[INTRO: MUSIC PLAYING]

Carving tools are incredibly sharp

and they have the potential to cause injury.

Please keep these safety precautions in mind.

Wear leather gloves and eye protection.

Place a non-skid shelf liner underneath the wood.

Always keep both hands behind the blade

and carve shallow passes to build up strokes.

To achieve depth,

never force a tool to deep.

I am carving into cherry plywood for this demonstration.

Hand chisels, also known as gouges

or knives, come in standard types

Look at the cutting tips shape.

We will focus on using four blade types, UV,

skew and flat.

I will use power grip’s Standard five piece set.

For this lesson, I recommend first practicing

with U gouges since they are the easiest to use.

As explained in a previous lesson,

hold the chiseled traditional Japanese style.

Ensure the power grip logo is facing up.

Tilt the handle at a 45 degree angle.

Push downwards into the wood until the cutting tip engages.

Lower the handle to 20 degrees

and push forward using the combined force

of your dominant hand and non-dominant thumb.

Lower the handle again almost parallel to the wood.

This action releases the cutting tip

and finishes the stroke

practice carving short strokes at a consistent depth.

This tool is excellent for making dots.

Let’s practice hold the chisel palm style.

Tilt the handle at a 75 degree angle.

Push downwards into the wood until the cutting tip

and gauges maintain even downward pressure

and rotate the handle clockwise.

Once the cut has reached the halfway point,

turn the handle counterclockwise

until the stroke is complete.

Repeat this step until you develop one fluid motion.

You gouges are ideal for clearing away areas

and creating broad lines, textures,

stippling, and dots.

The tool carves shallow so repeated passes are necessary

to achieve depth.

My favorite tool is the V gouge.

The Power grip set includes a 4.5 millimeter,

but I recommend purchasing a three millimeter separately.

It is easier to use.

Let’s practice Hold the chisel

traditional Japanese style.

Ensure the power grip logo is facing up.

Tilt the handle at a 45 degree angle

and push downwards into the wood

until the cutting tip engages.

Lower the handle to 20 degrees

and push forward using the combined force

of your dominant hand and non-dominant thumb.

Lower the handle again almost parallel to the wood.

This action releases the cutting tip

and finishes the stroke

practice carving short strokes at a consistent depth.

The V gouge can create thin lines

and stippling outline shapes and define geometric forms.

The power grip set contains one skew knife.

It has a slanted blade ending at a sharp point.

Traditionally, A skew is a liner tool.

Remember when we discussed Yuki oi artists

earlier in the course?

They carved woodblocks of incredible detail using a SKU

to outline shapes.

The method I teach is different.

I prefer in sizing lines with my skew gouge.

Let’s practice first.

Place your dominant hand in front of you

with the palm face up.

Lay the tool across your palm

with the blades angle slanted towards you.

Close your fingers around the chisel

and place your thumb on the butt end of the handle.

It should look like you’re holding a dagger.

Push the pointed tip of the tool into the wood

and draw the chisel towards you.

While exerting downward pressure, stop

and examine the first few cuts.

The lines will be shallow.

Run your fingernail across the woods surface.

It should stall at the point of an incision.

If so, these lines will be visible.

When pulling a print continue

to etch lines into the wood crisscrossing randomly,

wood will start to fall away in the overlapping areas.

Adding to the textures complexity,

this technique creates subtle shifts in tone.

Remember, the lines may fill with ink

with repeated printing.

I found that printing with a press yields the best results.

But if you don’t have a press, that’s okay.

Give hand rubbing a try.

Finally, you have one flat

or bullnosed chisel in your set.

It has a square blade designed to shave away the wood.

Traditionally, the flat chisel trims unwanted high spots

in heavily carved areas, but it has other uses too.

Let’s practice hold the chisel traditional Japanese style.

Ensure the power grip logo is facing up.

Tilt the handle at a 45 degree angle

and push downwards into the wood

until the cutting tip engages.

Lower the handle to 20 degrees

and push forward using the combined force

of your dominant hand and non-dominant thumb.

Lower the tool handle again, almost parallel to the wood.

This action releases the cutting tip

and finishes the stroke.

Examine the areas you shave away.

As you’ll see, the flat gouge produces non-uniform

shallow cuts.

You can utilize these marks to create unexpected gray tones.

In the finished print.

I stumbled upon the following technique

by using the flat chisel upside down.

Let’s practice hold the chisel

traditional Japanese style.

Ensure the power grip logo is facing down.

In this instance, tilt the handle at a 45 degree angle

and push downwards into the wood

until the cutting tip engages.

Lower the handle to 20 degrees and push forward.

Using the combined force of your dominant hand

and non-dominant thumb.

Rock the chisel from side to side through the stroke.

The opposite ends

of the blade should bite into the wood repeatedly

creating a uniform pattern.

This technique will yield exciting results.

If you make repeated passes over an area.

Practice is the best way to become familiar

with each tool’s uses.

With experience, you will develop a preference.

Here are a few final tips to round out this lesson.

Rotate the woodblock to achieve a better carving angle.

Keep cuts short for control.

When a tool slips

you likely overextended the positioning of your hands.

Remember to always start at the base of an angle

and carve outwards.

The V gouge is perfect for corners.

Use a scrap wood piece to keep your hands level.

This tip helps avoid awkward hand positions when carving on

the woods edge.

[TOOL DEMO AND OUTRO: MUSIC PLAYING]