<![CDATA[Nigel Brown – Jade carver

<![CDATA[Nigel Brown – Jade carver - Carving Tips]]>Wed, 01 Apr 2026 09:54:55 -0300Weebly<![CDATA[Tax invoices]]>Mon, 29 Dec 2025 06:00:24 GMThttps://www.nigelbrownjadecarver.com/carving-tips/tax-invoicesI had a client some time ago who wanted a tax invoice before he'd pay me.

In my ignorance, I thought it impossible to provide an official tax invoice, but an artist friend suggested I contact ArtsLaw (artslaw.com.au) here in Australia, and they informed me that as a sole trader, I could apply to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) for an Australian Business Number (ABN), and could then provide a legitimate tax invoice to my client for up to $1000.

ArtsLaw is a group of lawyers who love the arts and provide advice to artists of all stripes at low cost, or free, depending on how much work is involved. Anyway, thank you to the ArtsLaw staff for their kind assistance.

I applied to the ATO directly at www.ato.gov.au, and was granted an ATO (Sole Trader) ABN within a few days. I very nearly clicked on the wrong website - there are a lot of companies out there willing to charge people for a free service and with similar-looking websites.

The happy ending was I was finally paid and provided the piece to the client. Thank you to the ATO as well!]]><![CDATA[I'm still here ...]]>Tue, 30 Sep 2025 00:32:55 GMThttps://www.nigelbrownjadecarver.com/carving-tips/im-still-hereIt's been months since I added anything to my website - sadly work and other responsibilities had to come first. But I am pleased to say I am back to carving and will shortly get back to adding updates here.

Thank you for your forbearance. I look forward to being more proactive in the coming weeks and months.

Happy carving!]]><![CDATA[Noises]]>Wed, 05 Mar 2025 05:51:24 GMThttps://www.nigelbrownjadecarver.com/carving-tips/noisesHello again!

My apologies for my very long silence - sadly, my carving has had to take second place to renovations on our house and sorting out the block. However, when 2025 began I told myself I was going to try to do more carving as the most important jobs are done, and I have a line of long-suffering customers waiting for me to keep that pledge. So here is a new and very simple blog:

I was polishing a new batch of pieces this afternoon when I noticed a different and slightly louder noise from my point carver. It persisted and I stopped and checked the tightness of the usual nuts which come loose due to vibration. It wasn't one of them - it was two nuts ever-so-slightly loose holding the motor to the slide plate.

I tightened them and hey-presto, noise levels and sounds returned to normal.

The message is very clear - if your machinery noise changes or increases, stop and check for something out-of-the-ordinary - dry bearings, loose nuts, loose or over-tight belt, cracks in the equipment or whatever. Once you've found the cause, you can safely get back to work!

Happy carving!]]><![CDATA[Stay well & an impromptu needle-file handle]]>Wed, 01 May 2024 07:36:53 GMThttps://www.nigelbrownjadecarver.com/carving-tips/stay-well-an-impromptu-needle-file-handleThis month's blog is about staying safe and well, in two ways. I've banged on about physical safety in most if not all of my tips and quick tips, so the first is about mental health.

Mental health is as important as keeping yourself unharmed by your carving activities. Carving is generally a solitary occupation, and maybe at times the joy of carving can become a bit muted when things aren't going as well as you'd like them to.

My wife and I recently visited NZ and caught up with the two carvers who most showed me the ropes. Buddy and Steve, and their partners. It was wonderful to see them all after the COVID lockdowns, my wife's retirement and the continuing renovations on our new property. As a result, we'd not seen each other for a number of years, and I'd missed them.

That made me think about mental health. It's great to have a feeling of kinship, friendship and belonging with other people. So keep in touch with your family, friends, go to your local rock & mineral club, see the people who are important to you. And if none of those answer your needs, there are any number of organisations which you can reach out to. You may be a solitary carver but you don't have to be alone!

Figure 1 - these were the work of a few minutes, and much practice! Why not try it yourself?

The second tip is to keep your hands safe when you don't have a suitable needle-file handle. Whilst my wife & I were visiting Steve he made up the two "bubbly" cork needle-file holders for me. He told us it was an old watchmaker's trick. I attach the picture above to show you - you just have to do the whipping as soon as the cork is out of the bottle because once it expands and dries it won't be dense enough to hold the file securely. Steve kindly agreed to my including the idea in this blog. So there you go!! And thanks Steve!

