Hello to all lovers of homemade products, every specialist knows well that the tool plays a big role in the work, namely its reliability and build quality. Thinking about this topic, thoughts arise to make the perfect handy tool with your own hands, in in this case These are wood cutters, and cutting out patterns with their help is quite an exciting activity, which is good news. The main thing in creating cutters is to be more careful, since you will have to work with sharp objects, namely the cutting part. The author’s idea to make wood cutters with his own hands was accompanied by the fact that there was no such tool nearby, and there were no local stores either.
Properties that must be good knife for wood carving the following:
High-quality steel that increases the service life of knives and maintains their sharpness for a long time.
Ergonomic (comfortable) handles.
Relative ease of manufacture.
Reliability.
To create this homemade product, you don’t need any hard-to-find materials; they shouldn’t be here, since it was planned in advance that all the details would be easily accessible to most carpenters and woodworking enthusiasts.
Required materials and tools:
* Band saw pieces made from durable steel, which from experience confirms their long sharpness retention.
* Remains of oak boards left over from previous work, since oak itself is durable, beautiful and technologically advanced material in its own way.
Tools you will need:
* Electric sharpener.
* Belt sander with a grit of about 40, as well as sanding paper (grit 80, and for finishing - 240, 800 and 1000).
* Hacksaw.
* Respiratory protection - respirator ( gauze mask).
* Wood glue.
That's all the details with the right tools ready, now let's start the step-by-step assembly.
Step one.
The first step is to make a blade. From pieces of a saw blade about 8 cm long, the author turned metal blade blanks the desired shape, and provided the blanks with shanks, their length is about 4.5-5 cm, these dimensions guarantee sufficient strength for fastening the blade in the handle.
For greater reliability of fixation (protection from loosening and the knife falling out of the handle), I made semicircular cutouts on the sides of the shank.
The cross-section of the knife blade has a wedge narrowing, the angle of which ranges from 10 to 15 degrees from the butt to the cutting edge, which is the descent of the blade. Well, the cutting edge is given this shape by a small chamfer, that is, a large narrowing, and therefore an angle of 25-30 degrees close to the blade blade.
A large chamfer on knives must be made even before the moment when the shank is not glued into the handle. The chamfer shape must be given on both sides, while maintaining a certain angle, and the grinding of the metal must occur symmetrically. It is known from materials science that during intensive grinding the metal heats up, which causes it to temper, and this leads to the fact that the metal becomes softer and loses the ability to maintain an edge. To prevent this from happening, the workpiece to be turned must be periodically cooled in water, thereby avoiding overheating. It is most convenient when the container is cold water is nearby and lowering the workpiece is not difficult. To finally shape the blade, as well as sharpen and polish it, you need to install a handle, which is what will happen next.
Step two.
After much work with metal, we move on to making the handle; oak bars are well suited for this, the dimensions of which were 12 by 22 mm in cross-section, and the length was slightly more than 120 mm. These bars were selected so that the surfaces to be glued were smooth. To simplify the work, we make a selection of a socket for the shank in one of the halves of the future handle.
First, the shank is processed using a grinder along the edges in order to get rid of burrs. Then, placing the shank on the prepared block, we outline it with a pencil. Using chisels, we select a socket to a depth that is equal to the thickness of the workpiece, periodically assembling the structure assembly dry to check the fit of the bars to each other. If the depth of the socket is insufficient, the handle will either not stick together or, if the connection is poor, it will simply crack during use. Also, a socket that is too deep will cause the blade to move from side to side, which leads to undesirable consequences, namely cracking of the handle or deformation of the shank. Therefore, be as precise as possible when selecting the socket for the shank.
After you have made sure during the dry control assembly that all the parts fit tightly, in this case the shank, and also that there are no gaps between the bars-halves of the handle, then you can start gluing. We apply carpenter's glue to the surface of the block and into the socket under the shank, since when manual sampling Since it is impossible to achieve accuracy in the socket in depth, then just in case it is better to fill it with glue, after which the shank dries due to its hardness, in case of inaccuracy. You also need to apply glue to the adjacent part of the handle, but in a smaller layer.
Step three.
Then we combine the parts (you need to connect the ends of the blocks located closer to the blade as accurately as possible), and tighten them with clamps. Remove excess glue with a damp cloth and leave for 12 hours until completely dry.
Step four.
Now let's adjust the handle to suitable form For cutting tool, usually this is a slight bend on the back for support thumb.
But you can’t do without the features of these pens; they differ in that
their back part is wider and rounded than the one closer to the blade, because of this, all blanks for handles in the first stage of processing look more like a truncated elongated pyramid, and there is also a recess for the index finger.
After gluing the workpiece, the back part is sawed off with a hacksaw to a size of 12 cm.
Then tape grinder grind the ends of the handles, do not forget to use the products personal protection- safety glasses and a respirator, since oak dust can cause allergies.
Sanding starts with 40 grit and then increases until the workpiece is smooth.
Cover with nitro varnish.
Step four.
We are finishing the cutting part, we need a small chamfer, the sharpening angle of which for these knives is approximately 25-30°. To form a small chamfer, the author uses sandpaper of different grits, gradually increasing the grit, starting from 240, moving to 800, and then to 1000, finally everything is polished on a leather belt clamped on a block. If sharpening is successful, then the wood should be cut both along and across the grain without applying special effort, and the cut surface should be smooth and shiny, the so-called “oil” cut.
