The first 10 years

Ten (ish) years ago I started this blog with a goal of making all the Whittlin Jim slides (which I finished in 2017) and then to make all Slide of the Month slides from Boys Life. So with the close of 2020, I've now made all the of them. (There are a few odd ball slides that appeared Boys Life I've yet to make, like the one in a Coke ad for example.) There are over 100 Philmont themed slides, some other designs from the internet and friends. Last but not least, a fair amount of my own designs. There have been wonderful slides I'm proud of and a few that, well, I'll revisit sometime in the future to improve upon. There have been cuts, blisters, an annoying wart on my thumb that had to be surgically removed and a few stitches but still the thrill of making slides has been a wonderful pastime. To date, I have over 500+ slides (not all published yet) and trying to calculate how many I have in my head this morning kept me from sleeping.  That's more than 50 slides a year!

So what does the future hold? Well I'm going out this morning to buy more storage boxes and I already have a bunch more designs in my mind. Who knows but I'm reminded of the line in Jaws...

 "You're going to need a bigger boat"

Slide of the Month Extra -Red Roof Inn

December 2020

Time to make: 2 hours

Finishing: 1 hour

Original design:  Bill Macfarlane

Days till Philmont 2022Countdown

 

Unless you have been to Philmont, you might not get the humor in this slide. Let just say this was a more acceptable slide than the others I could have made (pilot to bombardier,  pilot/co-pilot, or solo flight). A word to the wise, beware of the rash inducing spiders from mars. 

Carved from southern pine and painted with hobby paints. The slide is finished off with a couple coats of poly.

Slide of the Month Extra - Volunteer Vacation

December 2020

Time to make: 2 hours

Finishing: 1 hour

Original design:  Philmont / Bill Macfarlane

Days till Philmont 2022Countdown

 

Calling all Philmont alums! Want to experience Philmont again while giving back? Well bucko saddle up and join the "Volunteer Vacation".  The Philmont Staff Association sponsors crews of adults for one week of service constructing trails at Philmont Scout Ranch ever year. (Virus and fires permitting)

Carved from pallet wood (southern pine) this is another patch adaption involving mutable layers. The top layer is the arrowhead followed by the outer ring and the background. The slide is painted with hobby paints and the pick and axe were painted with paint pens. (I'm not fond of the job I did on the later...). The lettering was done using waterslide paper and an ink jet printer. A couple of coats of Poly finish it off. 

Slide of the Month - Beaver

December 2020

Time to make: 2 hours

Finishing: 1 hour

Original design:  Jeff Springer

Boys Life Sept. 1995, page 54










For the Wood Badge "Critter" folks I present the Beaver. (Still not as great of a Patrol as the da Bears but I digress.)

 Carved from maple, I really like the cartoon nature of this slide! Painted wit hobby paints and sealed with a couple coats of polly

Slide of the Month Extra - Philmont bear bags

November 2020

Time to make: 3 hours

Finishing: 1 hour

Original design: Bill Macfarlane

Days till Philmont 2022Countdown

 
When camping in bear country, or other critters, one method of  food storage is "bear bags". In Philmont this is the only acceptable method of food storage. The larger of the bags typically contains most of the food (sometimes 4 days worth) and requires several folks just to hoist up the cable.  The smaller "whoops" usually contains the things that needed more frequently or are last minute forgotten items hence the nickname. 

There are a couple of methods I could have used here with the first being to glue two large dowels to a flat piece of wood for the trees. Instead I decided on a stock removal method of carving the trees by removing the wood around them. I painted the slide with hobby paints which on retrospect was a mistake because I should have waited until  I drilled holes for the cable and ropes. (Always learning, sigh). The cable is a piece of stainless steel wire super glued in place. The bags were made from some left over material and the ropes are some thick thread. I used some crazy glue to secure both my knots and the position on the cable as well as the positions on the tree. A couple of coats of poly finish it off.

