Ready for Takeoff

It looks like old Pegasus has his colors now and is clear for takeoff.  I experimented a little with my painting technique, wanting to make it look like he was a white horse going grey. 

Tip from the Stump:  have some fun experimenting with your carving or painting technique from time to time.  If you do, you just might be rewarded with some great results.

I'm quite pleased with the results, and that toothy grin on his face should put a smile on anyone's lips.  I hope you like him.  There are many more pictures on the Picture Gallery page, so stop in and take a look.

I had some time over the weekend to carve the head for my first tutorial.  I just have to write the captions for each photo explaining the carving process and I should have it posted sometime this week, so check back soon.

Ready For Some Paint

I finally finished carving my Pegasus.  HURRAY!!!  I think he turned out pretty nice if I do say so myself.  I especially like how the wings turned out. He should look really good once I get some paint on him and have him mounted to a finebase.  More pics on The Carving Bench page.

I hope to get this guy finished up this weekend so I can get started on my tutorial.  There is still time to weigh in on what the subject should be, so drop me an email or leave a comment.

Successful Surgery!!!

Well, Pegasus' head has been successfully attached to his body.  I had a hard time keeping the head tight to the body during the glue up stage, and I was left with a thin open crack.  With a little help from some wood filler, the crack is gone and the surgery was a success.  Once I put a little paint on him, you won't even see the scar.

Tip from the Stump:  if something goes wrong on a carving, chances are there is a way to fix it.  Do some research, ask a friend, or send me an email.  I would be happy to give you some ideas to try.

His wings are roughed out and ready for some detail.  I plan on spending some time tonight getting them ready to be attached as well.  After that, it's on to the tail and then a really nifty base.

I hope to get him all finished up by this weekend.  There are a few more pics on The Carving Bench page.

I haven't received much feedback about me hosting a tutorial, so if you are interested, leave me a comment or drop me an email.

Tutorial Anyone???

First of all I need to beg your forgiveness for not having posted for some time.  My body has been ravaged by the influenza virus for the past two weeks and I haven't felt much like carving.

Tip from the Stump:  get a flu shot!!! It's worth the prick and the price.

I'm always thinking ahead to my next project and since the Pegasus should be finished in the next couple of weeks - that is if I can stay healthy - I thought it might be fun to try doing a tutorial.  I love carving in every way, but I find the most joy and satisfaction in carving faces.  Capturing a facial expression is challenging, but truly rewarding.  So, I thought that we could start small and do a bust for my first tutorial, that is if there is enough interest from all of you to do so.

I would love to have some input from you on what you would most like to see for this project.  I thought that I would take suggestions from you, my faithful readers, as to what the subject of our little adventure together should be.  Leave me a comment or drop me an email at theoldstump@live.com and let me know what you would be most interested in doing.  If I get enough response, I'll pick a subject from those submitted and we'll go through a step-by-step tutorial and complete a really neat piece together.

The Cleaver

Here's my latest go at knife making.  I call it the Cleaver.

Many carvers out there are using the Stanley utility knife for their knife of choice and a few years ago I gave it a try.  I admit that I liked the utility blade shape with its wedge point and broad width, not to mention the thinness of the blade.  The only problem I had with the utility knife was the handle.  A cold, hard metal handle just wasn't comforatable so I gave up using it. 

Tip from the Stump: make sure when buying or using a knife that it fits your hand and is comfortable to use.  A poor fitting handle will cause blisters and greatly reduce the quality of your carving experience.

The thought occured to me recently that I could use the tool steel that I have been using for my custom knife work to fashion a blade with the same profile as a utility blade and mount it into a comfortable hardwood handle.  So, PRESTO!!!  The Cleaver was born.

I have been using this knife as my roughout knife of choice for my Pegasus (incidentally there are a few new progress pics on The Carving Bench page).  I am very pleased with its performance and I find myself using it for a lot of general carving and even some detail work as well.

The only problem with this blade shape is the width of the blade.  It just doesn't get into those tight or hard to reach places.

In summary I give this little feller a score of 8 out of 10:

Pros:

• Great for roughing out
• Crosses over into general carving and detail categories
• COMFORTABLE HANDLE!!!

