A What's It

Late August 2010

Time to carve: 1.5 hours
Finishing: .5 hours

An interesting slide because it raises an eyebrow when people see it but also scratching their heads when they see what it can do. Carved from maple and the dot attached with fishing line. I finished it off with shellac.

The science behind this is the slide, despite the weight of the belt, transfers the center of gravity to the tip of the slide.  By focusing this to the tip, I can balance the belt on my finger.

...flag, totem, and Wood Badge

Sept. 2010

Time to carve: 3 hours
Finishing: 1.5 hours

Now if you follow my inconstant posts, you might have wondered where have I been? Well the answer is that I've been busy with Wood Badge. In fact I write this on the eve before my second weekend. Yeah, I should be getting some sleep. Anyway I wanted to post these projects before going because there is a good chance I won't see them again. Without further ado...

"I use to be a bear and a good old bear to..." So sitting around with my patrol we where trying to think of how to leave our mark on the service patrol emblem. I saw an unusual stick on the ground, picked it up and started to carve. In no time flat there was a Bear tooth (colored with permanent marker) hanging from the shovel. (Setting the bar high on the first day.) I took the same stick home and carved four more teeth for our patrol flag. What you don't see (because I have that side down) is each bear tooth has our name painted on it. I still am not sure what kind of wood it was but they should look great hanging from our flag!

The second project will don the program patrol emblem and is based on our totem drawn on the first day we were a patrol, Made from maple, it was a piece I messed up on with the Monkey slide but worked well for this slide. The ears are made of leather and the fish was carved separately and glued on. Painted with craft paints and sealed with a few coats of poly.

and now its "Back to Gilwell, happy land, I'm going to work my ticket when I can"

EDIT: I'm pleased to say, the bear totem slide is now on it's way to N2-66-11-1 August 26-28th 2011 at Camp Tadma. Good luck with the course Mark and thanks for bringing the spirit of the Bear Patrol and NE-II-192 with you.

One year later

A year ago...

I was the new scout master of our troop
I had just come back from Outdoor Leader Essentials training
and I had found a passion of carving neckerchief slides

Some reflections as I go forward...

So far, cow horns are more difficult to find than I thought
Butterball does not include neck bones with its frozen turkeys
As much as I tried, finding a armadillo tail in New England still eludes me and I understand they may carry leprosy.
I still trying to learn to bend wood. (But can't wait to try out the new steamer I made.)
I'm always on the lookout for items for the slides.

Going forward...

I going to Wood Badge training (which I wanted to do for years)
I look forward to this year with the troop
and I still carry the passion to carve towards my goal

Life Preserver

Late August 2010

Time to carve: 0 hours
Finishing: .25 hours

While not an Whittlin Jim pattern, I wanted to make this "Slide of the Month" for a Scout who earned his BSA Life Guard award this summer at camp. The ring is a pre-painted white curtain rod ring I found at Home Depot. The rope is nylon cord and the red is duct tape. This slide takes literately 15 minutes to make and by far is the easiest to date.

EDIT: As it turns out, there was a Whittlin Jim column also on this slide.

Boiled Lobster

End August 2010

Time to carve: 2.5 hours
Finishing: 1 hours

One thing you notice when vacationing in Plymouth, MA, the gift stores have lots of lobster kick-knacks. So it was only fitting the next pattern in my pack was a lobster. Carved from Oak (because it was the only wood I had that was large enough)this slide took a sharp knife and a lot of patience. The antenna were made from a boom bristles and the eyes a couple of black plastic headed pins. Painted with craft paint and finished with poly.

Jaguar

Mid August 2010

Time to carve: 3.5 hours
Finishing: 1.5 hours

Turning to basswood this time (because the piece I had was the right size)I struggled to try to get this slide to look right. As a result it is about half the size of the block I started with. Once I had it shaped to my satisfaction, I began to paint the slide. I wasn't happy with the orange color I painted it so I gave it a over coat with a linen colored paint. With the orange showing through the linen I got the color I was going for. When all the painting was done, I made the teeth from some scrape white plastic and super glued them in place. It is finished with a couple of coats of poly.

Water Buffalo II

Mid August 2010

Time to carve: 1.5 hours
Finishing: 2 hours

Another case of more than one pattern for slide. The Water Buffalo finds its way to my carving knife again but with a slightly different twist on the horns. Made of maple it was easy to carve but the finish to me makes it stand out. Mistaking this slide with another, I initially stained this slide. Realizing the error, I sprayed the slide with a couple of coats of flat black paint. Interestingly enough, the paint cracked and gave the slide an old look so I decided to finish it off as is with a couple of coats of poly.