the resistance of the material, you need to take a break and sharpen the tool. This will allow you to avoid using unnecessary effort when carving and guarantee the excellent quality of every stroke, every groove.
Sharpening should begin with leveling work surface tool. To do this, use a coarse abrasive. It quickly and efficiently removes burrs and creates an ideal cutting edge.
Note! When working, it is important not to spoil the sharpening angle of the wood chisel and the geometry of the knife blade.
When working with emery, you need to be careful, you must not allow the metal to overheat; sudden temperature changes can “release” the cutting edge.
After large irregularities have been removed, they move on to fine-grained abrasives. During grinding, roughness that arose during rough sharpening of the carving tool is removed. The last to be used are grinding mixtures applied to felt base. They create a perfectly flat surface, reducing friction between the tool and the material to a minimum.
Selection and purchase
A novice carver naturally has a question: where to get a carving tool. Nowadays this is not a problem. The industry offers chisels and knives of all types and modifications. You can purchase several knives and one or two chisels, or you can buy a set of tools, guided by your own taste and financial capabilities.
Oddly enough, the wide range of carving tools makes the choice much more difficult. It's difficult to navigate and buy for real good thing. It is not difficult to become the owner of a “disposable” tool that will last for several hours of work.
Before purchasing a tool, you should definitely ask:
- grade of steel from which the tool is made;
- manufacturer;
- country of manufacture.
An instrument is an individual thing. When choosing a knife or chisel, the right thing to do is to hold it in your hands, check how convenient it is to use, and only then buy it. It would also be useful to communicate on thematic forums, where experts share their own experiences; they will be happy to give practical advice.
DIY knife
Many professionals do not accept purchased tools and prefer to work with ones they made with their own hands. This makes sense, because every knife, every chisel is perfectly adjusted to the master’s hand. This tool is convenient to use, your hand does not get tired, and it is easy to control the pressure.
This is a reasonable approach. Having experience working with metal and good steel, you can start making a universal Bogorodsk knife for wood carving or a hatchet knife. To do this, you can use a broken blade from a mechanical hacksaw with a thickness of 2 mm. A powerful electric sharpener is sufficient for the tool.
The outline of the blade is transferred to the workpiece and carefully processed along the contour. During operation, the workpiece must be periodically cooled by dipping it in a container of water.
For a person familiar with woodworking, making a handle will not be difficult. An ideal handle can be made from a cast made from plasticine held in your hand. Wood block the appropriate size is marked and clamped in a vice. Using a hacksaw (it is better to use a hacksaw for metal) remove excess. For final finishing, use a rasp and sandpaper.