Cons:

• Not good in tight or hard to reach places

If anyone would like to try one out, I would be happy to custom make one to your specifications.  Details are on the Knife Gallery page.

The Pegasus

Well, I haven't progressed very much on my nativity and I'm almost ashamed to admit it, but I've kind of lost interest in the project for the moment.  So, instead of plodding on ahead I have decided to take a detour and work on something else for a while. 

Tip from the Stump: if you reach a point on a carving where you lose interest, do not push through to the end and finish it.  If you do, you will most likely end up with an unsatisfactory piece since you rushed too fast to get it done.  Take a break and work on something else for a while, and when your interest returns, get back to the project and finish it with the care and detail that it deserves.

My carving mentor Lynn Doughty has started working on a cowboy horse on his blog and it got me to thinking.  I've done quite a few horses in my short carving career but I'm wondering, what if I took off the saddle and bridal and put on a lovely set of wings?  That would be keeping with my medieval or fantasy series that I have been interested in as of late, so I decided to give it a try and see where it takes me.  Now don't worry, I'll get back to the nativity soon enough, before Christmas I hope, but in the meantime, I hope you will follow along on this little side trip with me.

Little Birdies

Holy Smokes!  Fall cleanup sure takes a lot of work around here.  I haven't had the energy at the end of the day to even pick up a knife.  I did, however find the time to carve these little guys out of some basswood eggs that I have lying around.  My sweet wife loves birdhouses so I thought that she would like to have a few little occupants to put with them.  They are patterned after Laura Dunkle's Whimsical Birds.  I'm leaving them up to my sweet wife to paint the way that she wants them.  She is much better at painting cute little eyes and stuff than I am.  It's kind of nice to carve something you can start and finish in less than a hour. 

Tip from the Stump:  if you do not have a lot of time to carve or if you are low on ambition and energy, instead of working on a large project take a short break from the norm and carve something that can be finished in one sitting.  The simple act of carving will energize you and help to motivate you the next time you pick up a knife.

Hope you like them and there are more photos on The Carving Bench page.

Sorry about the focus on these shots folks.  Boy, I really need to get a better camera, or maybe some photography lessons.

Woops!!!

Well, I have to offer a great big fat apology to you all.  I just received a message from a friend of mine that many of the pictures on my posts have broken links.  Chalk it up to being new at this, but the problem stems from loosing one of my picasa photo albums that contained those pictures.  I hope that you will all forgive me and don't go running away screaming to someone Else's blog.  I promise to get this whole mess repaired as soon as I can.

Tip from the Stump: never delete a picasa photo album that you link to from your Blog.  Hey, I'm a carver, not an I.T. wizard!

The Nativity

Well, with "Practical Jokes" all finished up, it's time to move on to something new.  My sweet wife has put in a request in for a new Nativity since last year the kids were a little rowdy and porcelain does not do well in the presence of rowdiness. 

This is a new adventure that I am embarking on since I'm a caricature carver trying to carve a reverent Nativity.  I assume that It will turn out somewhere in between a caricature and a realistic carving.  I'm also going to try something new with Mary and the baby Jesus and try carving them out of a solid block of wood.

 

I have looked at the pose that I want accomplish and I just don't see it happening except it come from a single block, so you will have to hang in there with me as I stumble along.  I will post periodic updates (whenever I get enough done to see progress) on The Carving Bench page.  I hope you will follow along with me as I tackle this new challenge.  Hopefully it will turn out to be something special.

Practical Joke

FINISHED!!!!!!  Wow, it seems like I worked on this piece all summer.  In reality it only took about three weeks but with all the breaks in between, it felt like much longer.  Anyway, even though it took awhile to finish, I am really pleased with the outcome. 

It looks like that young Arthur Pendragon kid has been up to his antics again and poor old Sir Robert fell prey to the oldest trick in the book.  You can just picture that little brat hiding behind a bush somewhere laughing his head off.  This sure was a fun piece to create and that expression on Sir Robert’s face turned out perfect. 

Tip from the Stump:  carving is supposed to be fun!  If you are not having fun, you are doing something wrong.  Step back, decide why you are not enjoying yourself, and make the change.  Use the right tool for the right job, keep your tools sharp, and wear a carving glove and thumb guard and you are on your way to a lifetime of carving bliss.