Slide of the Month Extra - Philmont Buffalo

November 2020

Time to make: 3 hours

Finishing: 1 hour

Original design:  Philmont / Bill Macfarlane

Days till Philmont 2022Countdown

 

When I've thought about Philmont, I never thought there were buffalo there but I was wrong. It turn out there is a herd of about 150+. When I was younger, the American buffalo were an endangered species, but due to the efforts of many, it is now considered  "near threatened"

Carved from southern pine (pallet wood), painted with hobby paints, and finished off with a couple coats of poly.  While I really like the slide, the pictures I took don't show the buffalo's details very well because of the dark brown color. (Sorry about that!)

Slide of the Month - The Soaring Eagle

November 2020

Time to make: 2 hours

Boys Life "Slide of the Month"

Sept. 1993, page 59

Original design: Jeff Springer












Wow, I really like this modern look of an eagle head. It almost reminds me of the Philadelphia Eagle's logo but I'm not much for a football fan.

Carved from maple and painted with hobby paints. A couple of coats of poly finish it off

Slide of the Month - Jack-O-Lantern (enhanced)

 

        October 2020

        Time to make: 2 hours

        Boys Life "Slide of the Month"

        

        Nov. 1994, page 58

        Original design: Don Gubler







So lets add more power to the Jack-O-Lantern slides!

So much fun to have a pulsing light to give a eerie feel to this slide. I started with carving the basic Jack-O-Lantern out of maple and painting it with hobby paints. A couple coats of Poly served to seal the paint and give it a harder finish.  The next step was to hollow the pack of the slide to so there will be space for the light.  For the electronics, I took apart a battery powered  "tea light" which is ideal for the way the light flickers. The useful parts I was able to harvest was the  LED light, switch, and battery.  I could not use the battery compartment so I used a button battery holder I had left over from another project.  I  soldered the circuit together and after testing, began to assemble the components to the slide. I used 5-minute epoxy to mount the LED just above the eye holes, switch to the side and the battery holder to the back of the loop. After the epoxy had hardened, I routed the wires as neatly as possible and used some more epoxy to keep them in place.

All and all, a great upgrade to an already good slide!

Slide of the Month (Just for Fun) - Impostor Among Us

    October 2020

    Time to make: 2 hours

    Finishing: 1 hour

    Original design: Bill Macfarlane

Wait did Orange just come out of the vent?!!!!!  

A online version of Werewolf,  the crew members of a spaceship are pitted against an impostor set on killing the crew.  But who is who?  Only the crew can decide by voting who goes out the airlock. Oh, and while your at it, there are tasks you need to complete too. Among Us is just a lot of fun and runs on mobile or Steam. (I also think InnerSloth is a great name for a group of game developers.)

Oh boy this was fun to make! I had a couple of pieces of pine left over from another project and originally started carving the green crew member and that when very quickly. Hmmm...could I make the Impostor? So after I found a version I thought I could carve, I set about carving the basic shape of it.  Next, I formed the tongue and teeth using some plastic model sprue and heat. I painted the Impostor  and with hobby paints (like I did with the crew member) before painting the tongue and teeth using some paint pens. When everything was dry, I glued the parts in place. Now I had two slides I thought until I put them next to each other then HOLY COW this looks better. I connected the two figures using a small piece of coat hanger, a couple of holes, and some more super glue. Luckily for me, the tongue was a little long so I could cut off a bit and glue it to the head of the green crew member. A couple coats of poly finish it off.

Slide of the Month - Jack-O-Lantern Slide

         October 2020

        Time to make: 1 hours

        Finishing: 1 Hour

        Boys Life "Slide of the Month"

        

        Oct. 1980, page 71

        Original design: Wayne Mason

As I understand it, Jack-o-Lanterns are based on the Irish folk tail of Stingy Jack. 

A quick, fun little slide made from pallet wood! I started out cutting a semi round disk and then rounding the wood into a half dome(ish). Using some deep v-cuts, I formed the sections of the pumpkin. A bunch of sanding to make it smooth and painting with hobby paint. The eyes, nose and mouth were painted with a paint pen. A couple of coats of poly finish it off.

