Braggin on ol' Tom H,

Folks we have a real artist among us! One day on the phone with tom, he said send me a good picture of you here is a picture of what he did with it I think he could have picked a prettier subject, and if it didn't wreck his knife he did a great job!

OPEN POST Thursday!

Well, Today's post. is pretty basic, obtaining carving wood. Tom H is still out of pocket, i waited till now to post a subject, hoping tom would post from his alternate location, but no Tom, seams then gals and grandchildren has him hostage! I finely got in my 50 pounds of wood from Heinecke Wood Products, hope the bill aint that hefty... fast delivery since last friday nice thing bout dale, he sends the order then bills you on the next billing cycle... i dont think you can get wood from him by paying the day you order unless you find him at a carving show... how do you buy your wood? practice sticks only? some blocks? I have been buying large blocks 3 or 4" thick x 7 or 8"wide x 12" since i got my bandsaw, so i had the choice of what i wanted to carve when it comes down to them days when i need to make an order, i still have at least one big block i can carve out a big horse or multi charter scene project still,. and not have to be forced to glue up a bunch of practice sticks to get enough wood, then there's the grain problems as they change direction at the glue lines Itasca has some great prices on overstock and half priced wood, besides basswood, there are other woods available for carving, butternut being one, Iv'e only carved butternut once, and found it wanting to tear out more than basswood or cypress knee, Although knowing conditions like wood wetness make lots of difference in carving performance i cant judge all butternut by the piece i carved. Herold Enlow once mentioned in one of his books that air dried wood was a little harder to carve than kiln dried? I dont know anything about it, but definitely have found differences in wood of the same species.. any other experiences out there? any sales out there? or different types of wood to carve?

Jeni bottle stopper' finish

Blem-bem Salablem, then the bottle stopper was as done as its gonna get!

OPEN POST Thursday!

It's Thursday. It's OPEN POST Thursday! This is the day and the place for you to leave a general or a specific comment. You got an idea, a question, or anything related to wood carving? If you can put it into words, do it under "comments" here. But, please leave your name, and/ or a link where we can communicate with you.

Pattern Jeni bottle stopper

Skill level: moderate skill

Jeni bottle stopper

inspired by tom h.'s thread on wci's mini cane round 2, segment carved by 'Kris' Toycarver

Drawn directly on 2x2x4" section of basswood the photo should transfer right to the block if printed and folded between front & side views and spray adhesive or use packing tape to apply the pattern for scrollsaw or bandsaw cutout, or trace pattern on to block and carve away waste wood using pattern as study. after its cut out. redraw pattern lines on the freshly sawn out blank to help you align all the main features and start removing scrap stock. with knife or gouge.. modify pattern to your liking, cut out and carve, Cork Attachment: use a section of 3/8" hard wood dowel, drill half through stopper with 3/8 drill in cork stopper's big end and in Jeni bottom and epoxy dowel & cork in place.. alternate method would be to use a large forsner, or pattel bit in the bottom of the Jeni, bit should be big enough to allow the neck of the bottle to go in the Jeni, (pattern base may need modification before sawing out allowing enough wood to be bored out,) the extra wood could be carved to resemble escaping smoke ir something like it...

Starting to see a Jeni?

Continue removing the waste wood make changes as necessary, to find the jeni in your block of wood, so far i have used mostly knife to remove stock but i have started using 1/8" "U"gouge among several others in rounding out this feller.

Carve on..

from the past

from the past here is what i considered simple, but maybe not for a beginner..

Basswood

a link to a album on my picasa at the just click the title of this post... post updated 7/23/09 Many carvers resort to coloring book's for patterns of items hard to find that children can identify with, coloring books are cheap, available lots of places and can be xeroxed to scale to fit the wood you intend to carve, and in the end the children can color them when your finished... Although usa has lots of copyrights on media, i wouldnt encourage you to go into business carving color book charters for sale, you could get in big trouble, but for your limited family needs i dont think its much to worry about...

Sheriff from disney/pixxar cars animated movie.

quick growth slash pine lumber. two 1x4x3" blocks glued up for this project i started from pine construction lumber drops for my Grandson who was 2-1/2 or 3yrs old, ok it was suppose to be "Doc" a 53 Hudson but a happy mistake turned it into a 53 Mercury, My grandson said this is sheriff not Doc even before it was painted... well i carved another the 53 Hudson, but he wouldnt wait for it to be painted, he took his Doc car home... and wont bring it back for paint yet, hes 5 now...

minature carving

Check out this link for the unbelievable Micro Miniature carving done with exacto knife carver also makes urns for pets...

I've got to give credit to tom h. for finding this site, he found an article in a carving mag...

Carving Roughouts!

This a WARNING! I am about to step off the deep end! About to cross over to a FAR SIDE. (I liked that cartoon series) So as radio talk show host Glenn Beck says, "You may want to wrap your head in duct tape to keep blood from squirting out your eyes and ears". Well, since you're carvers/whittlers you may want to use "vet or whimp wrap" instead of duct tape. Here goes! What would you think if you, a wood carver, found yourself in a conversation with a person completing a "Paint-by-the-numbers" painting, and that person compared your use of a computer/router generated rough out; to "painting-by-the-numbers"? Maybe no one carves rough outs!

Whittlin or (Maybe Carving) Cheap

People always ask the question, "Whats it cost to get into "carving". Well my answer is anywhere from $2.00 to $200, and up. First, you can do what I do. Hang around the bandsaw at a carving roundup and pocket the leftover trimmings. This is a piece of Butternut that was one of many I picked up at the bandsaw. The ol' Barlow pocket knife was purchased at a flea market for $2.00. Course I kinda reshaped the smaller blade and put a good edge on it. It don't take a large investment to get started.

Quote From E.J. TANGERMAN

E. J. Tangerman, considered one of Americans foremost authorities on woodcarving, stated in his Book "Whittling and Woodcarving" (1936); the following: "Most people have the urge to create - to make something worth while with their hands. Whittling and woodcarving satisfy that urge, with a minimum of investment in time and materials. To whittle, you need only a pocketknife and the side of a discarded box. To carve, add a few chisels and a carpet-covered board for a worktable." Any readers have any thoughts of Mr. Tangermans words? Is Mr. Tangerman laying out a difference between "whittling" and "woodcarving"? Is this a difference between a "whittler" and a "carver".