Tools need sharpening. Keep separate tools just for scraping and very sharp tools for carving. If you use a sharp tool for scraping you then end up with a scraper but not a carving blade.
Thank you for taking the time to write feedback. I am responding to this comment and partially to a longer one you wrote that I can’t find outside of my email notification (did you edit the comment by any chance?) Everything you have said is nothing new to me at all, I regularly berate myself for not sharpening enough during filming. Normally I do keep my tools very sharp, however, with the camera and light set-up, I am stuck in a tiny corner with all of this equipment blocking my path and I often forgo sharpening as I dread having to move from my set-up. Keep in mind I have condensed 4 plus hours of carving in a 27 minute video. I sharpen at nauseatingly regular intervals when I am not filming. I am gradually phasing out all of my commercially bought tools (excluding saws and files). Even the best commercially made tools are easily beaten by the tools made by oneself. As toolmaking is a time consuming and tedious process, I tend to use the power grip and my other Japanese tools in ways that aren’t suitable to fill the void as I have been focusing my efforts on detailing tools. Also, I have studied netsuke carving using traditional ivory carving techniques. I am not a wood carver at all, I tend to use a hybrid of ivory and wood carving when working on boxwood. This is more apparent when I carve tagua nut. I don’t consider anything in this video to be scraping but rather shaving. This is the early kezuri stage, shaving is done before scraping. Thank you again for taking the time to write feedback, it is always great to hear from the community 😊
Oops. To continue about Michihamono tools. Their higher end tools I.e. those above their student grade sets, are either made of Azouri (?) or Blue Steel like power grips (equivalent to a more advanced middle grade) or the high end High Speed Steel or White Steel. I’ve almost two dozen of their often unique products suitable for micro carving. For example I have 0.5mm, 1mm, 1.5mm, 3mm, 4.5mm, et al gouges and chisels (fewer chisels than gouges as well as short bent and even short bent skews) which are well beyond the ranges and types of tools like power grips. I mention this source for such tools after years of searching for appropriate wood carving tools. I do not use ivory but do use (when available) French boxwood. I found some at Griffin Exotic Woods. Furthermore, I recommend you try Costelo boxwood (engravers refer to it as Lemonwood), which is comparable in quality to Asian boxwood. Netsuke are made by techniques often determined by their tools. Specifically various scraping tools for finishing work but mainly rely on exceptionally sharp micro carving tools otherwise. Power Grips do not have the smallest sizes needed for the finer details. Also a honing board to touch up an already sharp tool would help. My online source for the Michihamono tools was Goods Japan. Best of luck, enjoy carving!
@@wereflea8496 Thank you again for your detailed feedback. I absolutely agree that powergrip tools are very limited which is why I only use them in the early stages of carving. I am familiar with the Michihamono tools, my supplier of tools and sharpening stones stocks an extensive range of them (www.japanesetools.com.au/). They are good woodcarving tools but are hardly netsuke specific. I am rather fond of the Michihamono yari kana in a noh mask carving style. It has limited use in netsuke carving due to its size but I have been making smaller duplicates more suited to netsuke carving which are standard amongst 20th and 21st century netsuke-shi. If I were at an earlier stage of my carving journey, they would have been far more useful to me than the powergrip. As I have learnt more traditional ivory carving techniques, most commercial blades are useless at all stages of carving and I have little use for them. I am very well acquainted with castello boxwood. Back in my very early days of netsuke carving I was unable to find boxwood but was able to get castello instead. The similarity to boxwood is there but as I am sure you know it is softer and doesn’t take detail or polish to the same degree as boxwood. It does make a fantastic wood for beginners. Especially as one doesn’t have to contend with knot holes. That being said it is unforgiving with cracks and splits. I still have a piece of it left but after trying French boxwood there is no going back. I have also carved English, South-African and Japanese (don’t ask how I got it) boxwood. French beats them all hands down. That being said, the Japanese boxwood I tried wasn’t from Ise or other areas famed for producing high quality wood. I would love to try Ise boxwood one day. I have also worked in Indian ebony, kurogaki (Japanese black persimmon), lime wood (my least favourite) and black cherry. The honing board is a good suggestion, I use to use a leather strop with polishing compound for touching up. I don’t know why I stopped using it, I suspect it is part of an elaborate conspiracy to make my life more complicated. In all seriousness, thank you again for your feedback it is always appreciated. 👍
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Tools need sharpening. Keep separate tools just for scraping and very sharp tools for carving. If you use a sharp tool for scraping you then end up with a scraper but not a carving blade.