Slide of the Month Extra - Philmont Boot Tread

September 2020

Time to make: 3 hours

Finishing: 1 hour

Original design:  Philmont / Bill Macfarlane

Days till Philmont 2022Countdown

 

Another in my Philmont concept series! While Philmont Scout Ranch is a number of things from training to special events, it is probably best known for the treks.  Strap on a backpack of all the things you'll need on the trail and head off into an adventure.  An essential for the journey, footwear in good condition and a backup pair just in case. Don't be that Scout that has to duct tape their boots back together on the trail. (Yes, I'm looking at you Mr. H)

Admittedly, this slide started out as a odd looking scrap of maple I had kicking (no pun attended) around and I was about to throw away. It looked kind of like the shape of a boot print in the mud so the idea of the boot tread slide was hatched. The tread design is loosely based on my boots with the Philmont name carved into the middle. The slide took a couple of tries to complete and there will be a follow up slide from one of the missteps. When it came to finishing, the natural look of the maple was appealing so I used a paint pen to highlight Philmont and finished the slide with a couple coats of poly.  

Slide of the Month Extra - Philmont Old Bull logo

October 2020

Time to make: 1 hours

Finishing: 2 hour

Original design:  Wagion Lodge 6 / Bill Macfarlane

Days till Philmont 2022Countdown

The bull has long been a symbol of Philmont and this was an early representation in a 1954 patch from  the Wagion Lodge 6 (Order of the Arrow) from West Moreland and Fayette located in South-Western Pennsylvania. The Wagion Lodge celebrates 100 years as an Order of the Arrow Lodge in 2020. So if you are visiting my site from Lodge 6, I bid you welcome Brother (and or Sister) from the distant past Lodges of Nischa Nimat and Memsochet.

I carved this slide relatively quickly from maple but I have to say, I enjoy the lines of the slide and the feel of it in your hand. Painting the slide on the other hand took more time than I expected. As I'm writing this, I still wonder how many times I repainted it and how my hands were steady enough to paint line within lines. That being said, the slide is painted with hobby paints and finished off with a couple coats of poly.

Slide of the Month Extra - Kit Carson Museum

September 2020

Time to make: 2 hours

Finishing: 1 hour

Original design:  Philmont/Bill Macfarlane

Days till Philmont 2022Countdown

 

Well, back on the horse counting down the days till our council's next Philmont attempt and I guess I can go back to publishing Philmont slides on a irregular schedule instead of cramming them all into a few weeks. (I still think I have more Philmont slides than there are weeks till July of 2022!)

The Kit Carson Museum at Rayado is located seven mile south of Philmont Headquarters  and is an adobe structure built by the Boy Scouts of America to recount the history and exploits of Lucien Maxwell and his friend Kit Carson.

Another slide carved from basically a piece of wood from a broken pallet recycled into a neckerchief slide. Carved from southern pine it's a relatively simple design of layers and painted with hobby paints. Inkjet printed waterslide paper was used for the labels and a paint pen was used for the fine details. A couple of coats of Poly finish it off.

Slide of the Month - The Arrowhead

September 2020

Time to make: 2 hours

Boys Life "Slide of the Month"

Nov. 1995, page 65

Original design: Jeff Springer












The Arrowhead is one of the most popular symbols in Scouting from the Cub Scouts arrow points (discontinued) to the Philmont award for successful completion of a trek. It's the symbol of many Scout camps and a few councils.

Another in Jeff Springer's series, it is one pattern I would suggest to someone just starting out wood carving.  Carved from maple, it is really hard to make a mistake with this slide. Painted with hobby paints and finished with a couple of coats of poly.

Slide of the Month - Monkey Fist

August 2020

Time to made: 1 hour ish


Design: Bill Macfarlane

I've been told many a story about the Monkey's Fist knot -  everything from weapon to weighted end on a throwing line .  Mostly I see them as key chain fobs, zipper pulls, or hanging off back packs but I got a thought. What about a slide?

Tied with some spare paracord and a wooden ball it is finished off with bowline for the loop...

