Fleur de Lis (Basswood) : Instructables
Fleur de Lis (Basswood) : Instructables
Fleur de Lis (Basswood) : Instructables
by Coldmasyc
A eur-de-lis is a very common design in the European heraldic. The word ' eur' means in french ower and the
word 'lis' means a lily, eur de lis is literally translated to ower of lily.
In this instructable I will teach you how to carve a eur-de-lis out of basswood and explain how to handle the grain
of wood when woodcarving. So let's get started!
Supplies:
Pla nk o f ba s s w o o d (Other wood can be used like cherry or walnut, but basswood is the most
easy and yields the best result. I advise to not use pine wood as it splinters really easily)
Fre t s a w
Chis e l (o pt io na l)
V- chis e l
U- g o ug e (# 10 /# 11)
# 3 g o ug e
Step 1: Drawing
Using a fretsaw, saw your design out of the wood. Follow the outlines which you created in the previous step. This
results in a at piece of wood but already having the outline of the eur-de-lis.
Using 120-grit sandpaper clean up the rough edges created by your saw .
In the following steps we will use di erent types of Using words, this seems like a complicated idea but
gouges to round over edges, create the mid-section when illustrated it is a lot easier to understand. The
and carve the midrib. Before you start using the last image in the attachments shows the correct
gouges, it is important to know how the wood grain direction in which to make a cut. These tubes you see
a ects the way you cut the wood using a gouge. are the wood bers that we talked about earlier. As
you can see the length of the ber increases in the
Wood is built up of wood bers, these bers all lie direction of the cut. This way your ber is supported. If
next to each other and stretch out over the length of you cut into the wood in the wrong direction, the
the plank. You can think of the bers as minuscule wood could split but will most likely results in a
straws. The direction of these straws is what the grain jagged cut.
direction is.
If it is still unclear have a look at the video below from
So what does this have to do with carving wood? Well, the youtube channel "Stumpy Nubs"
whenever you cut into the wood you want the ber,
the straw you cut in to be supported by other straws.
ht t ps://www.yout ube.com/embed/5lt lSI1t P68?st art =102
This means that the next straw you reach in your cut
has to be longer than the rst straw you cut in.
1 1
2 2
1. V-gouge
3
2
1 1
1. Cut direction because of the grain 1. Gradually lower the green parts
We will now round over all the edges (except for the inside edges) of the 6 leafs, use the inside of a #3 gouge to
Fleur De Lis (Basswood): Page 5
round over the leaf 's edge. Again it is important to keep the grain direction in mind otherwise you will not get
smooth cuts. The direction of the cuts will be showns in the images above.
1
1
1. How it should look, after rounding 1. Cut direction because of the grain
Although a eur-de-lis does not have an actual they meet at the top of the leaf.
midrib, I liked how it would look and the extra
element it will provide. The midrib normally is the With a V-gouge start tracing the outline of the midrib,
central vein of a leaf and we will only carve it on the after this use the inside of a #3 small gouge to round
middel top leaf. over the midrib. Using the same gouge round over the
area around the midrib, this way the midrib seems to
Start out by drawing two lines starting at the mid be on top of the leaf.
section, these lines converge towards each other and
This time we will hollow the edge instead of rounding the edge. The only di erence is that this time we will cut with
the outside of the gouge instead of the inside, this will result in a hollow edge instead of a round edge. Do this for
the inside edge of the four outside leafs.
Look at the image above for the correct direction to cut. For the bottom two leafs, do not make the cut too deep or
you won't have a leaf left.
That is it! You succesfully carved your eur-de-lis! Normally I would treat my woodcarvings with boiled
linseed oil, this will result in a warm brown color of
If your woodcarving has a lot of rough edges or the basswood as can be seen in the last image above.
splinters you could try sanding everythingwith This time I chose not to because of the existence of
sandpaper BUT doing so will result in the wood to darker spots in the wood that will stick out like a sore
lose its shine and look a lot more dull. In case your thumb when treated with oil.
gouges were not sharp enough or some more practice
was needed to make clean cuts, you could still opt for If there are any questions, let me know in the
the sandpaper otherwise try to clean up everything comments!
using your gouge.
So AWESOME . Wood is such a great material. Thank you and voted for you .