I hope you enjoy him as much as I did.  Please leave a comment and let me know what you think.  Lots more pics in the Picture Gallery.

Almost There

This is just a quick post to show the progress on my latest carving.  I call it “Practical Jokes.”  When the piece is all assembled, you will get the meaning behind the title I hope.  He’s carved, burned, sanded and ready for some paint. 

Tip from the Stump:  always take a lot of photographs of your carvings during the whole carving process.  The pictures of your progress will be a valuable reference tool and help to jog your memory when you are trying to recreate a process on a future carving.  The pictures of your final projects will allow you to remember your carvings and the journeys they took you on long after they have been sold or given away.  Snap away!!!

The scenery is finished and ready for a finish coat of varnish and for Sir Robert to be attached to it. 

 

This has been a fun piece and assuming that I don’t really botch up the paint job, he should look really cool.  I hope to have him finished by this weekend, so check back soon for the final unveiling.  More pics are posted on The Carving Bench page.

Sometimes Chores Get in the Way

If you have ever had the opportunity of owning your own home, you know that sometimes the chores around the house and the yard get in the way of really important stuff like carving and knife making.  For the past week I have been breaking my back on a landscape project that I have been working on in my garden and haven’t had the time to make a single knife or do much carving at all.  With my outdoor escapades coming to an end I hope to get back onto the carving wagon and finish up this piece that I have been working on for it seems like eternity.

Tip from the Stump: take time to carve often, even if it is for short periods of time.  Carving often will cause your skills to improve and keep your ideas fresh in your mind.  You can also avoid losing interest in a project if you keep working at it since you will finish it in a relatively short period of time.

If my current carving works out like I have envisioned, it should be one of my best pieces.  I have put a few progress photos on The Carving Bench page and I plan on spending most of the evening working on it, so I’ll keep you all posted.

Oh, I forgot to mention that I have posted a bunch more knife photos in the Knife Gallery for you to look through and drool over.  Remember that I would be happy to make anyone a custom made knife to your specifications.  With Christmas coming up, put your orders in early to avoid the rush.  Details are in the Knife Gallery.

Well, back out to the garden. . . . .

Carving Attachments

I’m sure that many of you are getting kind of tired with me droning on and on about my escapades in knife making, so let’s get into something more interesting, carving.  I thought that I would take you through the process that I use to attach heads and arms to a carving.  There are many carvers out there that use a solid block of wood for their pieces, and I have tried it that way, but I have come to find that there are many benefits to attaching the different parts of a carving instead of carving everything from the same block.  Let’s talk briefly about these benefits and then we will take a look at the nuts and bolts of how to do attachments.

The first benefit of attaching parts instead of carving from a block is the ability to change that parts position.  For example, when I attach a head to a body I have the ability to turn the head from side to side and even forward and backward until I get the right head position for the body posture that I am shooting for.  When it comes to attaching arms, I have the same ability to move them around until I get the angles just right.  Another benefit of attaching parts is grain direction.  If you carve from a solid block you will run into cross-grain situations that can leave a week point in the carving that could be easily broken.  When you carve a part separately, you can orient the grain in the right direction which makes for a much stronger finished piece.

Tip from the Stump: always keep the grain direction in mind when you are designing a carving.  Try to avoid cross-grain situations by orienting the grain with the narrowest part of the carving thus avoiding week spots that could potentially break.

The last benefit to add-ons is ease of carving.  Carving parts separately lets you establish many details that would be difficult to accomplish if the piece were of one block before it is attached to the main figure.  This allows one to use fewer specialty tools to produce some terrific carvings.

Now before we get started I need to give credit for this technique to Lynn Doughty of Out West Woodcarving for sharing this process with the world.  Alright, let’s see how this whole thing is done.  Here is a picture of the head for the carving that I am currently working on and the body that it will be attached to.

As you can see I leave a long neck post that is tapered and the hole in the body is tapered as well to allow the neck to fit in place.  The neck hole is made with an appropriate sized drill bit and finished by carving out a conical shape with a knife.  Now when the head is inserted into the body, they fit tightly and give you the ability to change the position of the head until you are satisfied.  It’s a simple technique and very effective.