Slide of the Month - Ladybug

August 2020

Time to make: 2 hours

Boys Life "Slide of the Month"

Apr. 1987, p. 63

Original design: Bill Fleming












Coccinellidae (better known as ladybug in the US or ladybirds in the UK) are the gardener's friend because they eat lots of pests like aphids. My grandparents also me it was a sign of luck when you found them around.


A quick and easy slide carved out of maple and painted with hobby paints. Finished with a couple of couple coats of Poly and has a wooden looped to the back.

Slide of the Month Extra - Philmont Council Contingent

July 2020

Time to make: 3 hours

Finishing: 1 hour

Original design:  Bill Macfarlane

Days till Philmont 2022Countdown

Today is the day! (That was till Covid-19 reared it's ugly head) So, my pack is unpacked and I'm back in prep mode for Trek 7-11C in 2022. 

My design took the  2018 contingent (whose trip was cancelled because of the Ute fire) design and added the rising sun, in the form of the Zia,  to symbolize a new beginning and hope for the returning members to the 2020 crews. The only difference between this and our final logo was a gray background.

Carved from maple, it was great to bring this project from an idea in my head, to design on the computer, to offical crew logo, and finally a multi level slide. The top level is the Tooth of Time but what you can't see in the photo is the different levels within the mountain and hill in front of it.  The next level is the dome of the sun followed by the rays of the Zia. I used a Dremel tool with a saw bit to cut the spaces between the rays. The last level is the background

Painting this slide turned out to be the hardest part of the slide as I had to paint the Zia a few times to get it right and trying to interpret the vegetation on the Tooth. The paint is hobby paint and a couple coats of poly finish it off.

Slide of the Month - The Shield

July 2020

Time to make: 2 hours

Boys Life "Slide of the Month"

June 2000, page 59

Original design: Jeff Springer












Happy Independence Day (or Treason day if you are in England...lol)

 This is one of the slides that strike a note of summer days laying under a tree reading comic books. The first time I read Captain America, (I think it was a reprint of the origin story), the heater shield  was the type he carried  and was later change to a round shield by Jack Kirby.

Carved from maple, its an easy rounding to form the shield shape. Most of the design was done with hobby paints and the stars were done with paint pens. Finished with a couple coats of poly.

Slide of the Month Extra - Philmont 2021

June 2020

Time to make: 1 hours

Finishing: 1 hour

Original design: Philmont\Bill Macfarlane

                                   DAYS TO PHILMONT                                   

       2020 Cancelled       

I have no words to express my disappointment. Let's hope 2021 treks go off without a hitch

Update June 4th, 2020: All treks to Philmont have been cancelled for the 2020 season. 

Slide of the Month Extra - Philmont 2020

May 2020

Time to make: 1 hours

Finishing: 1 hour

Original design: Philmont\Bill Macfarlane

            DAYS TO PHILMONT                                                 

 2020 Cancelled            

Tonight is the night before our crews learns about our 2020 fate. If the decision to cancel July treks, for safety sake, it will be a disappointment for some and we just have to wait for next time. For others, it's heartbreak as they were in the 2018 crew (treks cancelled because of the fires). The hours and minutes till the announcement will click away so slowly as await liberation.

 A very simple slide as I just couldn't devise a good way to carve this one so this is a water slide base with some painted background to match the decal.

Update June 4th, 2020: All treks to Philmont have been cancelled for the 2020 season. 

Slide of the Month Extra - Philmont Arrowhead Zia

May 2020

Time to make: 2.5 hours

Finishing: 1.5 hours

Original design: Philmont\Bill Macfarlane

Days till PhilmontCountdown

This is another one of my favorate designs combining several of the elements (Tooths of Time, Arrowhead, and Zita) found in Philmont logos. A layered slide withe the Tooth of Time on top, then the Arrowhead followed by the Zita.  Carved from southern yellow pine, the rays of the Zita were a challenge both in crafting and in painting. The slide was painted with hobby paints and finished off with a couple coats of Poly.

Slide of the Month Extra - Phillmont zia

May 2020

Time to make: 2  hours

Finishing: 1.5 hour

Original design: Philmont\Bill Macfarlane

Days till PhilmontCountdown

OK, I'm running a bit behind in my posts but there has been a whirlwind of change going on ...

