Starting Woodcarving with some Celtic Designs

[@kingofcastlechaos]

Build yourself a few bench hooks, never let your work move with the tools. (Have told this to dozens of apprentices over my 40 yrs in woodwork.)

[@suecollins3246]

_And_ - it's _beautiful_ !

[@suecollins3246]

The plane, I mean!

[@davidaustin4910]

Thomas 61 year old that just started wood carving. Working on a Celtic weave for my granddaughter. Saw this then was drawn to it. Appreciate your comments

[@alans1816]

It's easier to control the chisel if you hit it with a mallet than if you push by hand. A tap cuts forward a bit, with much less tendency to overshoot.

[@mirkondt9711]

Sir, 1. Bass wood is great to begin carving pine is to vainy 2. Pfeil (Swiss made) chisels/gauges are outstanding, 3. I am jealous about your plane, 4. Thanks for for the great vids!

[@JohnMcGrathManInShed]

Thanks for the tips!

[@niedarb]

Awesome first carving. Just a few observations: celtic knot design can be carved almost always with carpentry chisels only, so to start most people don't even need to buy extra tools; the toolset you got is more oriented to chip carving, small figures or details; and for last, as stated in the comments, using a mallet helps a lot with control. Maybe a bit late for this video, but hey, info is info

[@jerrystark3587]

You are going to love that router plane, as I do mine. Great choice! I carve the lids on some of the gift boxes I make. It makes a nice gift. I think I am going to carve this Celtic interwoven heart on a nice cherry box. Thanks for the inspiration!

[@JohnMcGrathManInShed]

you are welcome

[@JoeK0322]

Outlining with the #12 V chisel first makes things easier too. Great videos!! 🍻

[@JohnMcGrathManInShed]

Thanks 👍

[@TheSMEAC]

Thanks John, keep it up.

[@JohnMcGrathManInShed]

Thanks, will do!

[@tpobrienjr]

Thanks for showing how to develop the knot design. In a few days I will demo woodcarving to Scouts, and this will be a good one to show how a panel can be carved. Excellent! Kevlar glove recommended, though.

[@JohnMcGrathManInShed]

Glad it was helpful!

[@rebeccas.670]

Love Celtic designs

[@PaulSmith-rd8yc]

Recently started carving myself John. A leather strap is ideal and some I’m in paste do not have to use the wet stone that often only if your chisels go out of shape. If you can get an old bit of leather belt or thick bit of leather that’s all you need and some I’m in paste.

[@linkinarmory]

Somebody already mentioned it but I was gonna say, pine is tough to carve! You did a helluva job for pine👍🏼👍🏼

[@markmurray4867]

Great info going to give it a go as well, thanks John. Keep the updates on carving with new projects

[@adamdearing918]

Nice one John, love it! 👍👏👏👏

[@shawnbooms6176]

I tried to dip into some carving but I had a terribly cheap set and it was entirely to frustrating. Maybe one day I will try again. Love the videos.

[@nickbuhaenko-smith3280]

Another great video. Again inspiring me to try things.

[@frankstover3444]

I got lost at the pencil! So mate this one under and over here then under here EXCEPT on Tuesday then.....Just kidding john! I will definitely try this!! ( when I get to Ireland)

[@ta9988]

Hey John - looks great. How have you been getting on with the carving - would love to see a bit more. I'll be making your mini work table in the next week or two. Keep her lit!

[@jimeronimo]

Hey John. Howdy fromnTexas. Just found your channel. Excited to see this. Great vid. . I'm not am expert either but have done some carving. One tip would be to cut your stops with a chisel straight down in and then run your vtool and chisels. That will stop your chisels from going to far and running over your intersections.

[@barryspiers6956]

Nice one John, that’s great for a first attempt! This is something I would like to get into so I look forward to following you, we’ll done mate!

[@JohnMcGrathManInShed]

Thanks 👍

[@MCsCreations]

Really beautiful work, John! 😃 Stay safe there with your family! 🖖😊

[@JohnMcGrathManInShed]

Cheers

[@PaulSmith-rd8yc]

Next to get a soldering iron or burning kit add a bit more depth and texture to your carving as well

[@MarkDennehy]

Those veritas routers are a lovely bit of kit. Couldn't afford one myself, stuck with a Record #071, but you can use the veritas bits in the router plane (if you turn the height adjustment knob upside down) so I've bought a few of those since and they're great. Got mine from dictum in germany rather than finetools (they're worth looking at as well a lot of the time). I've found though that it's no real problem to sharpen the blades that don't come apart *if* you take the diamond stone out of any holder it's in and put it on the edge of something like your little sub-workbench where there's an overhang at the edge - that way when you're sharpening the bevel of the blade, you can turn the cutter so that the edge is parallel to the long edge of the stone, hold the bevel flat on the stone and the stem of the cutter swings under the stone (that's why you need the overhang) and then you just rub it back and forth. It's a bit odd, as the edge is at 90 degrees to the direction of motion which is not how you do chisels or plane blades, but it works because the cutters are so narrow. Oh, and do yourself a favour when learning, don't try to learn to carve in pine. It's so soft that you have to be right up on your sharpening game. You really want a hardwood. I'd suggest trying something cheap like poplar for those kind of tools, though sometimes you have to bite the bullet and just buy a bit of oak for things like 17th century relief carving (like Peter Follansbee's stuff) but at least you can plane off the learning carving stuff :) And when you get the hang of it, even a beginner can make really pretty stuff: www.stochasticgeometry.ie/2019/05/06/finished-3/

[@MarkDennehy]

Oh, and I almost forgot - buy yourself a slipstone for sharpening the gouges. It's a pain getting the burr off the inside of the channels otherwise. You can do it with sandpaper wrapped around dowels, but now you have to have a half-dozen dowels to keep track of. And it helps a lot if you take a bit of 4x2 and just use your goughes to cut one channel per gouge into the 4x2, then rub the buffing compound you'd use on your strop into those channels and now you have a custom strop for all of your gouges, and that saves going to the stones every time the edge dulls a little (you still have to, but only every few times they dull, the strop will restore the edge for a few more minutes of work).