Thank you for taking the time to write feedback. I am responding to this comment and partially to a longer one you wrote that I can’t find outside of my email notification (did you edit the comment by any chance?)
Everything you have said is nothing new to me at all, I regularly berate myself for not sharpening enough during filming. Normally I do keep my tools very sharp, however, with the camera and light set-up, I am stuck in a tiny corner with all of this equipment blocking my path and I often forgo sharpening as I dread having to move from my set-up. Keep in mind I have condensed 4 plus hours of carving in a 27 minute video. I sharpen at nauseatingly regular intervals when I am not filming.
I am gradually phasing out all of my commercially bought tools (excluding saws and files). Even the best commercially made tools are easily beaten by the tools made by oneself. As toolmaking is a time consuming and tedious process, I tend to use the power grip and my other Japanese tools in ways that aren’t suitable to fill the void as I have been focusing my efforts on detailing tools.
Also, I have studied netsuke carving using traditional ivory carving techniques. I am not a wood carver at all, I tend to use a hybrid of ivory and wood carving when working on boxwood. This is more apparent when I carve tagua nut. I don’t consider anything in this video to be scraping but rather shaving. This is the early kezuri stage, shaving is done before scraping.
Thank you again for taking the time to write feedback, it is always great to hear from the community 😊
I consider power grip tools to generally of limited use for netsuke. I suggest you try some Michihamono tools which are hand forged of either
Oops. To continue about Michihamono tools. Their higher end tools I.e. those above their student grade sets, are either made of Azouri (?) or Blue Steel like power grips (equivalent to a more advanced middle grade) or the high end High Speed Steel or White Steel. I’ve almost two dozen of their often unique products suitable for micro carving. For example I have 0.5mm, 1mm, 1.5mm, 3mm, 4.5mm, et al gouges and chisels (fewer chisels than gouges as well as short bent and even short bent skews) which are well beyond the ranges and types of tools like power grips. I mention this source for such tools after years of searching for appropriate wood carving tools. I do not use ivory but do use (when available) French boxwood. I found some at Griffin Exotic Woods. Furthermore, I recommend you try Costelo boxwood (engravers refer to it as Lemonwood), which is comparable in quality to Asian boxwood. Netsuke are made by techniques often determined by their tools. Specifically various scraping tools for finishing work but mainly rely on exceptionally sharp micro carving tools otherwise. Power Grips do not have the smallest sizes needed for the finer details. Also a honing board to touch up an already sharp tool would help. My online source for the Michihamono tools was Goods Japan. Best of luck, enjoy carving!
@@wereflea8496
Thank you again for your detailed feedback.
I absolutely agree that powergrip tools are very limited which is why I only use them in the early stages of carving.
I am familiar with the Michihamono tools, my supplier of tools and sharpening stones stocks an extensive range of them (www.japanesetools.com.au/). They are good woodcarving tools but are hardly netsuke specific. I am rather fond of the Michihamono yari kana in a noh mask carving style. It has limited use in netsuke carving due to its size but I have been making smaller duplicates more suited to netsuke carving which are standard amongst 20th and 21st century netsuke-shi. If I were at an earlier stage of my carving journey, they would have been far more useful to me than the powergrip. As I have learnt more traditional ivory carving techniques, most commercial blades are useless at all stages of carving and I have little use for them.
I am very well acquainted with castello boxwood. Back in my very early days of netsuke carving I was unable to find boxwood but was able to get castello instead. The similarity to boxwood is there but as I am sure you know it is softer and doesn’t take detail or polish to the same degree as boxwood. It does make a fantastic wood for beginners. Especially as one doesn’t have to contend with knot holes. That being said it is unforgiving with cracks and splits. I still have a piece of it left but after trying French boxwood there is no going back. I have also carved English, South-African and Japanese (don’t ask how I got it) boxwood. French beats them all hands down. That being said, the Japanese boxwood I tried wasn’t from Ise or other areas famed for producing high quality wood. I would love to try Ise boxwood one day. I have also worked in Indian ebony, kurogaki (Japanese black persimmon), lime wood (my least favourite) and black cherry.
The honing board is a good suggestion, I use to use a leather strop with polishing compound for touching up. I don’t know why I stopped using it, I suspect it is part of an elaborate conspiracy to make my life more complicated.
In all seriousness, thank you again for your feedback it is always appreciated.
👍