![](http://bp2.blogger.com/_Tc0t8CgyXiI/SFBEqblzDVI/AAAAAAAABK0/aeGAzC8reoU/s0-d/Concave.jpg)
Rather than leave a smooth face on the wedge of the tusk tenon joint on the sawbuck table, I decided to jazz it up a bit with a carved pattern. The design is very small, only 1.125" in diameter.
A bench hook, a piece of scrapwood, and a nail kept the wedge from moving while I carved the design.
![](http://bp1.blogger.com/_Tc0t8CgyXiI/SFBEqhY9cgI/AAAAAAAABK8/Ma4ReTx4ALM/s0-d/Convex.jpg)
Chip carvers would reach for a carving knife to make this pattern, but I fare better with lettercarving techniques. I used a straight chisel and a gouge with a #3 sweep and made exactly the same cuts I use in lettercarving (here & here). The only difference is I angled the tools at a steeper pitch. A 20º angle just seemed too shallow.
![](http://bp3.blogger.com/_Tc0t8CgyXiI/SFBEq3CaFfI/AAAAAAAABLE/ySZHdxSPV5U/s0-d/Petal.jpg)
The gouge made all of the concave cuts: the outside wall of the circle and the petal shapes. And the chisel made the other cuts: the inside wall of the circle, which is convex, and the triangles.
To make the triangles, just slide the corner of your chisel into the
![](http://bp2.blogger.com/_Tc0t8CgyXiI/SFBErIiosGI/AAAAAAAABLM/qRflSx_BcmU/s0-d/StabCut.jpg)
Finally, a chisel and block plane were used to chamfer the sharp edges of the wedge.
![](http://bp3.blogger.com/_Tc0t8CgyXiI/SFBE2lczUjI/AAAAAAAABLc/2nL02NBNDuQ/s0-d/wedge.jpg)
![](http://bp2.blogger.com/_Tc0t8CgyXiI/SFBE2vpW0-I/AAAAAAAABLU/b3qGXfnrKzI/s0-d/final.jpg)
You can see in the close-up that the final design is far from perfect, in fact, my gouge slipped outside the circle a few times. Hopefully no one will inspect it that
![](http://bp0.blogger.com/_Tc0t8CgyXiI/SFEE0zYWpQI/AAAAAAAABLs/IeVDRISSsBU/s0-d/CloseUp.2.jpg)