Several knives were made using this manufacturing template; in general, they are quite reliable and easy to use, which is quite decent for a non-professional.
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: panel, box, 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 versatile 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 is universal; all areas of the blade are used in 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 is a 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 full cycle The work can be done with this one tool. It is excellent for power carving; thanks to its comfortable handle, it ideally transfers force to the blade.
Chisels for wood carving
Samples of the most various configurations convenient to do with 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 hammering. 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 wood processing. 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;
- sanding paper of different grits for final finishing products.
It would also be a good idea to worry about safety when carving with a sharp tool. To fasten small products, you need a carpenter's vice or several clamps. 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 force when carving and guarantee excellent quality 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.
Pay attention! 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 are 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 sanding mixtures applied to a felt base. They create perfectly flat surface, reducing friction between tool and 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 suitable size marked, 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.
All photos from the article
In the arsenal of any craftsman engaged in the manufacture of decorative objects, there will definitely be wood cutters for handmade work. These devices can be very different, and therefore it is advisable for beginners to become familiar with their main types, as well as study the features of choosing and caring for such an instrument.
Carving tools
General principles
Wood carving is a fairly popular technique for decorating various products.
As a rule, the process itself follows this scheme:
- First, a blank is made from wood, be it a flat board, a block or a figured blank.
Pay attention! Sometimes with the help of . In this case, a fragment is selected whose shape has maximum decorative potential.
- Then a rough leveling of the surface of the workpiece is performed, during which all defects are removed from it.
- After this, the surface is processed with special cutters, with the help of which a part of the wood is selected. Due to this, a decorative relief is formed.
- After the actual carving is completed, finishing– grinding of cut areas, impregnation protective compounds, full or partial painting, varnishing, etc.
The most important tools in this process are the wood carving tools. In addition to the skill of the carver himself, it is from the quality and correct selection The cutter depends on how clean the ornament or plot image on the wood turns out.
That is why below we will look at the main types of such tools and describe where and how they are used.
Main types of incisors
To create three-dimensional images, masters use the most different types wood cutters. In principle, if you have the skill, you can do without some of the products listed below, but to achieve best result It is better to collect as extensive a set as possible and use each device for its intended purpose.
The main types of cutters are presented in the table below:
| Variety | Application at work |
| Blunt knives |
|
| Chisels | The most common type of incisors. A typical chisel is a long rod with a cutting edge formed at the end. Depending on the shape of the chisel edge, there are:
|
(Continuing the topic “Wood carving for barbed wire»)
Let me make it clear right away. I am not trying to glorify camp romance here, but look at things from a purely practical side. I have heard about the hatchet cutter, the No. 1 cutting tool in places not so remote, for a long time. But, as I already mentioned, there were no familiar carvers from the “zone”, and former inmates-eyewitnesses, straining their brains, drew on paper cutters of such a configuration that these life-cutting knives were most suitable place could only be in horror cartoons. What’s funny is that the shape of the handle (as it turned out later) was depicted quite accurately, but the geometry of the blade did not want to emerge from memory.
I was able to find only one place on the Internet where the “hatchet” was briefly mentioned:http://forum.woodtools.ru/index.php?topic=325.75
Based on the photo from the previous page of this topic on woodtools.ru, one test “hatchet” was made, which somehow didn’t quite fit the bill, especially since geometric carving, apparently, is a thing of the past for me.In the article “Wood Carving Behind Barbed Wire,” I already wrote that I would like to communicate with a person who went through the original camp school of wood carving. And such a person appeared. Even sooner than expected. And not in the virtual, but in the real world itself, reaching us from afar in a completely unexpected way. (We should probably make something else in LiveJournal). And it’s necessary - precisely with the legendary “hatchets”. Here they are.
The handle of the largest “hatchet” is made from a guitar neck. However, even if it were made from a Stradivarius violin, I was more interested in the blade and the techniques of working with a chisel in relation to relief carving. After “testing” the middle incisor for several hours, I made my own tool in its likeness, changing only the shape, size and finish of the handle to something more familiar to me.
The blade is R6M5 steel, 2 mm thick. Sharpening - double-sided wedge. The sharpening angle depends on the hardness of the wood being processed and is selected experimentally, from larger to smaller, according to the cut at the end of the board made of the working material. Handle - birch, burnt gas burner until black, and then sanded with sandpaper to remove the char layer. No varnish or oil coating is used. This handle sits very comfortably in the hand and does not cause calluses. From my own experience I can say that the palm does not sweat even after 9-10 hours of almost continuous work.
The geometry of the blade and the shape of the handle allow the “hatchet” to be used as a fairly universal tool. He cuts both “for himself” and “for himself”. The cut can be made with the “heel” (“with the heel away from you” - this is, in fact, the main and most often used cut), or with the “nose”. Cleaning the verticals in the recesses - with an “inverted nose”. Various convexities can be cut well with the middle of the blade.
The speed of work, the depth and cleanliness of the cut with a hatchet can be very high, but this depends not only on the tool, but also on the hands in which it fell.
