Watch out for the edges of big slabs of Speedy Carve

Ack.  I did it again.  I forgot to check my block of Speedy Carve for the bad edge that exists on some of the blocks.  Result?  I've carved too close to the edge and the registration sucks.  Grr...

Anyone who actually reads this blog probably knows about this problem, but for those who don't, here is the lowdown: Speedy Carve all seems to have a flaw where one of the edges slightly tapers off within about a half centimetre of one of the sides.  It's really hard to see when you look at a new block, so you need to take something flat and put it on the block to see if you can see daylight out one of the edges.  Simple solution is to just carve the opposite side or keep away from that edge.

Unfortunately, I've been carving so much lately with my new grey linoleum as well as the rest of my NZ Cut, that I completely forgot to check for that when I opened this new slab of Speedy Carve.

Kirbert eloquently talks about this problem in his excellent carving under the materials section of his site, here.

What I now do to solve this problem: write directly on the block where the problem is so I don't get too close.

I always have to remind myself to double check any carving block I use to make sure the material is even and flat... Any type of material can have flaws in it and I don't want to find out after I've done a complicated piece that there's one smack dab in the middle of my carve. Grrr.