We are expanding our collection of wine cellar door hardware and have just designed a small cabinet pull that will function more as a cabinet knob.
The design was sketched by hand at full scale and from both the plan and front views.
The vine knob at 2 ½”W, 1 1/2” was designed for cabinet drawers and as a complimentary piece to the larger 6 ½” vine pull.
The small scale of this piece enabled Martin Pierce to carve it from a block of blue wax manufactured by Ferris® being a wax designed for use with high speed machines as well as steel carving chisels.
The outline of the knob was drawn with a felt tip pen onto the face of the block of wax which was then cut out on a band-saw. The individual leaf segments and fine leaf outline were cut using a slow moving scroll saw. Martin then carved the fine veins and shaped the leaf contours using 3 types of chisel and an improvised hand scraper made from a band-saw blade.
Many of Martin’s chisels were acquired when he was an apprentice wood carver and they were made by legendary William Marples & Sons in Sheffield, England. The chisels were forged from the finest Sheffield steel and they maintain their sharpness even when cutting dense hardwood.
For the carving enthusiasts and hobbyists amongst you can read more about the superlative chisels that were made by William Marples by visiting http://www.williammarplesandsons.com
Rio Grande is a good source for the blue carving wax