Chisel device for carving
Artistic wood carving is a manual type of labor and is performed using special tools, of which the master must have several dozen.
When working on ornaments, panels or three-dimensional objects, you may need different shapes of cutters, such as straight, triangular, oval-double-edged (for spoons) and semicircular.
A chisel is a cutting tool with a handle. Its main part is a metal cutter, which in the professional version should be made of high-quality alloy steel. GOST also allows the use of other types of metal for the production of chisels, such as 9ХФ, ХВГ or 9ХС.
- The second part of the chisel is the handle, usually made of wood or durable plastic that can withstand blows from a mallet.
- Wooden handles of chisels are made from tough types of wood: ash, beech, elm, hornbeam or maple.
- At the junction of the handle with the steel blade, a round metal cap is usually installed to protect the wood from splitting during operation.
Experienced craftsmen prefer to make their own tools for their work.
Purpose of the chisel
A semicircular chisel should be used to create recesses for artistic carving. Using the tool, you can make convex or concave serifs.
The wood carving tool consists of 2 parts. The handle is most often made of tough wood: maple, elm, hornbeam, ash. There are plastic options; for ease of use they have rubber inserts.
The main part of a semicircular chisel is a metal cutter, sharpened on one side, usually at an angle of 250. It is made of alloy steel, due to which precise elements are formed on the material. Requirements according to GOST allow the use of metal grades HVG, 9ХС and 9ХФ.
GOST 1184-80 Flat and semicircular chisels
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Depending on the degree of rounding, the metal part can be sloping, round or semicircular. The larger the diameter of the blade, the smoother the cut will be when working on wood.
On both sides of the handle (at the end and at the junction with the cutter) you can usually see a metal ring. It prevents damage to the wood when struck with a chisel.
Purpose of a semicircular chisel
The working edge of the radius-shaped wood cutter blade is curved in the shape of a semicircle and comes in different diameters, from a few millimeters to 5 centimeters.
Every specialist in carpentry or carpentry must have one or more of these chisels among his tools, depending on the type of work he performs.
- A radius chisel easily and smoothly goes deep into the wood, leaving neat rounded patterns of the same width and depth.
- With its help you can make concave and convex geometric patterns, carved flower petals, round recesses and many other patterns.
Thanks to the oval shape of the blade, the master has less chance of getting cracks in the workpiece, making smooth rounded perimeters, without sharp turns.
Varieties of semicircular instruments
Semicircular chisels come with a semicircular or sloping blade shape, and the highest smoothness of the resulting pattern is obtained with large diameters of the cutting part.
Radius blades have a classification based on the following technical parameters:
- Factory or DIY method of making a chisel.
- Type and diameter of radial rounding.
- Width of the working part of the blade.
Typically, the length of the carving tool along with the handle ranges from 12 to 30 cm, while the length of the steel part is 11-15 cm, and the width of the blade is 4 – 50 mm.
Chisels are numbered according to the mark left by the tool in a vertical position to the workpiece. The numbers 1, 2, 5, 6 indicate the diameter of the semicircle in centimeters.
- Another important parameter characterizing the shape of a chisel blade is the ratio of width to depth, that is, the line on the workpiece can have different oval depths, with the same width of the notch.
- The most durable are steel cutters made by forging. They are used to process the hardest types of wood, and they last for many years.
Blades made by stamping have an average reliability indicator, and the weakest is considered to be the metal part made by cutting. This chisel is suitable for working with pine and spruce, but on harder workpieces it bends or breaks quickly.
All about carpentry chisels: types, characteristics, subtleties of choice
At first glance, there is nothing complicated in the design of this tool - it consists of a handle and a flat steel blade. But if you start going into details, many nuances will emerge. It is important to take them into account so as not to make a mistake with the choice from the very beginning.
Construction of a carpenter's chisel and gradation of sizes
First of all, pay attention to the features of the connection between the blade and the handle - this design nuance provides a lot of important information about the purpose of the tool. Based on the type of fastening, chisels are divided into options with a conical skirt and a shank.
Hammer with a mallet or work only with your hand? This largely depends on how the handle is attached.
In the first version, the handle is fixed in a conical recess in the steel skirt. In the second, it is mounted on the shank. The strength of the connection between the cutter and the handle is different for both models.
Chisels with a skirt are better suited to shock loads. They are less likely to crack and are more resistant to fracture. Thanks to the conical glass, the impact force is more evenly distributed from the handle to the steel cutter, which affects the controllability of the tool and the quality of the cut. They are used when working with hard wood (with which you have to hit it more actively with a mallet), when chiseling deep nests and performing operations that create lateral loads on the tool. This type of design resists twisting and bending better.