[@JohnMcGrathManInShed]

Cheers Mark good info!

[@kevinhoeg]

Great clip John! I think I just found my winter project. I like your suggestion on over / under techniques for the rope. Btw...we might just be related. We have McGrath in the family tree. John McGrath b 1823 Killinure, Co., Wicklow.

[@SandyMasquith]

Hey John! Nice chisels. The “Two Cherry” are comparable to Pfiel, and are one of the top brands from what I understand. I have a small set of the Pfiel, but was going to add some 2 Cherries this year. Look for Mary May Woodcarving for instruction on how to sharpen. Learn to sharpen and do that often! You’re already doing really well! Funny thing... I just got my new Veritas router plane. Awesome little thing. For the smaller router plane blades, I have some paddle type diamond sharpeners that are great for doing the small parts, and even the carving knives. FYI, got my shirt and stickers the other day. Nice quality! Thanks again. The video and audio quality are great.

[@JohnMcGrathManInShed]

Thanks for the info and support.

[@thisguy0525]

Would adding stop cuts prior to any gouging/chiseling? So scoring it all first then chiseling to avoid going too far at first.

[@remiregnard]

Hiii I had an other question... You used pine if I believe, was it a problem carving when ever you didn't follow the wood flow?

[@PaulSmith-rd8yc]

John how have you fixed your wood to the bench? Do you use your whole grips what you’ve purchased recently this is a tick I’m trying to find a way of holding my wood tight as you can understand can’t see so trying to keep it supported.. Shame I’m not on messenger with you as it be able to check quite easier

[@jimwaters8050]

John, why not use your nice new router plane?

[@tpobrienjr]

I have an old Stanley 71 router plane, and found that the Veritas cutters make a nice upgrade to a 100 year old tool.

[@shamrock4500]

you need to set the perimeter with a chisel, much easier than using a v gouge.

[@remiregnard]

Hey thanks for this video! What type of wood is best for celtic patterns?

[@JohnMcGrathManInShed]

I'm not a expert on carving but I believe bass wood is great for all type of carving

[@airford13]

Check out Doug linker for sharpening ideas, use a strop only! Loved the vid, I’m trying to get back into it. 2 cherries are some awesome tools!

[@TomDanaher]

A mallet would give you much more control and you can take the v tool deeper.

[@JohnMcGrathManInShed]

Have a bit of a cold sorry for the heavy breathing!

[@PaulSmith-rd8yc]

John love to be in to see what you are carving. Would like to try stuff at that at the moment I’m carving a hand for a birdfeeder. Not too sure I can send you pictures I can’t use Instagram with my voice-over it’s very hard. And a couple of weeks ago the tiny Turner on a live demo did a carving mallet you might wanna make one yourself , Go back and look at the demo very interesting she is a cava herself as well as at Woodturner

[@Woodwork086]

Bought the same bandsaw as u thr was a lot of setting up and shoving for a 14 year old

[@jaimegenovajr3257]

What’s the carving set link in US? Thanks

[@davidminnock252]

As a fellow electrician in Ireland I'd love to see a video of your work on site if it was possible

[@JohnMcGrathManInShed]

Its a hard to film on site, most places where I work such as in pharma it just would not be appropriate. I share some of what I do on site on Instagram I intend to add more there.

[@foos.998]

Great video, John. Always wondered how something like this was done.

[@iedutch1239]

Have a look at Mary May’s traditional woodcarving channel. She has a series of lessons for beginners that include sharpening of different types of gouges. Well worth a look!

[@Annaisineire]

Great work John. Are you sure it's not hayfever? Pollen is probably high right now :)

[@antonyskelton8791]

Love watching your videos, I have a safety tip though, when you used your ordinary chisels, you were chiselling with the blade towards you, 1 slip, could’ve been very dangerous

[@ChrisStCyr-gnt7]

I stopped the video at that point just to see if someone posted a comment about pointing the sharp end AWAY from you.

[@iordachej]

Tip: don’t carv soft wood because it requires crazy sharp chisels.

[@williamlott7612]

Learned that the hard way... Darlington, South Carolina USA

[@Mannfr3d]

I prefer a different grip of the chisel. For a right handed person, grab the chisel in your left hand either by the handle or the steel, and then provide propulsion with either your hand or a mallet. Left hand should be resting on the table or preferably on the piece you are working on to provide support and limit the distance your chisel can move. At the beginning when you were chiseling the lines with the v-chisel, you hand both hands in the air, no support and easy to slip and push too far. kzbin.info/www/bejne/amTHfaSogLtshas like this. Works for her, works for me, and my elementary school students. :)

[@Mannfr3d]

Edited, somehow mixed up the hands and suggested a right hand holding the chisel. I at least mainly hold the chisel in my left hand, though right handed use is also sometimes needed.

[@mandym7008]

Why not start at one of the under bits and carve away from it, instead of carving towards it?

[@FrissOderLassEs]

BTW: "Kirschen" is German and means "cherries"