Arms are a little more complicated.  In order to attach arms and disguise the joint line, you need to have a disk sander. 

As you can see from the picture, I rough out the arms and sand a flat section on the upper arm at the shoulder which will be the point of attachment.  Remember to allow extra wood when doing attachments since some will be wasted in the attachment process.  Now you need to sand a flat section on the body to mate up with the arm.  This takes some playing around in order to get the angles just right which is the reason for leaving the excess wood. 

Once the joints mate up the way that you want, drill a 1/8” hole in the arm to accept a dowel.  Scribble some pencil lead around the lip of the hole, position the arm to the body and give it a little twist.  Some of the lead will come off on the body showing you where to drill the second hole for the dowel.  Be sure when drilling the holes to keep the drill bit perpendicular to the plane of the joint so that the dowel will go in straight.  Now with the arms in position draw a line around the joint to show you where the excess wood is and carve off most of this excess.  Make sure that you do not detail the shoulder area of the carving until after it is attached.  Once you are ready, just add some wood glue to the joint and dowel holes, press the pieces together in the right positions and clamp in place with some wood clamps or rubber bands until dry.

I hope that this explanation will be useful to you and if you have questions, just leave a comment and I can offer further explanation.  More photos in the On the Bench page.

The Katana Rough Out and the Microwave?

Have you ever had one of those serendipitous moments where all of your stars line up in a row and miracles seem to happen?  Well, here is what happened to me.  After having just gotten into the whole knife making scene, I was pruning my apricot tree to make room for a few more plants underneath.  After cutting off a fairly large branch and while in the process of dragging it away to be cut up and hauled off to the county landfill, I happened to glance at the cut end of the branch at the beautiful swirls of grain that had been exposed.  So many colors; black, browns, reds, blonds, and yellows of may hues.  It donned on me, this would make a FANTASTIC knife handle!  So, like any lover of beautiful wood, I cut it up into short sections and anticipated what my new knife would look like.

Now those of you who have ever collected wood from anywhere but in the stacks at the lumber yard, you know that the wood must be completely dry before attempting to do anything with it.  The professionals say that it takes wood about one year per inch in thickness to dry.  Now if my math is right, and being a professional engineer it usually is, my 2” by 2” little block would take two whole years to dry.  That seemed like a life time.  Well, I have never been accused of being a patient man, so I did a little research.  I’ve heard of kiln-dried wood, which is how most commercial lumber is dried, but have you ever heard of microwave-dried wood?  That’s right; I used that familiar old household appliance to nuke my little block dry.  Here’s how I did it.

First I split the block into two halves giving me two 1” by 2” blocks.  I put these blocks in the microwave on a paper towel and zapped them for 45 seconds on the defrost setting, flipped them over and zapped them again for an additional 45 seconds.  I then let them cool back down to room temperature and repeated the process over and over again.  Probably the best technique that one could use in order to tell when to stop nuking the wood would be to use a postal scale and weigh the blocks after each cycle.  When the blocks stop losing weight, which would indicate that no more moisture is being evaporated out of the blank, you know that they are dry.  But since I don’t have one of those things, and being too cheap to purchase one, I just kept zapping away until they felt really hard and gave a beautiful “clack, clack” when I banged them together.  (I wonder what the postal workers would say if you brought your block of wood to be metered?)  Good enough for me. 

Tip from the stump: by the way of a disclaimer, using this method for drying your wood could very easily cause your blocks to catch on fire, followed by your microwave, cabinets, kitchen, roof, . . .  i.e. I will not be held responsible if you burn down your house!  Use short cooking periods on the lowest heat setting for your microwave and do not leave the blocks unattended.  Also, get your wife’s permission to try this before she opens up the microwave and is surprised by your latest science project.  I would hate to be responsible for upsetting your marital bliss.

