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General Cutting Rules for Chip Carving

1. Cut with the grain, as the long fibers of the wood will tear at the cut line when cutting against the grain.

2. Don't cut too deeply. About 1/8" is the deepest you should go on the biggest chips on these pieces. For smaller chips, cut less deeply.

3. Remove large chips in stages, particularly if you have already carved out a section nearby. Otherwise, the force you have to apply to remove the whole chip in one cut will deflect wood. This deflection will occur toward the weakest spot, which will no doubt be the nice crisp edge you just cut.

4. Cut away from a previously carved chip, rather than cutting toward it; the wedging action of the blade could pop out a part of the mountain that was to be left in.

5. If the chip does not have carving adjacent to it, remove the complete line of the pattern. If it does, it is best to stay back from the line when removing the first chip, then cut its adjacent chip, also staying back of the line. Finally, make your finishing cuts on both sides to split the line. At this point, watch that straight lines over multiple chips are maintained.

6. Don't undercut. Try to visualize where the point of your blade is, and avoid leaving a score mark at the base of a cut. This is another good reason to take out progressively larger chips, rather than trying to remove the entire chip at once. Do not pry chips out. Instead wriggle them to see where they are still attached, then go a little deeper in that area and wriggle again. Some undercutting will occur, but if you have done everything right up to this point, it should be a nearly microscopic line.

7. To remove undercuts, turn your knife over, and with the dull side of the blade at the same angle as your cut, gently draw it the length of your cut, then rotate the work 180°, and do it going the other way. The operative word here is gently. You are not trying to create pressed wood decorations. The undercut must be a very fine one. This is not a method of erasing an unintended slip.

8. Before making marks with the stabbing knife, remove the line of the pattern with the primary knife, then press the stabbing knife into that cut line. Pressing into a line of the pattern will leave black ink in the bottom of the depression.