Shawn, I can understand you asking the question because when I could no longer get the round spokeshave to cut, I went to the rasp. I followed that with the spokeshave and it started cutting again. :confused: It just seemed when using just the spokeshave, I'd reach a point where it stopped cutting. But when I followed up on the rasp cut, it cut again, even after the rasp marks were gone. Probably just my technique. Prior to this I had done some practice work on a cabriole leg. The results discouraged me from continuing. :o
John, for whatever reason, I cringe at the thought of modifying a well-made tool. A voice in my head says, "So you think you can do better than those who have countless hours more experience than you?" Yeah, I hear voices. ;) But maybe making slight alterations... (bites nails) Or maybe I just need to practice some more.------------------------------
I think someone said the best workmanship can be ruined in seconds by a bad finish... The moment I start getting that dye close to the wood I spent so long working on, fear sets in. After the black dye, I sanded it back. I ended up doing the whole body because I couldn't get it to feather properly and to leave a black border. For some reason, the arm cut lost all the curly highlights while the rest of the area still had black dye on it.
You can see the black dye darker in the curly figure in the arm cut. But after sanding it back, all that was lost, as if the dye didn't penetrate as deeply there as it did on the rest of the body, even though didn't happen on the edge. The belly cut was fine.
I applied NGR red dye over it but none of that highlighted the curly figure. It looked bland and washed out, just a bunch of tiny dots. It's like its ability to absorb dye deeply in the figure has been severely diminished. And I have no idea why.