Wood is one of the traditional materials used for indoor and outdoor living spaces. There are many techniques for artistic woodworking, but the most spectacular decorations are obtained when slotted carving is used. The beauty and elegance of such products are amazing, while the technology itself is not particularly complex.
Features of openwork carving
Openwork or slotted woodcarving is performed by cutting through or drilling the background. When finished, patterns and compositions look light and airy. Openwork carving is through and overhead. Through slotted thread "works" through the light. Laid on carving is when a slotted pattern is attached to some kind of base, for example, a wooden one, serving as a background.
For cutting through sections, chisels, special cutters, drills or saws are used. The most productive tool iselectric jigsaw. Slotted jigsaw carving allows you to easily and quickly reproduce patterns of even the most complex configuration.
Preparation for work
Beginning masters should first of all pay attention to the theoretical part. Fortunately, today there is a lot of useful printed and video information on how to properly carve wood, about the necessary tools, about the features of a particular wood, about preparing blanks, choosing patterns, etc.
Having studied the features of the technology, you can start selecting tools. In addition to a jigsaw and a set of files with different tooth sizes, you will need sharp knives, chisels, chisels, drills and drills of various thicknesses, spoon cutters, needle files, abrasive bars and sanding skins.
Another stage of preparatory work is the selection of patterns, compositions or genre scenes, for the creation of which carved wood carving will be used. Sketches can be made independently or found on specialized sites and printed on a printer, if necessary, having previously reduced or increased their size.
Features of different types of wood
The quality, speed and accuracy of slotted carving depends not only on the skill level of the performer, but also on the wood. Each breed has its own unique properties, which must be taken into account when choosing a material for the workpiece.
- Pine. most accessible andinexpensive wood, but not very suitable for carving, and not only because of the resinousness. The fact is that it consists of hard and soft layers. Cutting and sanding pine products is quite difficult due to the difference in structures, since the knife and sandpaper “take” them in different ways. Plus, this type of wood has a pronounced texture that distracts attention from the carving itself, especially if it is small.
- Aspen. Slotted carvings from this wood are difficult due to the softness of its structure. Despite the fact that aspen is cut like butter, the tool “gets stuck” when cutting, and it itself is wrinkled. Beginner carvers who do not have experience with this material should definitely not start their “career” with it, as well as with pine.
- Birch and linden. These types of wood have a beautiful monophonic structure, the necessary hardness and at the same time pliability, which makes it possible to implement even the most complex and intricate sketches of slotted carving in products.
- Plum. Hard, very beautiful in cross-section and well suited to all types of processing wood. It is great for creating finely patterned items such as women's jewelry.
Where to buy wood for carving
There are many places where you can get material for work, the main thing is to find high-quality and dry wood. For example, good carving blanks are sold in specialized stores for hand-made fans and art salons. In addition, you can buy suitable boards in building materials stores or at timber trade bases. And small enterprises for the manufacture of furniture and carpentry workshops are a real storehouse of dry wooden scraps of various sizes. For carpenters, such waste is no longer of value, so, as a rule, they are given away for free.
Another option is wooden packaging (boxes, pallets). From one such product, one and a half to two dozen blanks will turn out.
Rules for drying wood
It should be remembered that for slotted and other types of carving, only well-dried wood should be used, so as not to later observe with regret how the finished carved product, drying, warps and cracks. Drying of blanks should not be carried out in the sun or near heating devices. The wood should dry randomly in a warm room with good ventilation. It is better to put the boards on the ends, placing planks under them to ensure air access to all sides. By the way, you can dry small blanks in the microwave in several sessions.
Workflow
Slotted wood carving, stencils for which must be prepared in advance, begins with transferring the pattern to a wooden blank. The background areas to be cut out are highlighted by hatching. Holes of a certain diameter are drilled next to the lines of the pattern so that a saw blade can be inserted into them.
Next is the filingclose to the outline of the drawing. Narrow blades of hacksaws are used for slotted carving, the stencils for which were selected complex, that is, with small details and sharp bends. Sawing large parts with straight or smooth contour lines is carried out using wider canvases.
Helpful tips
It should be noted that using large saws, you can get a torn contour, so it is better to still prefer fine-toothed files. Drilling, on the other hand, is recommended to be done with pen drills, and this should be done on both sides of the wooden workpiece, having previously drilled a through hole with a thin drill.
A great way to avoid torn edges and burrs in wood is to stick thick paper on the back of a piece of paper.
It must be remembered that the main factor that ensures a clean cut is the sharpness of the tool, so you should take care of this side of the issue in advance.
When choosing an ornament, beginner carvers should focus on simple images with large details and a minimum of “heavy” angles. Due to the right pattern, you can reduce the amount of work, resulting in a beautiful product.
Finishing the carving
After removing the background, the product is finished to get smooth and clean edges of the picture. For stripping, steep and sloping chisels of medium and small size are used. Places of the ornament that are hard to reach for chisels are cleaned with a sharp knife. With these tools, the edges of the image are rounded off by cutting a thin bevel or choosing narrow ones.fillets.
It is recommended to place the chisel at a slight inclination in relation to the surface being processed, moving it down and slightly to the side. This technique facilitates the finishing process and allows you to achieve a cleaner thread.
Processing of slotted openwork products is performed on both sides. After trimming the contours with chisels, the cut out pattern is cleaned using needle files, sanding bars and emery skins.
The ornament is modeled in accordance with the applied carving - embossed or flat-relief.
The technique of flat-relief slotted carving is used, as a rule, for the manufacture of decor for furniture, cornices, window casings, shutters, etc. Relief openwork carving allows you to get more elegant products, so it is used to create women's jewelry, screens, fillers for cabinet doors, etc. By the way, openwork furniture doors look even more impressive if you stretch a bright fabric on the back side, against which the ornamental composition will look clearer and brighter.
