July 2023
Time to make: 3 hours
Finishing: 1 hour
Original design: Bill Macfarlane
It's the year of the bear (2023) at Philmont, I was trying to think of a slide I could do to with a new material or different technique. Puttering around the shop I came upon a small piece of PVC pipe I was using for the Phillips Junction Commissary slide and it came to me. Something I've never seen before, in relation to Philmont was scrimshaw. (Not a large whaling community in the desert.)
I cut the PVC pipe lengthwise and with the aid of a hot air gun began to open and flatten the piece of pipe. Next I traced a bear Silhouette onto the PVC. I used my knife to make a fine V-cut around the tracing of the bear. An image of the Tooth of Time was placed in the center of the bear and I set about carving in the lines and shaded areas of the tooth. Knowing that most inks would just run off the PVC, I scrapped the polished surface PVC for the bears fur. The ink for this project had to be something that would stick to the areas I carved so I made an ink using a black permanent marker core soaked in denatured alcohol. Using a Q-tip, I rubbed the slide with the ink and then wiped with a clean cloth. I really like how the ink both stayed in the areas I worked in and gave the background an aged look. The final step was to use a file to shape the outside edge of the slide (and a little more ink)
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