With my little knife handle blank in hand, I realized that I really didn’t have enough length to the wood to make my usual dolphin shaped handle, so I decided to try a short and stocky handle shape to see how it would feel.  Here is what I came up with:

Now isn’t that some beautiful wood?  I’ve never seen grain so beautiful before!  Now, how does she carve?  In a word, fantastic!  The stubby little handle is actually very comfortable; in fact, I would recommend this handle style for someone who has arthritis or problems with a week grip.  I decided on making it a rough out knife and put in a 2-1/4” Katana shaped blade.  It has all of the properties of the all-purpose Katana blade that we discussed earlier except for the fact that it is a dedicated rough out knife since the blade is far too long to do much detail work.  All things considered, it turned out to be a great little knife.  And did I mention who beautiful the wood is?  Fantastic!!!  You will find more photos of this beauty in the Knife Gallery.

New Pages

As you may have noticed, I have added two more pages to The Old Stump.  The first added page is a gallery of my knives which contains several more views of each knife that we discuss.  From here you can also custom order a knife to add to your own arsenal of carving tools.

The next added page is called The Carving Bench.  Here is where I will log the progress of my current carving piece under development.  It should be fun to take you along on my carving adventures.  I hope you enjoy the ride.

The Ninjato

Here’s the next little knife that I would like to review that I call the Ninjato.

This blade shape is quite popular among knife makers and is actually the shape of the first knife that I purchased back when I started my adventures into the carving world.  Let’s look at the handle first.  As you can see from the picture, the handle is my favorite dolphin shape.  This shape really gives you a firm grip while allowing you to hold the knife with the blade edge towards you or away from you without giving up comfort. 

Tip from the Stump:  choose a knife handle shape that allows for multiple gripping angles without giving up a comfortable fit in your hand or the loss of a firm grip.

Like the Katana, it is made out of an oak and poplar lamination, only this time the lamination runs perpendicular to the blade.  I still wish that I would have used two woods that had stronger contrast.  Oh well, you live and you learn.  And you know what, the aesthetics of the handle don’t really make a difference in how the blade works, which is why we use a knife in the first place.  Now, on to the blade description and critique.

The cutting edge of the blade is just over 1-1/2” long which places this guy in the all-purpose category of carving knives.  The wedge shaped tip of the blade is the feature that sets this style apart from other knives.  This little spear point really gets into those corners and makes chip cuts a breeze.  It also works fairly well for making stop cuts.  The flat cutting edge encourages one to make slicing cuts which, as we discussed in a previous post, you should really be doing anyway.  I have tried to use this knife for detail work with limited success.  In my opinion, it works well in the all-purpose category that it belongs to, but doesn’t really cross over very well.

As good as this knife is I do not use it for roughing out.  All in all, I give this knife a score of 8 out of 10 for its overall performance.  Now let’s sum up.

Pros:

·         Great for corners

·         Great for chip cuts

·         Good for stop cuts

Cons:

·         Must use slicing cuts

·         Not a good cross over

The Picture Gallery

If you haven’t noticed by now, I have added a new page to The Old Stump called the Picture Gallery.  You can navigate there by clicking the tab at the top of the page.  Everyone likes to show off once in a while and this is my place to do so.  I am in the process of uploading a whole plethora of photographs of my past carvings, so, give me some time and check back often.  I hope you will leave a comment and let me know what you like, and if you don’t like something, let me know that too, only tell me why you don’t like it.  Of course, I reserve the right to delete your comment (wink, wink).  Anyway, I’ll be uploading pics for the next few days and I hope you enjoy what I show you.

The Katana

The next knife that I would like to discuss is a little guy I like to call the Katana.  I know, I know it doesn’t look a thing like a samurai sword, but I had to give it a name didn’t I?  This particular knife falls into the all-purpose category of knives with its blade being 1-1/2” long and slightly narrower than its predecessor.  Here’s what she looks like.

Alright, here’s the scoop on how she carves.  I have to admit, this knife is a workhorse and I find myself reaching for it more and more often.  Let’s talk about the handle first.  It’s the same dolphin shape as the Scimitar but I tried something a little different, lamination.  It might not be apparent from the photographs, but there are actually several layers of different types of wood, oak and poplar, sandwiched together to make a solid block for the handle.

Tip from the Stump: if you are going to make a lamination, choose woods that have a high contrast in color and grain so that the two woods really “pop”.  Black walnut and white oak would make a great combination and maybe maple and cherry.  One could even use three or more if the laminations were thin enough to allow it.  The possibilities are endless.