Happy carving!

]]><![CDATA[Setting up my workbench & workshop]]>Thu, 07 Mar 2024 03:59:08 GMThttps://www.nigelbrownjadecarver.com/carving-tips/setting-up-my-workbench-workshopIt’s an obvious post to write – how I set up my workshop, given the circumstances. So here goes!

This was a big move for my wife & I – after living in a series of houses provided by her previous employer, upon her retirement we moved into our own house. The block had an old, small stable on it which was designated as my workshop and all the useful stuff I couldn’t bring myself to dump, and which couldn’t be stored anywhere else.

As an old two-stall stable, the entrance foyer was concreted, but the stalls on either side had a floor of urine- & groundwater-soaked bricks, on which I couldn’t store anything. The place also had a healthy resident possum population which had left its mark everywhere with any form of body excreta you care to think of. Welcome to the country!

So I needed to remove the bricks and replace them with poured concrete slabs. We found several well-hidden possum entrances along the way and blocked them up – it was time they found their own nests, out in the wild!

The workshop was dark, so I had a window cut into the end where my workbenches were going.

After removal of the bricks and the pouring of the slabs, the new floors gradually dried out. Our possum population didn’t like all the noise and left, and after a year of working on the house renovations and much wistful thinking about the design of the workshop, I installed my original “travelling” workbench which used to support all my equipment, and bought the wood and bolts for my larger, new, second bench. Heavy is good because it won’t vibrate much. The design for my new bench was basically the same as my original one, which has stood up to the job for the last 40 years. Bracing is the key here, and also anchoring it securely to the walls and floor so it doesn’t work loose. I also made sure it had a slight fall towards the front so any splashes would run off into the bucket or onto the floor.

Figure 1 - the new workbench completed and screwed to the walls and floor by angle-brackets. You can see the sheets of plywood under the timber worktop and as the lower shelf. There's plenty of storage. There is also a bead of timber around the worktop to stop water escaping towards the walls

I wiped a smear of sealant between the lengths of timber in case any leaks allowed water through to below.

Once it was built and installed, I laid out a new piece of fibre-reinforced rubber sheet and attached my point carver to the bench using the same spacing as on the old bench, and then carefully measured the clearance for my rests. I almost got it right the first time!

Figure 2 - here is my point carver and the large blade rest in position. The water line hadn't yet been installed down the back wall. Above the bench is my tool rest, with a slightly different fixing method to previous incarnations

I installed my Dremel above the right end of my bench, instead of the left, to counter an annoying tremor which I’ve developed in my left hand in recent years. That’s age for you!

After that it was a matter of installing the water line, which as we now have a water pump for the bore header tank, which cuts in whenever the pressure in the block ring-main drops, will be taking quite a load. It will also mean that the pressure of the spray on my laps, belts and blades will vary and I have yet to see how that will work. Maybe I’ll need to add a water bottle high up above the bench and use that instead?

Figure 3 - the workbench at a later stage. The water pipe is sorted out, and I've been fixing things to the wall and generally tidying. My old workbench is on the left of the picture

I’ve added another pool/industrial carpet section in front of and under the front of the new bench in case of dropped pieces of work and cut it to fit with the old one under my old workbench situated on the end wall in an “L” shape.

Our electrician then added more power points and new LED lighting, and that, basically, is it. Cabling has been tacked to the walls to keep it out of the way, equipment and tools sorted and put in order, and I’m now ready to go!

At long last!!

]]><![CDATA[Lapping tips]]>Wed, 14 Feb 2024 06:33:13 GMThttps://www.nigelbrownjadecarver.com/carving-tips/lapping-tipsJust before I packed up my workshop back in mid-2022 I’d been using my laps a lot and made some notes on several things I’d noticed at that time:

if the laps were rotated at 1000 rpm instead of my more usual 1500, the Wet & Dry (W&D) paper lasted twice as long as usual and I could get a lot more work completed with each sheet, which at about $2.50 a pop made good sense to me. See Figure 1 below
I pressed very lightly on the W&D paper

Figure 1 - I know it looks like a jellyfish, but it is actually a sheet of very well worn 600 grit W&D paper!