Chisels with a shank are also designed to withstand blows with a mallet, but they must be handled more delicately. To prevent splitting, the junction of the handle and blade is reinforced with a metal ring-clip. It makes the chisel stronger against breakage when it is used as a lever, but does not save it from another problem: over time, the shank no longer fits tightly in the wooden handle, which is why the blade begins to wobble and twist. Usually only replacing the handle can solve this problem. Despite all the relative disadvantages, chisels of this type have an undeniable advantage - they are easy to manufacture, which is why they are cheaper than models with an attached cone.
The ends of the handles are usually supplemented with a special ring-clip, a metal butt plate or a thick leather pad. The main function of these reinforcing elements is to protect the tip of the handle from cracking and distribute the impact force when working with a mallet.
In some modern models of chisels, which are already far from the classic carpentry canon, the shank stretches across the entire handle and ends with a steel butt plate. The handle itself is made of plastic or thick rubber. Such a tool can withstand not only tapping with a mallet, but also blows with a hammer without consequences.
Choosing the right chisel
To create ornamental patterns of varying degrees of complexity, the master will need a semicircular tool, a type of which is a chisel with two bends at right angles in the steel part, called a cranberry. It can be used to cut complex shapes and create deep semicircular grooves in wood.
A tool made of high-quality steel can be determined by several indicators.
- Firstly, in a serious trading organization, a good chisel cannot be suspiciously cheap.
- Secondly, letters characterizing the composition of the alloy, such as Cr, V, drop forget, must be engraved on the surface of the steel.
- Thirdly, a reliable manufacturer leaves the name of its company or factory on the handle of the product.
When checking a purchased chisel, you can sharpen it on a stone and inspect the blade. On the edge of high-quality steel, the sharpening stone leaves small burrs, which are refined using medium-dispersion sandpaper.
Sharpening a chisel
A working tool should be sharpened in cases where it has become dull, either from a large amount of work or from prolonged inactivity. During use, burrs or irregularities appear on the edge of the blade, since the wood is not uniform and contains knots or too hard annual rings.
For sharpening, a special grinding stone with a coarse-grained surface is used. This is where the editing of the blade begins, which ends with polishing it with fine-grained sandpaper.
- The sharpening angle along the edge is usually about 25 degrees, and sharpening is done from the flat side.
- In this case, the chisel must be held with both hands, moving slowly up and down over the rounded stone.
- When stripes of jagged edges appear on the surface of a large stone, you can move on to finer sandpaper.
The sharpness of the razor and the polished surface of the blade indicate that the chisel has been sharpened correctly.
Rules for working with a chisel
Before you start using a semicircular chisel, you need to learn the basics of work. To achieve the desired result, the tip is leaned against the wood, using a mallet (a special hammer), you need to tap the handle until a groove of the desired depth is obtained.
Before performing complex work, you need to practice performing different types of elements on a rough canvas. The precision of the movements and the strength of the application must be measured, since it will be difficult to correct the situation. First, you need to apply a sketch to the workpiece according to which the work with a chisel will take place.
When working, you should not remove a large amount of material at once, working in layers. Using the tool, you can cut the fabric along the fibers, cut grooves or make perpendicular notches. The last method involves applying the greatest effort.
A semicircular chisel is useful when working on wood, when you plan to reproduce a pattern or ornament on the surface. Wood carving is an art that requires skill. To create a quality product, you need to have tools of different diameters and degrees of rounding on hand. When choosing, it is worth checking the quality of the steel and compliance with the markings. A high-quality set that meets the strength requirements cannot be cheap, which must be taken into account when choosing.
Making a semicircular chisel by hand
At home, you can make your own semicircular chisel from an old milling cutter for working with metal. The area where the steel connects to the handle can be selected at the location of the saw tooth, and along the edges of it, the blade of the required length and width can be cut using metal scissors.
A semicircle of the blade is formed on a rod of the required diameter, and the finished steel part is inserted into a wooden block, processed for convenience to a smooth surface.
The blade can be fixed in a wooden handle using epoxy resin, placing a ring cut from a metal tube at the joint.
How to do it yourself
To make a semicircular chisel for wood carving, an old metal milling cutter is best suited, since the material meets the strength requirements. The presence of a tooth on the saw allows you to designate a protrusion where the handle area begins. Using metal scissors, cut out a strip of the required width and length.
In the middle of the intended blade, a groove is formed using a rod 4-5 mm wide. The outer contour of the cutter is drawn out on an emery machine.
Next, a handle is made for the semicircular model used to work with the ornament. To do this, a hole is made in the block where the base is placed. The steel part is fixed in the workpiece using epoxy resin.
Using a saw and plane, the handle is given the desired shape and size. Next, the surfaces are sanded to make them smooth.
