I am primarily a hand tool furniture maker and have recently tried a little bit of carving to add some decorative elements - mostly shells.
I am currently attempting a Chippendale lowboy in cherry that has some carved floral elements along the lower apron.
Once I've incised the outline and lowered the background, I struggle with using a gouge upside down to round over the upper edges of curved elements. It seems like I can never get the handle low enough to avoid the edge "digging in" and causing chip out on these delicate edges. Is there a particular type of tool I should be using for this? Maybe some kind of "back bent gouge"?
For the equivalent job in furniture scale work I would use a half round rasp, file or a scraper to get the symmetrical "Bead" shape I'm looking for. Given the delicate grain in the carving that I want to "round over", it seems like some kind of abrasive tool might offer some advantage's in reducing chip out vs. a cutting tool? Is there some kind of equivalent scraper or abrasive tool I should use for this job with smaller, carved, curved elements?
I have a small riffler that is sort of a curved triangle on one end and a curved "paddle" on the other. It's hard for me to hold and doesn't work very well for me. I would think some kind of similar tool for smoothing the outter edge of curved elements where they meet the background would be very helpful- maybe a "diamond point" riffler? Any suggestions / recommendations are much appreciated!
Thanks, Mike