be very, very careful when approaching the lap with your work piece and apply it squarely to avoid that annoying rounded bevel to one corner or edge
I came across a beautiful piece of Marsden (Flower jade) which had an interesting texture of coarse crystals of nephrite (one was over a cm long by 0.5 mm wide and I only saw its size once it dropped out!) in a very fine, soft matrix. The polished texture was “orange peel” and try as I might, I could not get a good finish using anything finer than 400 grit paper as the softer matrix undercut so badly. So I left it at 400 and enjoyed the semi-matt finish! Think to yourself – do you need to polish every piece?
I’d finally worked out, after all these years, how to avoid losing fingernails when grinding thin pieces on the lap – attach a “T” of duct tape to the back and hold that instead. It’s so obvious I wonder why I didn’t think of it 15 years ago? No more ground off fingers – whoopee!! See Figure 2 below

Figure 2 - a small piece of duct tape attached to the back of a thin piece of Marsden. Normally I'd be grinding away my fingernails on the flats

and finally, for a perfectly flat surface you can’t go past a sintered diamond lap. Mine is 500 grit, but it’s not fast. Just a thought ...!

It's good to be back! Happy carving!

]]><![CDATA[In a couple of months??]]>Mon, 29 Jan 2024 04:13:44 GMThttps://www.nigelbrownjadecarver.com/carving-tips/january-29th-2024Some six months ago I thought I'd be back up and carving again in two.

Either my memory is going, or I'm slower than I used to be! Happy to say though that my workshop is now set-up, and I'm only waiting on the electrician to come and upgrade the lighting and install more power-points. Oh, and to get a few more things done out on the block, like assemble the raised beds and install them, along with the watering system.

So thank you for your patience - I'll be back in a few weeks, and already have a couple of monthly updates planned.

Happy carving!]]><![CDATA[Getting there!]]>Sun, 25 Jun 2023 21:59:34 GMThttps://www.nigelbrownjadecarver.com/carving-tips/getting-thereHi Everyone,

Sorry for the extended period of inactivity on the website, caused by packing up, renovating my new place, moving, and more renovating!

The good news is that the stables, which will become my new workshop, have had the leaks in the roof sealed, a new concrete floor poured, the possums have been pushed out and I'm starting to sort myself out in there.

But it will be a couple more months as renovations on the house continue, as well as trying to get the block into some sort of shape.

Rest assured I'm absolutely DYING to get back to carving!!! And as soon as I have anything to show I'll post it. In the meantime, thank you for your kind messages - they are really appreciated.

So happy carving and I look forward to talking soon!!]]><![CDATA[Equipment noise]]>Mon, 06 Jun 2022 23:09:06 GMThttps://www.nigelbrownjadecarver.com/carving-tips/equipment-noiseAs promised, when I get a moment to add items I will.

I am still working on a large piece which I hope to enter into an exhibition at the end of the month and over the last couple of days the tone of my point carver changed. Its tone became irregular and louder.

New noises on a piece of equipment are not good! I checked the temperature of the bearings and bushes - normal. Just to be on the safe side I oiled the bushes and greased the bearings anyway, and waxed and re-tensioned the belt, but it still made the same louder and pulsating noise. I checked all the nuts and they were tight. Then I tried the grub screws in the stepped pulleys.

One was loose!

I applied Loctite and tightened it, and instantly, the old hum returned!

So please take note of the noise of your equipment - it is telling you when something is wrong!]]><![CDATA[Normal programming will resume shortly ...]]>Fri, 18 Mar 2022 04:06:52 GMThttps://www.nigelbrownjadecarver.com/carving-tips/normal-programming-will-resume-shortlyThis is a busy year for my wife and I as she approaches retirement, we try to make-up time lost to travelling as the result of COVID, we prepare to move into our house near Canberra which entails quite a lot of toing-and-froing to meet with overworked tradies to help upgrade the place, and we have the actual pack-up, move and unpack which will keep us busy for months as we embrace a new chapter in our lives. It's all very exciting!!

What I'm trying to say is that due to spending less time than usual in my workshop, from where I garner ideas for my monthly carving tips, I'm reluctantly letting you know that I'll be less regular on this blog for the rest of this year.

But I'll continue to answer your emails, and if a suitable query comes in I'll answer it here. In the meantime, I hope you stay healthy and enjoy life as best you can in these still-strange times.

Thanks for your past support and ... happy carving! ]]>