Post #433263 by Benzart on Mon, Feb 9, 2009 5:24 AM

Ellly, Welcome to TC with your fun works, Love the Little boards! Also love that you are jumping into the face carving head first and full bore.
With time and experience will come the knowledge of what each bur will do for you. Just remember each bur has a specific shape and that is the shape which it removes from the media you are carving. The wheel burs will cut lines into a face and shape eyes, lips and places which need a crisp line. All the different sizes and shapes will get you into specific areas which need to be cleaned up and deepened without losing its small lines. I would take a soft piece of stone and just use every bur you have on it, experimenting with the shapes they leave in the surface.
There are many people carving Lava rock so Go for it and if you like the results then use more. most any stone that seems solid can be carved. I'm no expert there but my experience is that some rocks are hard and some soft and the harder ones give you better detail but are more difficult to cut. Which brings us to the Watering thingie! You can probably carve some stone dry but it will shorten the life of your burs a Lot, depending on how hard the stone and how good the quality of the bur. It's fairly easy to set up a siphon with a mop bucket and a length of fish tank air tubing or something like that. With a water stream running over your stone you will be able to run the bur faster for quicker stock removal, SO When carving dry, you Must keep the bur speed LOW, AND WEAR A DUST MASK!!! That dust is deadly.
There may not be diamond cloth available where you live but with your computer there are hundreds of stores just a click away. In the "Stone carving" thread are links for many tools and supplies like that so don't give up on that just yet.

I hope this was not boring and that it helps with your questions, now lets see some More of those beautiful pieces! :o :D :lol