Our crews are all holding our breaths for the June 1st announcement.  What will it mean for us? Are we still going? Will our treks be different? Will crew size change? Will we be wearing mask and sleeping in tents by ourselves? Will we get in one last training in before we hit the trail? So many questions and the only thing we can do is to keep preparing as individuals. 

I found this design and thought it would make a great slide especially with a different background. Carved from pallet wood (southern pine) it has a couple of interesting features. The letters are raised with the exception of the Zita O which is recessed. The letters are painted with hobby paints and some golden shellac finishes it off. 

Slide of the month - Pizza

May 2020

Time to make: 2 hours

Boys Life "Slide of the Month"

June 1983, page 45

Original design: Kenneth Kobb

Cheese (repeat)

 Sauce (repeat)

Anchovies (repeat)

Pizza (repeat)

Eatta Lotta Eatta Lotta Eatta Lotta Pizza (repeat)

Oh No Don't Drop The Pizza (repeat)

If You Drop The Pizza Nobody Eatza (repeat)

Gobble Gobble Gobble Gobble Gobble Gobble Belch (repeat)

The perfect slide for our Pizza Playoff! It's also the favorite food at Rotary Scout Reservation for our Scouts. The pan is made from the end of tube of one of those popping tube of dough and the dough in the slide is wood putty. The sauce is red paint and the cheese is white paint. The sausage or meatballs are made of brown craft paper rolled into tight little balls. The pepperoni is cut from some red sandpaper and the green peppers are pieces of green plastic wire insulation. The surface is coated with super glue. A wire loop is epoxied to the back.

Slide of the Month Extra - Tooth of Time

April 2020

Time to make: 1.5 hours

Finishing: 1 hour

Original design: Philmont\Bill Macfarlane

Days till PhilmontCountdown

One of the most iconic symbols of Philmont, you can find the Tooth of Time as a part of quite a few of the patches and other items at Philmont. This represents not only an early patch but also the logo for the Tooth of Time Traders.

Carved from southern yellow pine, the mountain rises off the slide to give the patch a 3D effect. The slide was painted with hobby paints, lettered with water slide paper, and finished off with a couple coats of poly.

Slide of the Month Extra - National Scouting Museum

April 2020

Time to make: 1 hour

Finishing: 1 hour

Original design: Philmont\Bill Macfarlane

Days till PhilmontCountdown

So one of the things I'm looking for when I get to Philmont is getting a tour of the Scouting Museum and hope to see some of Whittlin' Jim's original works.

Carved from southern yellow pine, it is a fleur-de-lis on an arrowhead and the simplicity of the design is a clean modern look. Painted with hobby paints and waterslide lettering, the slide is finished off with a couple coats of poly.

Slide of the Month Extra - Philturn

April 2020

Time to make: 2.5 hours

Finishing: 2 hours

Original design: Philmont\Bill Macfarlane

Days till PhilmontCountdown

As I've mentioned in an earlier post, I was really confused when I saw patches for Philturn Rockey Mountain Scout Camp. Was this some other councils summer camp? Perhaps another high adventure program? There must be an answer! (Yes, I Googled it eventually.) Philmont Scout Ranch, as we know it today, began in 1938 after Tulsa oilman Waite Phillips donated his summer home Villa Philmont , the UU ranch of 35,857 acres and livestock to the Boy Scouts of America.  The name Philturn come from a combination of the Phillipps last name and the Boy Scout slogan "Do a good turn daily". A great page to see some of the early days of Philturn Rockey Mountain Scout Camp can be found here.

Carved from pallet southern yellow pine, this is a multi-level slide (even though it doesn't look like it in the picture. The Philturn logo is the top-level followed by the Tooth of Time. The near foreground is next with the sky and lake rounding out the center. The lowest level is the circle on the outside and the three spikes extending to the base of the slide. Hobby paints and paint pens were used to decorate the slide with waterslide paper for the lettering. A couple of coats of poly finish the slide.

