torching advice?

Posted this in other craft, and it was suggested that I post it here:

Hey guys.

I'm new, I've made one tiki and am currently working on my 2nd. I did a quick search, and I didn't see anything that jumped out about torching-in lines. If I missed something please link me.

Do most of you do the torch thing on the cut-in lines to give them more definition? Do you spray bomb them?

And if you go outside the lines do you just sand the stuff off you don't want?

These probably sound like really dumb questions, but I'm more of a car/surfboard guy & I'm new to working with wood so go easy on me.

Anyone want to enlighten me a little on the best way to do this? Or some good ways?

Also, just wanted to thank the mods on the site for having all of this helpful info online. This place is an excellent resource.

On 2009-06-12 08:06, pjc5150 wrote:
And if you go outside the lines do you just sand the stuff off you don't want?

Yep. This works with torching or spraypaint.

Sweet, thanks man!

By the way 4WD, I checked the stuff on your thread. Really, really amazing work man.

Gave me a lot of ideas and inspiration.

Hello & welcome!

I do a lot of simplistic carves that need the most out of what contrast they have, and tend to use burning a lot to get it. I always had a hard time getting way down deep, though, so what i've been doing lately is hitting the deep spots with flat black paint - going over the whole thing with the torch while the paint is still wet & then sanding the high spots. If you check my thread, you will find pics of carvings in all stages so you can see the effects and decide for yourself how far you want to go with this.

Keep carving & let's see some pics!

Tyler

If you torch, and find you haven't gotten as deep as you would have liked, try using a small stiff paint brush and push the charcoal into the recess. You will find you have much more control then retorching or spray painting. Charcoal sticks to pretty much everything and will stay in the groove. Happy carving.