Indirect carving

All of the great sculptural traditions of the past used the direct method of carving, but in Western civilization during the 19th and early 20th centuries it became customary for stone and, to a lesser extent, wood sculpture to be produced by the indirect method. This required the production of a finished clay model that was subsequently cast in plaster and then reproduced in stone or wood in a more or less mechanical way by means of a pointing machine (see Pointing below). Usually the carving was not done by the sculptor him- or herself. At its worst, this procedure results in a carved copy of a design that was conceived in terms of clay modeling. Although indirect carving does not achieve aesthetic qualities that are typical of carved sculpture, it does not necessarily result in bad sculpture. Rodin’s marble sculptures, for example, are generally considered great works of art even by those who object to the indirect methods by which they were produced. The indirect method has been steadily losing ground since the revival of direct carving in the early 20th century and such innovations as 3D printing at the end of that century.

Carving tools and techniques

The tools used for carving differ with the material to be carved. Stone is carved mostly with steel tools that resemble cold chisels. To knock off the corners and angles of a block, a tool called a pitcher is driven into the surface with a heavy iron hammer. The pitcher is a thick, chisel-like tool with a wide beveled edge that breaks rather than cuts the stone. The heavy point then does the main roughing out, followed by the fine point, which may be used to within a short distance of the final surface. These pointed tools are hammered into the surface at an angle that causes the stone to break off in chips of varying sizes. Claw chisels, which have toothed edges, may then be worked in all directions over the surface, removing the stone in granule form and thus refining the surface forms. Flat chisels are used for finishing the surface carving and for cutting sharp detail. There are many other special tools, including stone gouges, drills, toothed hammers (known as bushhammers or bouchardes), and, often used today, power-driven pneumatic tools, for pounding away the surface of the stone. The surface can be polished with a variety of processes and materials.

Because medieval carvers worked mostly in softer stones and made great use of flat chisels, their work tends to have an edgy, cut quality and to be freely and deeply carved. In contrast is the work done in hard stones by people who lacked metal tools hard enough to cut the stone. Egyptian granite sculpture, for example, was produced mainly by abrasion; that is, by pounding the surface and rubbing it down with abrasive materials. The result is a compact sculpture, not deeply hollowed out, with softened edges and flowing surfaces. It usually has a high degree of tactile appeal.

Although the process of carving is fundamentally the same for wood or stone, the physical structure of wood demands tools of a different type. For the first blocking out of a wood carving a sculptor may use saws and axes, but his or her principal tools are a wide range of wood-carver’s gouges. The sharp, curved edge of a gouge cuts easily through the bundles of fibre and when used properly will not split the wood. Flat chisels are also used, especially for carving sharp details. Wood rasps, or coarse files, and sandpaper can be used to give the surface a smooth finish, or, if preferred, it can be left with a faceted, chiseled appearance. Wood-carving tools have hardwood handles and are struck with round, wooden mallets. African wood sculptors use a variety of adzes rather than gouges and mallets. Ivory is carved with an assortment of saws, knives, rasps, files, chisels, drills, and scrapers.