“Give Credit Where Credit Is Due”
It happens over and over again where a carver makes a carving from a pattern he/she got from someone else, posts it on social media and basically calls it his own. It’s happened to me loads of times. While I’m always flattered that someone likes my work enough to copy it, the original design is mine and I should be given credit for it.
If you bought a rough out from another carver, mention that carver who designed it. Even if you cut someone else’s pattern out on your bandsaw, mention the person who designed the pattern. Or if you take a class with an instructor; mention that instructor who you took the class from. Just a simple mention of a person’s name. It’s that easy.
I see this topic debated on social media all the time. We all tend to borrow and mix ideas from each other, and many carvers like to take other carver’s patterns and change them up to be their own. That’s terrific, but they should still say that their carving was “based on an original design by so and so.”
When you copy another carver’s work you are not just borrowing his design, you are using many hours of his design work, failures, frustration and experimentation. Give a carver credit where credit is due.
Readers’ Comments
Our first comment today comes from Dean Stewart along with a photo of the spectacular face rings he has been carving lately:
“Here’s a pic of my recent set of wooden face rings. All are Maple except the third one which is basswood. They were sealed with mineral oil then stained with burnt umber oil paint with a finish of clear paste wax.”
Those are magnificent, Dean! Thanks for sharing them! I’ve always wanted to try to make some rings. How do you go about it? How do you size them? Is the finger hole drilled out or do you carve it out? Tell us a little about your process.
Our next comment comes from Cory Rower with an explanation in response to my question last time on how he likes his BeaverCraft and Flexcut knives. Cory writes:
“The two knives in the pictures are my two favorites that I own. The Beavercraft I had won in a giveaway and when I got it I thought I was going to hate it because of the handle but it’s actually really comfortable. I use it mainly for roughing out. The other knife is Flexcuts Detail knife. It is probably my number one favorite carving knife I own. The blade stays sharp a little longer on the Flexcut Detail knife I will say. The other thing I like about Flexcuts Detail knife is that the tip isn’t super thin so you don’t have to worry to much about the tip breaking off unless you are really hard on your tools.”
Thanks for your reply, Cory! The Flexcut knives are very popular and I know of many carvers who use them. The BeaverCraft knives are relatively new to the US market but seem to be gaining in popularity, possible for the low price.
I can see why you would use the BeaverCraft for rough out work and the Flexcut for your major carving work. If you look carefully at the blades on both knives you will notice that the BeaverCraft blade has a very steep angle on its cutting edge. The Flexcut has a shallower angle. A steep angle blade is not designed for carving detail-type work whereas the shallow angle blade slices through the wood more easily allowing the carver to make finer cuts.
Rough Outs For Sale!
Over the years I have collected many various rough outs, most of which I will never get around to carving. So I have decided to sell them at a discounted price to any of my woodcarving friends who are interested. I will be listing them here, one or two at a time, on every upcoming blog post going forward. Anyone who is interested in one (or more) can just send me a message and we will work out the details. Rough outs will be sold on a first come basis. I have the first two rough outs listed below:
This is a Kevin Applegate rough out which originally sells for $23 plus shipping. It’s 5-1/2″ tall. I’m selling it for $12 plus shipping. Rough out comes with the above reference sheet.
This is a Bob Hershey rough out which originally sells for $25 plus shipping and is 8″ tall. I have two of these rough outs available which I’m selling for $15 each plus shipping. Each rough out comes with the above reference sheet.
Let the chips fly! Tell your wood carving friends and spread the word about Wood Chip Chatter, and don’t forget to click the ‘Comment’ button at the bottom of the page to send in your questions and comments so we can keep Wood Chip Chatter active and keep the conversations going!
And remember, we need your photos! I’m sure you all have some terrific carvings to share, and photos of your carvings will help to liven up the blog’s appearance and make it more interesting. Perhaps we can start a carvers photo section! Email your photos to carverbobk@woodchipchatter.com
Keep a sharp edge and keep on carvin’!
Wood Chip Chatter 
This is a great post, Bob! This happens all the time in the fine art world as well. Wish more people would respect others’ work enough to give them the simple courtesy of a tag – it matters! Thank you for sharing!
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Bob, A follow up on the rings. First credit where credit is due. The idea for these came from an instagram post by Hamed Eskandary @eskandary_wood. He is an amazing artist. Check out his work.
The rings started by drilling a 5/8 inch hole into a 1 1/4 by 1 1/4 4 inch block of wood thru the end grain. That serves as the beginning of the finger hole. Cutting end grain takes a sharp bit. Next you can cut a slice off about 1/2 thick to become a ring. For some of them, though, I started carving the top of the ring before cutting it. that way I had a “handle”. I carved the faces off the edge of one corner. After is was mostly done, I rounded the rest of the outside of the ring. To size the ring you can do a couple of things. One is trace the inside of a ring that fits and measure it. It is also possible to find conversion charts on the internet that convert ring sizes into circle diameters. Once I knew the size I used a Dremel and a sanding drum to expand the interior of the ring to size and sand it smooth at the same time. Be careful not to sand away to much and weaken the band. Larger rings may require a larger blank.
I experimenting right now with making a jig for my scroll saw to let me cut blanks in a rough ring shape before carving to save some time.
Try one Bob, they don’t take long and they will fire your imagination.
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Where can I buy basswood eggs that aren’t hard? I have some but they are hard as rock.thankgou
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