Slide of the Month Extra - Tooth of Time marker

April 2020

Time to make: 1 hours

Finishing: 1 hour

Original design: Philmont\Bill Macfarlane

Days till PhilmontCountdown

A no-carve slide but I still like it. The geographic marker was printed on waterslide paper and then transferred to a painted wooden birch thin plywood round. Finished off with a couple coats of Poly.

Slide of the Month Extra - Philmont OA Trail Crew

April 2020

Time to make: 1 hours

Finishing: 1 hour

Original design: Philmont\Bill Macfarlane

Days till PhilmontCountdown

The Order of the Arrow Trail Crew work on the trails at Philmont in cheerful service. But it's not all work, there is a comradeship of the members of OA and during the second week at Philmont the members can take advantage of all Philmont can offer. Get a feel of what it's like to be on Trail Crew here

Kind of a simple slide to make cutting the pick and ax into southern yellow pine and painting with hobby paints. The lettering was done with waterslide paper and it was finished off with a couple coats of poly.

Slide of the Month Extra - Philturn brand

April 2020

 Time to make: 1 hour each

 Finishing: 1 hour

 Original design: Philmont / Bill Macfarlane

Days till PhilmontCountdown

One of the symbols you can see in almost every patch, slide or any Philmont item is the brands. Heck, you can even brand something you own like a hat, a belt, a piece of leather or a mug (as long as it will take the heat). Now I'd only had seen the cattle (bar P and backward S) and horse (/ and backward S) on most of the Philmont stuff but recently I saw a brandable plastic mug with the Philturn brand from one of our Philmont crew trainers. (Yes, a brandable mug! (It had really thick plastic walls.) After doing some research, I found out that the original name of Philmont Scout Ranch was Philturn Rocky Mountain Scout Camp and this brand (the combined T and P) was the original cattle brand.

So this was an easy set of slides to make! I started with an old weathered board from a broken pallet and cut them into a reasonable size allowing for the broken parts to remain on the slide. I traced out the brand onto the board and cut the brands into the wood. Once the cuts were made, I used a soldering iron to burn the cuts to look like brands. On some of the outside edges, I roughly rounded the wood and then charred them with a lighter. Finally, I finished them off with a couple of coats of Poly.


Bonus!! While looking up brands in New Mexico I discovered an additional Philmont brand at Raydo.

Slide of the Month - Kachina

April 2020

Time to make: 2 hours

Boys Life "Slide of the Month"

May 1984, page 67

 Original design: Fritz Hines

Leather design: Bill Macfarlane





As I understand it, Kachina are friendly and helpful spirits to the Pueblo Indians. Kachina dolls, carved wooden and brightly painted miniature replicas of ceremonial dancers, are given to children as precious objects to be treasured and studied (not played with like a toy). There are over 200 different Kachinas.

Carved from maple I like the lines of this slide - it just feels right! The headdress is made from thin birch plywood and the feet are made from dowels. While it is hard to see in the photo, the eyes and mouth are both recessed into the wood. I painted most of the side with hobby paints with the details being done with paint paints. It is finished off the a couple of coats of Poly.

Slide of the Month Extra - Philmont Flag

March 2020

Time to make: 2 hours

Finishing: 2 hour

Original design: Philmont\Bill Macfarlane

Days till PhilmontCountdown

Now I had not seen this flag until I went to a crew training but once I saw it I knew I had to make a slide based on the flag. I understand it not only flies over the Philmont property but in a good many councils, troops, and homes of those who have attended Philmont. 

Carved from yellow southern pine, this is a multi-level slide as once again I'm taking a 2-dimensional photo and trying to make it a bit 3-dimensional. The ribbon is the top level and the semi-circle title and Tooth of Time at the second level. the rays of the New Mexico sun logo is the third level as well as the ground at the bottom of the mountain. The bottom level is the background and the rising of the sun behind the Tooth of time. I painted the slide with hobby paints and finished it off with a couple of coats of poly. 

