Carving embellishment tools.

[Glenn Lefley]

This is not mine (I so wish) , just and example of types of cuts tools would need to make. Also cutting red areas. My wife would like to carve, embellish some of my turnings. We have a dremel dual flexshaft unit like a foredom.

She would like to do things like this

I found this site in canada


http://www.nutmegwoodworking.ca/products/power-carving/burrs.html

She would like me to order a set of bits to start. She is an awesome artist and this would not be a fad. So my question is to any people good at this, which bits should I order for her.

I nice starter set i could put together. Thinking of typhoon bits at end.

 

[Bill Boehme]

For the carving that I have done with my Foredom tool, I mainly use the Typhoon type burs. However, to carve the fine details you really need to get a high speed dental handpiece and use carbide dental burs.

 

[john lucas]

The kind of piercing you are showing is done with High speed air grinders that run at 400K rpm. Those use dental burrs. Foredom and Dremels don't run high enough RPM and want to grab and follow the grain. They can be used but it's very tedious because you have to take very light cuts. I use all sorts of bits for the Dremel and Foredom. You never know which one will work the best. For the most part I like the burrs with carbide bits stuck on them. Drawing a blank on their names. I use these for rough cutting and then follow those up with the HSS bits.
Here is a selection of the burrs I like but I also buy other burrs from them. He also gives great advice if you tell him what you want to use.
http://www.woodcarverssupply.com/Carbide-NuggetTM-Burrs/products/158/

 

[William Rogers]

Bill and John's comments are right on. I am also going to do some piercing. There is a thread I started that has a lot of information. I have bought everything to do piercing, but haven't put the system together yet. Think I spent about $125 for everything. Note you will most likely have to order it from China (eBay) and wait.

That turning you posted is amazing. It appears to have both piercing and carving.

 

[Fadi Zeidan]

There are various types of carvings, the one you are showing is more of Binh Pho style which tend to be 1/8” wall thickness and done by dental tools. You will need to invest in compressor, dental tools, and dental burrs. Binh Pho had couple of DVDs on his style of carving.

You could also try other styles. For example, Neil has a good solid demo on YouTube that you can do with what you have Today.

View: https://youtu.be/YIrfvekV3Ck


Dixxie Biggs has her own style, but it is more of relief carving n bowls.

View: https://youtu.be/ucge2PtkrK4


Molly Winton uses burners to do it.

View: https://youtu.be/I-CLD_Bc8xE


Your wife may enjoy gourd carving too, there are a lot of YouTube videos on the subject.

 

[Bill Boehme]

For piercing, a wall thickness of 1/16" is ideal, but 3/32" is about the maximum. You may wind up breaking a lot of burs if the walls are thicker than that.

 

[Glenn Lefley]

So this beautiful vase would be done with foredom or dental pics or both?

 

[Fadi Zeidan]

This can be done with foredom. I cannot find a link for a preview video, but I have Trent Bosch’s carving DVD and it shows how to do similar work.

You carve the deep edges creating separation between the wood looking area and the red dyed area then blend it in and sand it giving it the appearance of being at a different level. You don’t need to carve all the red surface. You can texturize it different ways, this one appear to be done by various round sized carbide burrs. Then it is a matter of coloring it.

 

[Bill Boehme]

As Fadi said, there are numerous ways to texture the surface. It looks like a needle scaler may have been used to create the dimpled texture.

BTW, I should also remind forum members not to post images that don't belong to them. Images made by others are their intellectual property and protected by the Digital Millinium Copyright Act of 1998. If you want to reference a photo made by somebody else then just post a link

 

[john lucas]

I would do that vase starting off with a Router and then finish off with a dremel or Foredom. I would turn away most of the lowered surface and then use a router on the lathe to carve away all of the surfaces that can't be turned. YOu could do that with the Foredom but it would take longer and be difficult to maintain the even depth of the lowered surface. Then clean that up with sandpaper glued to a stick and fine tune the shapes near the border of the raised areas with the Dremel. All of the texturing can be done with a Dremel and various sized ball burrs or cone shaped burrs.

 

[hockenbery]

@Glenn Lefley the best way to find out about how a piece is made is to ask the maker. Most turners eagerly share what they do in the spirit of paying it forward.

In the speculation game @Fadi Zeidan explained the carving of the outline well. A careful look you see the curve follows the whole form. Trent Bosch has been teaching this technique for many years.

The smaller dimples may have been made by something other than carbide ball a carbide ball can make them other tools do it faster. A nail in a reciprocating tool will do the small holes on the surface.

 

[john lucas]

I do that texture all the time and it's hard to beat 3 different size ball cutters from Dremel. I start with the large ball and space things out. Then fill in the spaces somewhat with the medium size ball and then follow up with the small one. It's kind of like looking at the heavens and making the stars. It's sort of a game. Your trying to create a field that doesn't look like it follows a pattern. Although there's nothing wrong with doing a pattern.
Lowering a surface can be done a lot different ways. Some much more time consuming than others but they all work. The first time I did it I used a wood rasp for the whole thing. Took forever and then sanding the rasp marks out took even longer. I got there and it looked great when I was done. After that I bought a better quality wood rasp that left fewer teeth marks and then started making a more undulating edge using the Dremel to shape those areas. Then you search around and find better cutters for the Dremel. Then I invested in a Foredom machine that has a wider range of cutters and it more aggressive. In other words it's all a building process. You use what you have at first and search out ways that others do to achieve the same thing.