Help with split carve

[aokweld101]

Well thanks guys, I have never caved on two boards the trial and error hasn't been there for me I read the tutorials I thought I knew what I was doing cause I played with it... now I need to go back and read it again. I was understanding that the machine would leave enough on the board in between the two sides of the pattern too cut off to join them together.

[zan29]

Did you say ZZTop, the real ZZTop.........OMG . Ahhhhhhhhhhhh I would so love to have webinars, imagine what we could learn from all the pros out here! I wouldn't mind paying for them either.

[fwharris]

Did you say ZZTop, the real ZZTop.........OMG . Ahhhhhhhhhhhh I would so love to have webinars, imagine what we could learn from all the pros out here! I wouldn't mind paying for them either.

Actually he is talking about his twin brother from a different mother ! Me!

Not to be confused with these guys!

[chebytrk]

shhhhhhhhh we could have made some SERIOUS money with some " ZZ Webinars"! LOL

Actually he is talking about his twin brother from a different mother ! Me!

Not to be confused with these guys!

[zan29]

Well you look like a ZZTop to me.........

[chebytrk]

Personally I've often wondered if Floyd is a "Duck call" carver in disguise.

[DickB]

I got an order for a large oval lake map, so I took some pictures this time to illustrate my technique. The oval shape required a little modification from what I usually do for a rectangular map this size.

The finished map was to be about 22" x 44". I started with 12" lumber, two pieces 48" x 11.25" actual size. Because I will be carving across one edge and cutting the oval right up to the other edge, I attached 1" rails to both edges of the boards before machining. I have used these same rails many times - you can see they have been repeatedly carved about a eighth inch or so.



I laid my entire original project out on a half-size virtual board, 22" x 11". I try to keep Centerline text from straddling the center, and put it entirely in one half or another. I group text into top and bottom groups. Next I laid out a new project with a 48" x 13.25" virtual board, and placed a 48" x 11.25" rectangle on the board as a guide for my actual boards. I copied and pasted everything to the new board, and then dragged a corner with all that selected to expand to double size. Of course half of the stuff extends off the board. When satisfied with the size, this gets saved as a master. That way, both top and bottom can be derived from the master with no more stretching, so top and bottom are identical in scale.



For the bottom, I delete the top group of text. The whole carving and text is positioned such that the center is placed just under the top line of the actual board. That way, I will have a bit of excess on each board, which can be precisely trimmed later. I place a 1" wide zero depth carve region just above the actual board, so that the edge of the board will get carved, along with a small bit of the rail.



To facilitate glueing, I elected to glue the two boards as rectangles, then finish cut the oval. I laid out a complete oval to start, but did not use it for cuts as it would extend cut off of the full-size boards. Instead, I laid out a spline using the oval as a guide. I made this a partial cut, .25" deep, with the intent of finishing the cut with a jig saw and a pattern-following router bit.



In this case, I did end up with a bit more overlap than usual. Both boards were trimmed with the table saw.

My finishing technique demonstrates my lack of painting skills. Slap on some poly-stain, let it dry, sand the top of the board, finish.

[Bigtyme]

Absolutely great job, Dick. Your process makes a lot of sense and the proof is in the results. I am still trying to perfect the contour tutorial you put together, not because it isn't easy to follow, between my day job, deer season and shop duties, time is a premium. I will be at my place in the UP over the holidays and fully expect to get the hang of it while watching the snow fall. Your help has been outstanding....

[unitedcases]

Thanks for illustrating the stain technique. Looks really good.

[DickB]

Thanks for illustrating the stain technique. Looks really good.

Thanks. In some woods there is some bleeding of stain into unwanted surface areas. I've had good luck with select pine, oak, and maple. I use Minwax Polyshades, stain and polyurethane combined, which doesn't bleed as much as standard Minwax stain. Then topcoat with clear poly. In some cases I have put a coat of clear poly on the board before carving, even though most or all gets sanded off later, it can help prevent bleeding of the Polyshades.