Wednesday, May 19, 2010

N.W. Coast Totem

Mid May 2010

Time to carve: 4 hours
Finishing: 1.5 hour

When I was looking for a piece of wood for this slide, I knew it had to be a hardwood but try as I might, I didn't have a thick enough piece. Thinking about I decided, since it would be painted, I could glue a couple of pieces of maple together and with a good tight joint the side would look like one solid piece. I could rough this out a little on the band saw but most of this was carved by hand. I really have to say that this too a lot more time than I expected and necessitated many breaks to sharpen my blades. When it was done and sanded, I painted it with craft paint finishing it up with a couple of coats of poly.

Busy Beaver

Mid May 2010

Time to carve: 1.5 hours
Finishing: 1.5 hour


With the deadline for the deposit for a Wood Badge class I am going to take, I had an idea for my next slide. Now I don't know just which patrol I will be in but this slide might my critter. Carved from a solid piece of maple, this surprised me as being much easier to carve than I expected. I roughed it out with the band saw and set out with a sharp knife to round the surfaces. The hardest part of this slide was carving the head and "chewed" part of the log. Painted with craft paints, making the log look like a birch log took some time. Finished off with a couple coats of poly before adding the leather loops. Nice!

Arrowhead

Early 2010

Time to carve: 0 hours
Metal work: 2 hours
Finishing: 0 hours

Also while in Mystic, I picked up a couple of arrowheads at a gift shop with a few different slides. I been waiting to make this slide for awhile now and the arrowhead was the last missing piece. Using some leftover brass from earlier projects, the base of the slide was cut then hammered with a ball peen hammer to give the finished look. The holder, for the arrowhead, is also made of brass and took some time to custom fit. The slide loop,arrow head holder, and base were all connected together with a steel pop rivet. After all the brass was secured, the arrowhead was set in place and the holder tabs bent to hold the arrowhead.

Apple Core

Early May 2010

Time to carve: 1.5 hours
Finishing: 1.5 hour

...meanwhile. This slide was carved from a 1 1/2 inch poplar dowel. The center is made using a "chip" method while the top and bottom is finished. Painted with craft paints then the seeds and stem (from a real apple) are glued in place.A couple of coats of poly finish it off.

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Diversion (Wood Spirit)

Early May 2010

Time to carve:2.5 hours
Finishing:.5

Another slight diversion but a very useful one. While in Mystic, I picked up a book on carving Wood Spirits and with a request from my wife decided to give it a try. Using the rest of the birch stick I picked up for the Axe in Block, I carved this one night while following the directions in the book. The birch was rather soft and I came close to ruining it a few times. When it was done I decided to stain it with some minwax stain. It really changes the character of the piece but also made it hard to photograph (sorry). As it turned out, my wife decided not to use it for her project and came up with a good idea instead so now I have a nice totem for scouting.

Shark!

April 1, 2010

Time to carve: 4 hours
Finishing:4 hours

An extremely hard slide to carve since it has intricate materials that have traveled between here in Mass to Florida so many times...

Sorry a late April fool's joke on my sister-in-law. You see for years my wife and my sister-in-law have traded this shark pin back and forth for years. You never knew where it would show up as the last one to have it hides it somewhere at others house. It has taken on several variations. For example, we place some 50+ stickers hidden all over her house, while she and her husband were out, and would not tell her where the pin was till they found all the stickers. We, on the other hand, have 52 "shark pin" playing cards. So Chris where will the pin show up this time...

...and now back to the quest

Sunday, May 2, 2010

Wormy Apple

Mid April 2010 (End Jan. 2010)

Time to carve: 3 hours
Finishing: 1.5 hour

OK, so why the two different months? Well back when I was starting the Pueblo Indian Pottery, I started to create this from memory. My memory failed me in this case because when I took a look at the pattern I had craved it incorrectly. I threw this one into a bin of scrap wood. When I came to the Wormy Apple pattern it suddenly occurred to me I had this half down if I used this scrapped project. I threw it into a pack with my knife and went off to Mystic, CT with my family. The main part of the apple was carved and when we got back I started on the worm. The worm was make from a piece of white plastic with the segments cut into the plastic. Painted with craft paints and then the two pieces glued together for finishing with a couple of coats of poly.

Axe in Block

Late April 2010

Time to carve: 1.5 hours
Finishing: 1.5 hour

I thought about this slide ever since deciding to take Wood Badge training. The hardest part was finding the right "log" for the slide. I wanted a birch "log" but to cut a live branch I would need to wait it to dry out. Finding a branch on the ground in the woods proved to be a waste of time since anything on the ground, after falling off a tree, was too far decayed. What to do? Well a couple of years ago there was a ice storm north of here and quite a few trees came down in the woods and along the roads. Recently I was driving to one of our plants and I noticed how many birches were cut up lying on the side of the road. I stopped on the side of the road, in one such spot and fowund what I was looking for ... a seasoned piece of birch. The handle was made from a leftover piece of cherry and the axe head from "plumber's putty". This putty is amazing stuff! I am guessing it is an epoxy and dries has hard as a rock in roughly 5 minutes. During that harding time you and shape it any way you want and after it is hard it is sandable. A small V cut in the birch, some glue to fashion the axe to the birch, some craft paint on the head and this is ready for some poly. I can't wait to wear this on the first day of Wood Badge training!

O.A. Slide

Late April 2010

Time to carve: .5 hours
Other work: 1
Finishing: 1.5 hour


Made from some very thin birch plywood, the OA and the arrow were cut out and sanded. The W's were made from brass, basically cut out using tin snips, and filed to a finish. I painted the wood using craft paints and coated it with a couple of coats of poly. Something odd happened with the finish and the brass discolored in the corners probably because it was a water based and most likey I will remove it from the brass and try an oil based poly on the brass.

Pedro's Lucky Shoe

Late April 2010

Time to carve: 1 hours
Finishing: 1.5 hour

Next in my list was Pedro's Lucky shoe was the next slide in line and after doing the Pedro - His Mark slide it was an easy one to visualize. Made of Maple, this project took very little time after roughing it out on the band saw. Wought iron was a natural for the color of the slide and a couple of coats of poly finish.

Sailors Rosette

Mid April 2010

Time to carve: 0 hours
Other work: 1
Finishing: 1 hour

After spending some time in Mystic CT and seeing one of the largest Sailor's Rosette I had ever seen, I was reminded of a Whittlin Jim slide pattern. Now while the photo doesn't do it Justice, this really looks great! I made the weaving frame using some scrape pine and some brad nails. Leftover cotton clothes line forms the rosette. I needed to study the weaving pattern but quickly got the hang of it and once removed from the form, it was an easy task to tighten the rosette to the final knot. To form the loop, I tied the loose ends together with some thread. Finishing took a couple of coats of shellac.