Slide of the Month Extra-Philmont Head of Dean

 June 2022

Time to make: 3 hours

Finishing: 1 hour

Original design:  Philmont / Bill Macfarlane

Days till Philmont 2022Countdown

 

I laughed when I saw this patch and the thoughts of someone being lowered  (or raised?) upside down on the challenge wall. For those who don't know what a challenge wall is, there is a series of challenges at Head of Dean that a crew must accomplish together as a team. One of these is a wall that is really high. In theory, no one person can get over the wall by themselves and the crew must work together to get every crew member over the wall.

Carved from southern (pallet) pine, the levels of the side are a bit complicated as it contains the background, the walls and the people on the wall. It took a sharp really thin point to make this slide because of the trying to make the people look at different places at the wall. When it came to the wall, I wanted to both give it the look of the boards plus give it a smooth area for the waterslide paper to mount to. The slide was painted with hobby paints and finished off with a couple coats of poly.

Slide of the Month Extra - Philmont Abreu (Goat)

 

June 2022

Time to make: 2.5 hours

Finishing: 1 hour

Original design:  Philmont / Bill Macfarlane

Days till Philmont 2022Countdown

 

Abreu camp has  a wonderful interpretive representation of the homestead life of Jesus and Petra Abreu.  One of the thing that many Scouts and Scouters alike comment on is the friendly goats and some have even tried their hand at goat milking. 

Carved, like so many in the Philmont series, for southern (pallet) pine, the process of bringing the goat head bursting forward out of the slide was fun to create.  The background behind the goat is actually the lowest part of the slide with the outside ring being the next level. This helps to give the goat head more depth. I made the mouth by cutting in place with a thin saw and the grass is dark green thread glued in place with crazy glue after the painting. Speaking of painting, I used hobby paints on the slide and waterslide paper to letter it. A couple coats of poly finish it off.

Slide of the Month Extra-Philmont Cypher's Mine

 

June 2022

Time to make: 3 hours

Finishing: 1 hour

Original design:  Philmont / Bill Macfarlane

Days till Philmont 2022Countdown

 

In one month I step on Philmont property and I can't help but think of the Grateful Dead lyric;

"Lately it occurs to me

What a long strange trip it's been."

Named for an early miner, Charles Cypher was the manager of the Contention mine and was called "an old mountain goat" because he was able to carry 100 pounds of supplies on his back for the mines. While there is gold mining/panning and blacksmithing, what Cypher's Mine is best know for is it's music. The 2019 Cypher's Mine staff even has it's own album (free streaming or download).

Carved from southern (pallet) pine, I really enjoyed making this slide. Helmet and lamp were an interesting challenge to carve while still leaving enough wood for the sign. Painted with hobby paints with the exception of the lettering. As most folks who know me, I hate doing lettering but in this case I bit the bullet and hand lettered this with a paint pen. I like the way it turned out! I finished it off with a couple of coats of polly.

Slide of the Month Extra-Philmont Seally Canyon

 

2022

Time to make: 3 hours

Finishing: 1 hour

Original design:  Philmont / Bill Macfarlane

Days till Philmont 2022Countdown

 

Seally Canyon camp is well known for it's search and rescue as well as First Aid training. It is also the most southern camp at Philmont with limited access to vehicles. It is said that the staff puts their Search and Rescue training to good use helping lost crews find the camp.

I liked making this slide because it combined many different aspects. First off, there is the base of the slide which was carved from southern (pallet) pine in layers for the mountains, the Star of Life, and the title area.  I then painted the slide with hobby paints. The second part was making the climbing axe, which is made from sprue from a plastic model. I painted the axe using paint pens and tied a bit of mason's twine around it. Finally the climbing rope is mason's twine tied with a bowline hitch passed threw a hole drilled in the bottom and looped over the top. The lettering was done with water slide paper.  The rope and axe are secured with crazy glue before sealing the slide with a couple coats of poly.

Slide of the month - Diamondback

June 2022

Time to make: 3 hours

Time to finish: 2 hours

Boys Life "Slide of the Month"

Dec. 1987, page 73

Original design:  Bill Fleming

I'm (hopefully) a little more than a month out from a Philmont trek I've been training for years now (since before the 2020 trek got cancelled) and I'm starting to think about running across this critter. Now I am not afraid of snakes, I just don't like them. Western diamondback rattlesnakes  are present at Philmont and most likely  wont be a problem for us as long as we leave them alone. Did I mention I don't like snakes.

When thinking about the head of the snake sticking out through the neckerchief, I knew maple was the only way to go for strength. One of the tricky part was to drill the hole through the body of the snake without hitting the area that will become the head. So while still as a block of wood I drilled 2/3 of the way down the center using a 3/4 inch Forstner bit. Next I drew out the rough shape of where the head and body would be located. Taking my sweet time, I carefully carved out the area between the head and the body remembering there was a hole in the center. Once the head was done I moved into carving the coils of the body and then the rattle. Lastly, I made the fangs out of some while plastic drawn out using a little heat. I drilled a couple of holes into the head and glued the fangs in place. I painted the slide with hobby paints and sealed the slide with a couple coats of poly.