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Re: Help, magnifier
Board: Stamp Carving and Mounting
Reply to: #935671 by Oberon_Kenobi
Oct 1, 2016 1:19am
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I can't get a straight edge to work. Even when I get it close to working, there's something about the results that just doesn't look right to me. Too mechanical-looking, or something. Straight lines, even border frame rectangles, I cut freehand, trusting that the transfer has provided me a straight line to follow. I not only have to concentrate on keeping the cut straight, but I also have to make sure the width of the line remains consistent when I'm cutting both sides of a narrow straight line. On very rare occasions I mess it up badly enough that I have to get out a tiny Dremel bit with a narrow stone tip and carefully rub one side of one of those narrow ridges to narrow it slightly or clean up some waviness.
Re: Help, magnifier
Board: Stamp Carving and Mounting
Reply to: #935677 by Kirbert
Oct 1, 2016 5:57am
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I not only have to concentrate on keeping the cut straight, but I also have to make sure the width of the line remains consistent when I'm cutting both sides of a narrow straight line.

Assume you're working under a magnifier lamp, so can imagine that using a narrow V-gouge is more difficult to maintain a consistent line width of a rectangle/square/triangle than possible with an X-Acto knife or a wire knife.

Does your knife preference have anything to do with pushing (gouge) vs pulling (knife) of the cutting edge? Besides its advantage for carving a narrow (rectangle/square/triangle) line with sharp corners what other advantage does a wire knife have over an X-Acto 11 blade?

Is it fair to say that using a Staedler narrow V-gouge at a lower working angle and pushing instead of pulling offers less control than a knife held at a higher working angle and pulling toward you instead of pushing away from you? Perhaps this is why most Japanese Youtubes show rubber stamp carvers using an X-Acto knife instead of a V-gouge.

Is it fair to say that Americans, generally being in more of a hurry-up mode, prefer using a V-gouge as it takes less time to carve a stamp than learning to carve a stamp even more precisely using an X-Acto knife (and/or a wire knife).
Re: Help, magnifier
Board: Stamp Carving and Mounting
Reply to: #935689 by Frenchie
Oct 1, 2016 12:52pm
Thread (disabled) Board
I have learned to carve with either gouge or knife, but I prefer the knife. For one thing, I am not in a hurry; this is a hobby, I'm not being paid by the hour. A gouge is faster, to be sure; knife carving is a two-step process, first slicing around the image and then coming back and removing material, while gouge carving is a single step.

The biggest reason for my preference for the knife, though, has nothing to do with speed. It has to do with style. Gouge carving is an excellent method for carving nature scenes, animals, etc. -- with a few cuts, you can easily create the impression of fur, feathers, leaves, things like that. It's also perhaps the method of choice for an "arteest" -- the person who is being creative, generating details "on the fly" until the image looks the way they want it to. As anyone who has found one of my aircraft or car stamps knows, that's not me. I prepare an image of a mechanical creation down to the finest detail on the computer, and carving is a process of precisely replicating this image in rubber.

And nobody who's watched that video of the Japanese girl carving with a boxcutter can claim Americans are trying to work faster. It was amazing enough she was using a boxcutter, but even more astounding how fast she was working.

BTW, in general, I'm pushing the knife away from me when cutting. I have a little bit of a problem with cuts that bend tightly to the right, as the line I'm cutting along tends to get hidden behind the knife tip. Still, it's very rare I turn it around and cut back towards me.
Re: Help, magnifier
Board: Stamp Carving and Mounting
Reply to: #935719 by Kirbert
Oct 2, 2016 8:37am
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It was amazing enough she was using a boxcutter, but even more astounding how fast she was working.

Here's another Japanese youtube using a mini-boxcutter knife (recorded in real time) ...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P72KksaL3ao

Here's one of Kao Hanco's "astounding fast" youtubes (recorded in digital time lapse?)
Can she really carve that fast with an X-Acto knife in real time ...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UkoWpHLC8Nc

Here's one of atelierterkepi's youtubes using a Rabby Circle Chisel (narrow U gouge yellow handle) to remove larger interior portions.
All precise outline carving is first accomplished using an X-Acto knife ...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5aWG-xGXCHc

This custom knife may have once been a chisel. In the hands of a skilled carver this quality steel razor sharp knife may never need resharpening ...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01tO7wE02bc

After watching several of these Japanese/Asian youtubes it becomes apparent that a knife (e.g. X-Acto) is the preferred tool of choice for precise rubber stamp carving. Wish i would've learned this long ago saving me much frustration instead of thinking the Speedball #1 V-gouge should be my primary tool of choice.

CONCLUSION: Better to first learn how to carve an erasure stamp with an X-Acto knife as the primary tool of choice and the use of Speedball V/U gouge nibs as secondary tools of choice. I once mistakenly thought that Kirbert's carving knife technique was kind of an anomaly. Now i realize that his rubber stamp carving preference (knife) should be a first-choice common practice for elite rubber stamp carvers as well as beginners.