Carving (3)

Now that the bowl and the slope to the front are carved, it's time to round the rest of the seat top into a pleasant shape. As with every process here, there are distinct step by step procedures that I use to get the results that I want. This is a very satisfying process, starting with a flat piece of wood and producing a curvy sculpted seat that is attractive and comfortable. 

An opportune time to clean up the bottom of the seat

Use the drawknife to create a large facet

Here you can see why the back of the seat was not completely cut out - its still needed for clamping. The drawknife work requires that the seat be clamped quite solidly, and the waste on the back of the seat is essential for this.

This is always counterintuitive, but it works out every time :)

Layout lines tell how far to cut

At some point you run into end grain and have to switch direction

One side done - the goal is a single facet from front to back

The other side

A facet on each side

A second facet on each side

Now the facets get faired and smoothed into a nice shape

One done

Pause for sharpening

Pretty good, this will shave hair off your arm

Tops both "done" - Now onto carving the underside