The method of wood-engraving which is described in this book is distinct
from that known properly as “wood-cutting”. The “woodcut” is done with a
knife on the long grain of the wood instead of the end grain. It is
necessarily done on soft wood and is therefore less suitable for use in
conjunction with type in a printing press, except for large work. But the
wood-engraver should certainly practise the art of wood-cutting also and
for the purpose he will require, in addition to some planks of pear wood
or a similar fine-grained wood, a knife and several wood-carver’s chisels
and gouges—the first for cutting lines and edges and the latter for
cutting away the background. The knife (Fig. 27) is the most important of
these tools and the best form is like a very fine carpenter’s chisel with
a small handle, such as can be grasped in the fingers, a short blade about
one inch long, three-eighths of an inch wide and as thin as that of a
pen-knife, with the cutting end ground at an angle of about 30° with the
upper edge.
It is held very much as a pen is held for writing and, of course, the cut
is made always in the direction which does not burr the grain of the wood
just as a skewer is sharpened by cutting towards and not away from its
point.
Although in connection with the printing press the wood-cut has not the
same usefulness as the wood-engraving on account of the soft wood
necessarily used and the impossibility of doing the finest work with the
same degree of precision, nevertheless, as an independent art that of
wood-cutting is on an equality with any other, and, in one respect, the
fact that only soft wood can be used is an advantage; for such wood, pine
or pear, is more easy to get than a hard foreign wood like the Turkish
box-wood. The wood-cutter may therefore go into his own back garden for
his material and is independent of the foreign merchant. The difficulty of
the wood-engraver in this matter is, however, not quite insuperable, for,
if properly seasoned and prepared, holly or blackthorn are quite good for
end grain work and, though not as hard as boxwood, make a very fair
substitute.
[Alphabet, by Reynolds Stone. (By permission of Burns, Gates & Washbourne,
Ltd.)]
Alphabet, by Reynolds Stone _(By permission of Burns, Gates & Washbourne,
Ltd.)_
[From Forrest Reid’s Apostate, by Reynolds Stone (By permission of Faber &
Faber, Ltd.) ]
_From_ Forrest Reid’s Apostate, by Reynolds Stone _(By permission of Faber
& Faber, Ltd.)_
[Winter, from a sketch by Verrall, by R. J. Beedham ]