Slide of the Month Extra - Mini Bear

March 2020

Time to make: 2 hours

Finishing: 2 hour

Original design: Bill Macfarlane

Days till PhilmontCountdown

Oh sure their cute but they are the most destructive bear at Philmont, or anywhere, and will chew through a backpack to get to a tasty snack. Ok, so this is another concept slide of mine. I was reading up on some of the areas in Philmont and the old west when I came upon a wanted poster. Well before you know it, out popped the mini bear outlaw idea.

Carved from southern yellow pine I modeled the chipmunk based on a couple of cartoon versions of them and came up with this fellow. I painted the slide with hobby paints but I forgot to paint the mouth. The lettering and the image for the Philfood were done on waterslide paper with a couple of coats of poly finishing it off.

Slide of the Month Extra - Philmont We All Made It!

March 2020

Time to make: 2 hours

Finishing: 2 hour

Original design:  Philmont / Bill Macfarlane

Days till PhilmontCountdown

In these days of COVID-19, extended school vacations (closures), work from home, and yes temporary cancelling of Scout meetings and functions, it is important to remember that this to will pass. Before you know it, we can say "WE ALL MADE IT!" So wash your hands, cover your coughs and sneezes and Scout on!

"We All Made It" Award
 An award presented by Philmont to each crew that:
         Demonstrated good camping practices and scouting spirit.
         Followed an approved itinerary and camped only where scheduled.
         Fulfilled the commitment to the Wilderness Pledge.

Another reclaimed pallet piece of southern yellow pine, I liked how this slide came together and just seemed to jump off the wood. I painted it with hobby paints and the lettering done with water slide (decal) paper. A couple of coats of poly finish it off.

Slide of the Month Extra - Philmont 2018 Recovery Corps

March 2020

Time to make: 2 hours

Finishing: 2 hour

Original design:  Philmont / Bill Macfarlane

Days till PhilmontCountdown

One bright spot that came out of 2018 Philmont experience was the Philmont Recovery Corps. Volunteers coming together with one goal in mind, to help Philmont get past the Ute Park Fire.

Carved from southern yellow pine this slide has several layers which, considering there are only two basic colors, give it some depth. It is painted with hobby paints and the lettering was done with water slide decals printed on an ink jet printer.

Slide of the Month Extra - Philmont 2018

March 2020

Time to make: 2 hours

Finishing: 1.5 hours

Original design:  Philmont / Bill Macfarlane

Days till PhilmontCountdown

Members of our crew were on the ill-fated trek scheduled back in 2018. While it was terrible for them to miss it, I'm grateful to have them and their wisdom along with all of us this year.

I realized I haven't the time this week to publish, but I'll put up a couple tonight.

 Carved from southern yellow pine, I like the simplicity of the slide though I just couldn't get the lettering quite right and it's my only disappointment with this slide.

Slide of the Month Extra - Philmont Red Bull

March 2020

Time to make: 2 hours

Finishing: 1 hour

Original design:  Philmont / Bill Macfarlane

Days till PhilmontCountdown

Here is another Philmont Bull I've seen on patches. I'm not really sure on the origins of this design but I really like how it turned out!

Carved from southern yellow pin, I did find I had to toughen up certain parts of the slide (like the hooves and horns) with a coating of super glue since the pine was very fragile. Painted with hobby paints and sealed with a couple of coats of poly 

Slide of the month - Leather slide

March 2020

Time to make: 2 hours

Boys Life "Slide of the Month"

Sep. 1977, page 60

 Original design: Glenn Wagner

Leather design: Bill Macfarlane





So when I was building a knife kit I got as a Christmas present, I wanted to design a special knife sheath with tooled leather but I have never tooled in my life. Instead of ruining the sheath, I decided to practice on another piece of leather. It turned out pretty well and I decided to make it a slide.

 I wanted to include both a Celtic knot as well as a Scottish thistle and drew the design combining both elements. Next, I traced the design onto the leather using some leather transfer paper. Using a leather swivel knife, I cut the surface of the leather along the lines of the design. Next using leather stamps to form the background. To finish the leather, I applied a leather conditioner to protect and color the slide.

Finally, I cut holes around the piece and into a leather loop so I could lace it up with 325 paracord that I removed the center core from.

 
 By the way, here is the finished knife.