carved panels

Here is a sample panel, patterned from one in the chest I finished a week or two ago. The right hand half of this one shows the layout for this pattern; with the left-hand side completed. This is a piece of red oak, about 12″ wide x 14″ high. This design is established with a compass, awl, and the curves of the gouges. There is no V-tool outlining at all. I’ve only carved a few of these, so they go slowly – it took me about 2 hours to carve a panel like this. There’s a lot of fussy detail to it; so I am not sure I could carve it much faster than that.

Another pattern I have carved numerous times is this from a chest made in Braintree, Massachusetts, c. 1640-1700. This pattern relies on the V-tool to outline much of the design, then the curved gouges to accent and shape the forms.

This is the finished pattern, on another chest just completed. All of these carvings are done in oak, often red oak (Quercus rubra) as seen here, sometimes white oak (Quercus alba).  Like all the joinery I do, much of the work is executed with timber containing a relatively high moisture content.