I'm trying to carve Old Turkic runes into stone as my ancestors did (I'm Kazakh). You videos on this topic are very helpful. Thank you very much for thorough explanation of each detail.
@@AtharJaber I’m going to pounce the letters on I think. It it is a fairly flat, broken piece of river rock. Thank you for your videos. Lots of great tips in there.
That side view from 9:06 to 9:24 is very useful, for it is something that the person doing the sharpening would never otherwise see. Have a question, do stonecarvers most often do their own lettercarving if needed, or is that a separate skill? (I began my self-training with letters, and found for me that carving is much easier than kerning.) Thank you for yet another perfectly done voice-of-experience video.
Letter carving is generally approached as a different craft with specific skills of its own. Beside the very skilled and delicate handling of the hammer and chisel, letter carving also involves a deep understanding of calligraphy, letter design, spacing (kerning) and other things. But an experienced stone carver and sculptor should be able to carve letters too. Obviously, because this is not their only focus, letter carvers tend to be faster and more precise than sculptors, as they deal with the craft every day. They also have a different way of holding the hammer and chisels. For example, when letter carving, I tend to have a stronger and different grip on the chisel than letter carvers because that's what I'm used to do when sculpting. If you're interested, I am developing a series of courses where I teach all these different techniques.
@@AtharJaber are you going to be charging for the classes. Dont get me wrong you could make a lot of money teaching as ypu are an excellent teacher and you discribe in detail so much more than most people who are teachers so I can see ypu charging a really good price. I kind of hope you dont as I just started carving and I seem to have a knack for it and I enjoy it but because of covid and a few other reasons I would by no means have the money to pay you anything let alone what your knowledge, experience and wisdom are worth. Knowledge is a commodity that people fail to relize its true worth and value but knowledge with experience is worth 100x that if not priceless abd its a commodity that hasn't made it to the stock market. Lol Love your channel and all that you do. Thank you for imparting that knowledge and experience.
@@patrickstehl6500 thanks Patrick, it a bit of both. These tutorials are free to watch and they will always stay that way. But then I have online courses and private classes in my studio. Those are paid as the effort and time I put in them is considerably larger than these videos here on RU-vid.
Great stuff again. Let me ask something that has nothing to do with: I noticed that you and other sculptors use a cushion to work small pieces on. Is it a kind of sand sack?
It’s really my pleasure, I’m glad you enjoy them. Many more will follow soon. Regarding the stone, I’ve been collecting them for almost a decade, so I don’t remember where I got this exactly. But you can order a similar one at any stone supplier. It might take a while to get due to its thickness though.
@@RubenMalayan yes, I get them here: www.beeldhouwwinkel.nl/en/hand-sharpening-tools. If you can afford it, the diamond sharpening block would be the best to buy. Also, if you buy it there, at the checkout remarks, put the code ATHAR2021 and you will get a discount.
I don't have experience with carving granite so I can't give you exact information. If it's helpful, when it comes to marble, the grit of the stone depends on many factors such as the type of chisel, the stone to carve and the purpose of the carving. For letter carving in marble I generally use a 400 grit.
Can you tell me how to make a sharpening stone, with this carbide tipped sand paper glued (I presume) to a flat piece of stone. Stone I got, but what sanding paper for carbide tipped tipped chisels do I need? Thanks a lot in advance and keep up the great work!
Hey Ruben, thanks for the question. I wouldn't recommend using normal sand paper, this will not do the job. Use diamond paper instead. This is much stronger and will last much longer. If you have a flat stone, just glue the paper onto it using a strong glue such as an epoxy resin or polyester resin.
That's not really necessary as stone carving chisels don't need to be as sharp as wood carving chisels and also because sharpening by hand doesn't generate enough heat to affect the metal of the cutting edge. Also, I prefer to avoid water whenever possible as it might stimulate the developing of rust.