Now let’s focus in on the business end of the knife for a few moments.  Like I stated earlier, this is a great knife with a lot of diversity in its uses.  The blade comes to a nice point that can really get into those tight corners.  You will have to use a slicing cut most of the time since the cutting edge is flat, but if you don’t already, that’s a habit you should really pick up.  The place where this knife really shines above the rest is in making stop cuts.  That little point really gives you great control over the depth of the cut and the narrowness of the blade lets you follow practically any line.  I would also consider this knife a “crossover” to the detail side as I use it quite frequently, and with great success I might add, to carve out even some of the smallest details.  The one downside would be that it’s not great at roughing out a work piece, but then again, that’s not a function it was meant to undertake.  Alright, let’s look at a summary of the Katana’s characteristics.

Pros:

·         Great for tight corners

·         Excellent for stop cuts

·         Crosses over for detailing

Cons:

·         Must using slicing cuts

·         Not good for roughing out

In conclusion, I give this knife a score of 9 out of 10 for its diversity and effectiveness.

The Scimitar

I have recently become immersed in the fun and excitement of knife making and I have to admit that I’m addicted, but you know what they say, to admit that one has a problem is the first step to a full recovery.  Since most of my carving is done with a knife, I have been pushing the boundaries and exploring different knife blade shapes and sizes to see what works best for different situations.  I thought for the first few posts I would share my opinions and findings.  Let’s begin with the first knife that I have ever made.

This is my first born which I affectionately call the Scimitar.  The handle is made of red oak and shaped in a design that I call the dolphin.  I really like this handle shape as it give a good firm grip and yet doesn’t interfere by bumping into the carving.  For this reason, most all of my handles have this shape.  As you can see where the blade inserts into the handle does not have that “hump” that many knives have.  This “hump” restricts the use of the knife and for one of my knives, I won’t stand for it.

The blade of the Scimitar is the most important aspect of the knife.  Well of course it is, it’s the business end of the tool.  It would be silly to stop with the handle, then it would just be a really pretty piece of wood but it wouldn’t get much done.  Anyway, the cutting edge has a gentle upsweep towards the tip that allows you to make a slicing cut even if you are pushing it straight into the wood.  The blade is a full 2” long and would therefore be classified in the “rough-out category” of knives. 

The three categories of knives in my book are the rough-out, the all-purpose or carving, and the detail.  The rough-out knife usually has a longer, thicker blade and is made to remove a lot of wood in a short time.  The detail knife is usually much shorter and narrower than its bigger cousins and is made to get in close and make those fine little cuts that give your carvings the look you are after.  The all-purpose knife fits somewhere in between the other two extremes and is used for general shaping and carving. 

Tip from the Stump: always use the largest knife possible to make your cuts.  You will speed up your carving process and leave cleaner cuts.  The fact is you could complete an entire carving with a detail knife, but it would take approximately ten years to finish.  Use the right tool for the right job. 

Now that you know a little knife 101 you can dazzle your friends at parties with you new found knowledge. 

Hey, weren’t we talking about the Scimitar?  Let’s get back on track!  This thin tip really makes those scooping cuts with ease.  This blade shape also slices through end grain like the proverbial hot knife through butter.  The length of the blade also allows you to get into those hard-to-reach spots like separating the legs of a figure or that area between an arm and the body.  On the flip side, because the blade is thin, it doesn’t really get in there and hog off a lot of wood and since it is a 2” long blade, it doesn’t cross over into the all-purpose category very well.  Ok, let’s sum up the findings.

Pros:

·         Great for slicing cuts

·         Good on end grain

·         Gets into narrow places

·         Comfortable in the hand

Cons:

·         Not great at removing a lot of wood

·         Good only for roughing out

Welcome to the Old Stump

Greetings and salutations everyone, and welcome to The Old Stump Blog.  This is an exciting new adventure for me, to start my own blog and I really look forward to sharing my interest in woodcarving with you.  By way of introduction, my name is Brandant Robinson and I am very happy to make your acquaintance.  I reside in Southern Utah where I am a professional engineer by day and a husband, father and woodcarver by night.  I am very passionate about carving and knife making and anticipate sharing my findings, ideas, and my own carving journey with you.  I truly hope that you will follow along with me and most importantly that you will enjoy the ride.