[Woodcarver] Hearing

[Richard]

Good morning Joe

I have long thought that all of one's senses should be engaged in the 
practise of carving. Sight obviously and touch - taste? Perhaps not, 
except in the aesthetic sense.

When carving reliefs with a mallet and gouge, having lowered the ground 
close to the finished level and roughly defined the shape of the raised 
elements, the next step is to refine the shape of the raised parts. It 
is easy - and most beginners do it  - to chop down too far, leaving cuts 
in the ground. Then you chop down again, too far - and tidy the ground 
again. And so on until you have the classic 'rubber ground' effect where 
the pattern appears to be sinking. If you listen to the change in pitch 
as you chop downwards, the sound goes "tick, tick, tick". As you reach 
the ground level and closer to the larger mass of the piece, that 
becomes lower: "tock".

So, unless you have a large and noisy long case clock in the workshop 
you or listen to a lot of Haydn, your hearing becomes another tool.

Sir Richard the Horological Carver