Carving Horses

Part 2 | Part 3

Having read what I have to say about drawing horses, you will realize that an accurate outline is essential before you can consider sculpture. After the carving starts, it is the only datum line, which remains. This outline can be used to make a wire armature for clay modelling, or for carving base-relief, or in the round. In my case, I carve in the round, finishing the work with a whittling knife, after obtaining the accurate silhouette with a coping saw, and roughing out the contours with a gouge.
When whittling, choice of wood is important. It must be close grained so that the knife will cut at any angle, with or across the grain, and soft enough to pare off the wood with one hand whilst holding the carving in the other; also it must be firm enough to retain every ridge and hollow. Lime is the ideal wood for the job. It is bland in colour and is not therefore suitable for an oiled finish which brings up the grain, but if, as in my case the animal is to be painted, it has no equal, though Jelutong is a poor stringy second choice.

If an oiled or varnished finish is desired, complete with some staining to enhance features, then I suggest woods such as English Walnut, Sycamore, which is beautiful but rather hard, Olive and the fruit trees, Apple and Pear. It really all depends upon what you are trying to achieve, as does the scale of the animal.

This exercise is the carving of a horse to make it look as realistic as possible, and as I have pointed out in the drawings, using measurements of an actual animal is the best way to get it accurate from the start. The grain of the wood must run down the small parts, in our case, the ears and the legs, though bent knees and hocks seem to survive when the joint needs to be flexed. At 1:16 scale, an 18 hands Shire horse requires a block of wood, 7 inches wide, 2 inches thick and 5 inches long, but it can easily be made up from several pieces which are doweled and glued together. I actually prefer to make the horse in two pieces, the joint running lengthways, which makes it easier to saw out the legs. If the head is to be much turned from the centerline, and this usually enhances the appearance of the animal, then it is best added as a separate block. In any case since the head is almost never directly facing the front, it is always necessary to set out its symmetry separately from the body. Lime blocks are usually purchased rough-sawn, and you must dress off the surface on which you intend to draw the side elevation with a plane.

Your final outline should be drawn onto a piece of greaseproof paper. This is placed on the surface of the wood, and the outline is pricked down with a sharp point, so that the little holes may be joined together with a sharp pencil. It is best to mark in the head, but to leave an eighth of an inch all round to allow for it to be redrawn when turned. Because of the stance of the legs, you must make two drawings of the horse from the near and the off sides, though of course the trunk is the same in both. If you are using two pieces of wood, then both drawings are used, one for each piece. If you are working from a single piece, then do not use the second drawing until you have finished sawing out, except for the legs of the other side; these are more accurately marked out and cut from that side.

It is of course possible to use a band-saw or mechanical jigsaw to cut out the shape, but I prefer to use hand-tools. In this case, it is a coping-saw, with the block held securely in a vice, which for me is a little metalworking vice, mounted 44 inches from the ground, much higher than an ordinary woodwork bench. Don't try to hurry, let the saw do the work, and concentrate on keeping the cut at right angles to the surface of the wood. Remember that the far end of the saw will always try to lag behind and cut corners. The blades of coping-saws may be inserted to cut on the push or the pull stroke. I prefer to push, but inevitably more blades are broken this way. It is essential to cut accurately, just skimming the outer edge of the pencil line, and this is a make or break stage in the carving. Make sure also that the ground line under the hooves is cut off absolutely square with a tenon saw, or the model will never stand firmly. Don't forget to cut the second pair of legs from the other side.

So far so good, the trunk should look like a horse, but the head is hopeless, and the tail and each leg run right across the body. Attend to the tail first. You cannot mark onto the wood from your paper because of the curved surfaces, so all the drawing on the ends has to be done freehand. Draw in a centerline for the whole animal; this is not normally straight, but in plan view is a shallow "S" curve to take in the set of the head and the positions of the legs. You can now draw the outline of the tail from the rear, and start to cut down to the contours. Hold the model firmly in the vice, because YOU MUST HOLD THE GOUGE WITH TWO HANDS, and work round the buttocks from both sides, across the grain, removing surplus wood with a screwing motion, to leave a rough outline of the tail. This should give you the necessary practice to start on the legs. If you have used two pieces of wood, which is much easier, the legs already begin to look right and you can dowel the two cut surfaces of the wood together as I have shown you in the diagram, but do not glue up. Use temporary metal rods in the dowel holes, when it is easier to hold each half separately in the vice while gouging out the contours.

Next >>