Kudos to halfeagle.com one of the coolest list of Scouter blogs I have ever seen. Also a great blog called Scoutmaster with good information and podcasts that I am looking forward to listening to when I get home. (On vacation right now and have a slide I am going to make based on a large one I saw here but more on that in another post.) I would recommend these sites to all scouts and scouters.
Misses? "Where did your site go?" asked my sister-in-law today me today. Huh? For some reason my site was removed for a time today but hopefully will stay up and I haven't broken a "terms of service" rule.
This is a quest to make all the slides featured in the Whittlin Jim's "Slide of the Month" in Boy's Life magazine. (Hopefully without doing lasting damage to my hands or fingers.) Blogging my progress along the way. I completed my task in March of 2017 and now post my own designs along with some other "Slide of the Month" contributors.
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Friday, April 23, 2010
Friday, April 16, 2010
Diving Eagle
Early to Mid April 2010
Time to carve: 4 hours
Finishing: 1 hour
At 7 1/2 inches this is the largest slide I have carved to date. (Actually the Giant Titanus Beetle is larger but that is just because of the antennas.) Carved from maple (yeah, I am on a maple kick)for its strength, this slide took quite a while to carve. I roughed it out on the bandsaw but even with this advantage, there was a lot of wood that had to be removed by hand before I could begin shaping the slide. Going forward, the wings needed to take on an elongated oval shape andmy knife didn't perform this task very well. The best way I found was to use sandpaper to shape the way I wanted. The feet had to be carefully carved as not to break off any of the parts. When finally finished carving and sanding I set forth painting this piece. I made one change from the original pattern when it came to the color scheme. The beak and the feet were suppose to be a cream color but when I painted them that color it just didn't look right. My wife has been following a live web cam of the birth of several Bald Eagles so I asked her what color they should be and went with it. (She's so smart.) A couple of coats of poly finish it off.
I like this slide so much, I going to save this till our next eagle ceremony and wear it then.
Time to carve: 4 hours
Finishing: 1 hour
At 7 1/2 inches this is the largest slide I have carved to date. (Actually the Giant Titanus Beetle is larger but that is just because of the antennas.) Carved from maple (yeah, I am on a maple kick)for its strength, this slide took quite a while to carve. I roughed it out on the bandsaw but even with this advantage, there was a lot of wood that had to be removed by hand before I could begin shaping the slide. Going forward, the wings needed to take on an elongated oval shape andmy knife didn't perform this task very well. The best way I found was to use sandpaper to shape the way I wanted. The feet had to be carefully carved as not to break off any of the parts. When finally finished carving and sanding I set forth painting this piece. I made one change from the original pattern when it came to the color scheme. The beak and the feet were suppose to be a cream color but when I painted them that color it just didn't look right. My wife has been following a live web cam of the birth of several Bald Eagles so I asked her what color they should be and went with it. (She's so smart.) A couple of coats of poly finish it off.
I like this slide so much, I going to save this till our next eagle ceremony and wear it then.
Hungry Frog
Late Late March - Early April 2010
Time to carve: 4 hours
Finishing: 1 hour
I like slides, sometimes, that don't require a loop to be attached to the back of it. The neckerchief simply passes through the body of the slide. Why? Well these slides tend to be a bit more tricky to carve and the Hungry Frog is a good example of this. Made from maple, for strength, the hole in the center is not straight through but take a curve following the curve of the back of the frog.
I hated to paint this one once it was sanded because it was such a great looking natural wood slide but it would be hard to see what it was at a distance. Painted with craft paints and coated with a couple of coats of poly
Time to carve: 4 hours
Finishing: 1 hour
I like slides, sometimes, that don't require a loop to be attached to the back of it. The neckerchief simply passes through the body of the slide. Why? Well these slides tend to be a bit more tricky to carve and the Hungry Frog is a good example of this. Made from maple, for strength, the hole in the center is not straight through but take a curve following the curve of the back of the frog.
I hated to paint this one once it was sanded because it was such a great looking natural wood slide but it would be hard to see what it was at a distance. Painted with craft paints and coated with a couple of coats of poly
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Artist's Palette
End March 2010
Time to carve: .5 hours
Finishing: 1 hour
One of the easiest slides I have made thus far! I had some thin pile wood scrap around
(from another project) and a quick trip around with a jig saw did the trick. Drill the hole and then elongate it with knife to accept the brush. I ended up having to do some carving on the brush too to make it all fit together correctly. Some dabs of color and a couple of coats of poly to finish it off.
Time to carve: .5 hours
Finishing: 1 hour
One of the easiest slides I have made thus far! I had some thin pile wood scrap around
(from another project) and a quick trip around with a jig saw did the trick. Drill the hole and then elongate it with knife to accept the brush. I ended up having to do some carving on the brush too to make it all fit together correctly. Some dabs of color and a couple of coats of poly to finish it off.
Bugle
End March 2010
Time to carve: 2.5 hours
Finishing: 1.5 hour
Delicate does not begin to describe this project. I had to pick wood that would not crack or break while I carved out the fine details of this slide. I decided on maple because of it's strength (and because I had just bought a big bag of the stuff). I roughed out the outline of the bugle and then drilled several holes in the middle to make roughing out the inside easier.
Without access to a real bugle, I had no idea how the tubes ran. I began to cut but quickly discovered that I had transposed the drawing. Yikes! Now what? I put down the piece for a couple of days trying to decide if I should start over. The solution came to me while I was in the shower one morning. Why not reverse the drawing on the computer screen then print it out. Once I had this, the pipes were easy to follow and as a result my slide is a mirror image of what the original drawings were. Lots of sanding on this one! Finished with gold spray paint I could have stopped there but the resulting slide just didn't look right. (Too shiny) I wondered what would happen if I sprayed it with the water based poly I usually use. Would the poly react the paint somehow? The result gave the bugle a weathered look...Sweet!
Time to carve: 2.5 hours
Finishing: 1.5 hour
Delicate does not begin to describe this project. I had to pick wood that would not crack or break while I carved out the fine details of this slide. I decided on maple because of it's strength (and because I had just bought a big bag of the stuff). I roughed out the outline of the bugle and then drilled several holes in the middle to make roughing out the inside easier.
Without access to a real bugle, I had no idea how the tubes ran. I began to cut but quickly discovered that I had transposed the drawing. Yikes! Now what? I put down the piece for a couple of days trying to decide if I should start over. The solution came to me while I was in the shower one morning. Why not reverse the drawing on the computer screen then print it out. Once I had this, the pipes were easy to follow and as a result my slide is a mirror image of what the original drawings were. Lots of sanding on this one! Finished with gold spray paint I could have stopped there but the resulting slide just didn't look right. (Too shiny) I wondered what would happen if I sprayed it with the water based poly I usually use. Would the poly react the paint somehow? The result gave the bugle a weathered look...Sweet!