Linoleum Carving
tips for starting and carving hard and soft linoleum blocks
There are tons of different kinds of linoleum out there! That being said, all linoleum can be broken into two broad categories: harder or softer. You will also find linoleum is sold mounted onto MDF or unmounted. Typically, mounted linoleum is type-high. If you plan to print on a Vandercook, buying mounted linoleum is critical. Otherwise, I recommend unmounted as it is cheaper and can be easily trimmed to any size you choose. Here are some broad pros/cons of hardness levels:
Really Soft Linoleum
pros:
-Easier to carve, and can be carved even with dull tools
-Easier to carve, and can be carved even with dull tools
-Prints well without a press
cons:
- generally more expensive
- generally more expensive
-holds less detail
-because it doesn’t have backing, it is limited to kind of small sizes
-does not print as well on a press
Hard Linoleum
pros:
-Holds a similar amount of detail as a woodcut, but is softer to carve than wood and has no grain
-Relatively cheap
-Holds a similar amount of detail as a woodcut, but is softer to carve than wood and has no grain
-Prints great on the press
-Relatively cheap
-Comes in different hardnesses. For example, a yellow linoleum is typically softer than a gray linoleum. You can select depending on detail level/quality of your chisels
cons:
-Pretty hard to carve. You need to have the right tools, and even so, it is demanding
-Pretty hard to carve. You need to have the right tools, and even so, it is demanding
-Difficult to print well without a press. A wooden spoon or baren can be used, but it takes a lot of elbow grease to get a good dark print
tip: all hard linoleums can be softened with heat. I’ll often keep an iron by my side and use it to warm the linoleum as I carve
Links for Purchase
[N.B.: I don’t have any affiliation with any of these vendors, and am just listing sites that have ok prices at the time that I’m compiling this]
-soft linoleum on amazon, generic and cheap but good
-Richeson easy cut, very plasticy feel slightly harder than others
-Soft linoleum, E-Z Cut (most common U.S.A. soft linoleum)
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Hard Linoleums:
-Golden cut, the softest of the hard linoleums, good but slightly more expensive and slighlty shorter shelf life (it gets brittle over time)
-Battleship Gray linoleum. The old classic, probably the most traditional choice in the USA
-Red Baron. Similar to battleship gray, just produced by speedball
Moving on. Thoughts about Chisels, links below:
Chisels are crucially important and can be the critical factor between having a wonderful vs. a horrible time carving your block. If you are only carving the very very soft linoleum, you can get away with buying cheap tools like this classic set. Anything harder and you’ll want to invest in better chisels or you’ll probably be miserable.
A high quality chisel will be made of steel that can hold up to re-honing and sharpening, and can therefore last the rest of your life. If you are new to carving, I recommend that you buy a cheaper set of tools to begin with. In the course of carving you’ll find that you gravitate towards two or three chisel profiles and sizes. It is, at that point, worth buying the top-of-the-line version of your favorite chisel size/shape.
Should you purchase your tools through McClain’s [one of the top suppliers of relief related supplies in the USA] they include a discounted tool sharpening option. Mail them the tools you bought from them and they’ll batch send all tools to be re-sharpened in Japan and then mailed back to you.
I personally prefer Western shaped tools [better for my hands/wrists] and have been using the linked Pfeil set below for many years. I’ve had them re-honed by a local sharpening service for $12 per tool.
Short of re-honing, polishing your tools regularly on a strop/using an abrasive and cutting the profile of your tool into a hardwood, and then putting abrasive into that carved profile and using that to polish your chisel can be very helpful.
Very good, cheaper option:
-Powergrip chisel set
Middle of the Road Option:
-For a slightly higher quality set, you can buy four
Japanese-made carving tools via McClains
Professional Grade Tools:
-Pfeil makes truly excellent quality tools in my opinion, and if your budget isn’t limited and you’re looking to buy a set that will last you the rest of your life, I’d recommend this one
Other recommendations:
-If you already have tools and want to upgrade just a
tool or two at a time, I recommend browsing McClains and purchasing one or two
of their excellent Japanese made chisels of various profiles as suits your
style.
-Flexcut also makes sort-of-okay tools, although over-priced for the quality of steel they use.
They can be bought as singles or sets in person at Woodcraft or Blick, but good luck re-honing them
