Carving...birds..like I've got nothing else to do..

[Norske3]

I'm thinking of trying it...saw some beautiful large scale carvings of birds of prey in a shop at Mystic Conn last week .......anyone doing it?...suggestions on knife brands...Good mag here>>>>web page

[ 10-25-2003, 08:21 PM: Message edited by: Norske3 ]

[Bob Smalser]

[huisjen]

I remember one Thanksgiving a few years ago when I was the only vegetarian present in a crowd of about 20 and the only one who knew how to carve a turkey.

Dan

[Norske3]

Ok Bob..that's one idea but I'm not in that much of a hurry...and the noise would scare off all the real thing in my yard..

HA!...now that's funny Dan.

GOOOOOOOOOOOO MARLINS!!!...only because I am a Red Sox fan .

Thanks Capsize..basswood is a good thing...Martha told me so...so it must be true.

[ 10-25-2003, 09:02 PM: Message edited by: Norske3 ]

[Captain Pre-Capsize]

Go with basswood - it seems to be the hands down favorite for such carving.

Recall that I was the one that carved my ten foot mast out of oak, primarily with hand tools. Never again...

I reassure myself by thinking, "Well, it is one of a kind...

[ 10-25-2003, 10:22 PM: Message edited by: Captain Pre-Capsize ]

[Bob Smalser]

Hirsch

http://www.tools-for-woodworking.com/product.asp?3=2464



or Freud

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...&s=hi&n=228013



Spendy, but you'll never need to buy another.

Greenlee, Marples, Buck, Taylor and others also made excellent tools.

Or as an alternative, Ebay is full of poor chinese clone sets in the 30-dollar range if you think you'll only do it a few times. They work...just need resharpening often.

[Nora Lee]

I spent about 45 minutes talking to a master bird carver at the Albemarle Craft Fair this afternoon.

I spoke to him about the possibility of him carving an eagle figurehead for our boat. I want to surprise my hubby, the Captain (and he does't let me forget it) for his 60 b'day next year.

I want an eagle with wings thrust backward against the clipper bow, with Red, White & Blew streamers flowing behind.

We only give gifts to each other, for the boat, as she needs ALL of our disposable income, if we are to get underway in 2005!

Sea Fever Owns US!

Regards,

Nora

B.O.A.T.
"Break Out Another Thousand"

[Norske3]

THANKS BOB....excellent ..........yes Nora , a transom Eagle;I want to carve one myself..a small one for my fireplace...nothing else would do for a boat I suppose... a chicken wouldn't cut it. [img]smile.gif[/img]

[ 10-26-2003, 08:01 AM: Message edited by: Norske3 ]

[Bob Smalser]

Y'know, Ebay has some great buys on good tools, but Marples, Greenlee, Taylor, et al chisels and carving tools aren't one of those.

These Taylors will probably go for close to 15 bucks each:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...category=13871



You will look for months buying up odd pieces of top-quality carving tools and chip knives, and wind up spending as much as you would on the new Freuds at Toolcrib.

[ 10-26-2003, 12:00 PM: Message edited by: Bob Smalser ]

[Norske3]

Hello Bob...Hirsch has a starter set...6 pieces...$65.00....that looks good to me.

BOB have you done any carving?

[Bob Smalser]

Not much....maybe some day....my little Bufflehead ducks and other decorations are done with a xerox machine for the pattern and oil paints covered by tung varnish after carving with simple gouges:



In fact, I have a stack of 5/4 W. White Pine curing and waiting for some day when I replace these tacky routered signs with proper chip carving and gold leaf.

But I've checkered and inlaid various materials in dozens and dozens of gunstocks, like this frilly one I made from a blank for the new bride 3 decades ago....checkering one way to make pin money while watching TV in the evening.



[ 10-26-2003, 12:43 PM: Message edited by: Bob Smalser ]

[nekkkk]

As well as lettercarving for boats, I do specialty relief carving. You can have a look at www.boatsignage.com . Ken. Vancouver

[Norske3]

Very nice gun work Bob....yes indeed. [img]smile.gif[/img]

[Bob Smalser]

What I don't do worth hooey is photography....but checkering is cool when finished with a light tung oil and a toothbrush because it shows the figure well beneath the carving in a nice matte contrast with a the hand-rubbed finish...consider than in your carving...finish the piece before you carve where possible:







[ 10-26-2003, 03:14 PM: Message edited by: Bob Smalser ]

[N. Scheuer]

You rang, Norske?

Carving lifesize songbirds is one of the things I do when I'm not sailing, or otherwise occupied with boats.

I do all of my work lifesize, in-the-round, and so am able to carve in a simplified style using only "bench knives" or "utility knives" having a short straight-edged blade.

A comparative few carvers work in-the-round using gouges, as posted above. However, gouges are usually used for relief carving.

Basswood is great under the knife, but not very colorful for various finishes. My unique coloring system, common oil paints thinned with mineral spirits, works much better on Northern White Pine, and so I use that for the bulk of my work.

I have five "bench knives" which I sharpen all at once, then work my way through them as each becomes dull. My sharpening system is simply a set of progressively finer stones, culminating with a hunk of very fine slate my Grandfater used to whet his sythe.

I have a fairly complete set of gouges, similar to those appearing in other posts above, but rarely use them. I bought only a few of them retail. The others were either given to me, or found cheap at garage sales. You don't need fancy tools to good work in this game. Excellent "bench knives" can be made from old straight rasors. I made one years ago and it is one of my five "regulars".

Good Luck, Moby Nick

[seafox61]

Have you considered power tools? I rough out the blank with a band saw and then use (brand name) dremal tools. I guess the generic name is a rotary tool? their is another lind that uses a bench grinder and sends the motion through a tub like a speedomiter cable to a hand wand I have not used this but can see some noise and weight advantages.

as a youth I got an exacto knife kit and have used it quite a bit

my great uncle george clark had a carving museam west of denver colorado. he had carvings from a 70 foot tree made into a ball and tower and chain links and hinges all the way down to a sliver of wood an inch long 3/16th wide and the thickness of paper, on a 10 doller bet he carved a ball in a tower. another carving was a pair of wooden plyers about 6 foot long and two three feet long carved from the scrap of the first then 4 18 inchers and 8 9 inchers and 25 5 inchers and 50 2 inch wrenches. George clark used what ever tool seemed best from chain saws to pockit knifes
jeffery

[Norske3]

THANKS MOBY DICK AND SEAFOX [img]smile.gif[/img] ....something to think about.

[Paul Scheuer]

An impressive page there, Norske3, although I've never been a big fan of that kind of detail work. Don't get too hung up on tools or masterful results. Start slicing, each one gets better than the last. There is also a degree of satisfaction in small stuff.



Or maybe bigger stuff, with less detail.



Here's one of Nick's early pieces.

[Bob Smalser]

Lovely work...decoys are a field all their own.