Farmin'

It's been awhile since I've posted anything, so I thought that since I have had a little time to carve over the past few days, I would post my progress on a simple bust that I have been working on.  I think I'm going to call this piece "Farmin'".  He's an old, weathered farmer in his bib overalls and I envision him in a warn flannel shirt which will show up when he gets a coat of paint on him.  I'm thinking that a pair of round glasses might be a nice touch, but I haven't decided yet.  Let me know what you think of the old guy, and I'll post more pics when I get him finished.

There are a few more pics on the Carving Bench page.  Stop in and take a look

New Custom Knife

I'm still working away from home all week, so I'm not getting the carving done that I would like to do.  I hope to get started with the Study Stick Tutorial in the next week or so, so keep checking back.  In the mean time, here's a little something interesting to look at.  It's an order that I filled this last weekend for a repeat customer with a custom blade shape.  He sent me a pencil sketch of the blade shape that he wanted and here's how it turned out.

 

I'm sure with that long point and that up sweep at the tip, this little guy will get into some awful tight spaces to get the job done.  The handle is peach and it looks real nice too.  I'm sure that my customer will enjoy it and I hope you enjoyed looking at it too.

Masking Tape

It's been a while since I posted a tip from the stump, so I thought that I would share this one.

Tip from the Stump: When I sharpen my knives, I wrap a small piece of masking tape around the handle like the picture below:

The tape is enough to keep from damaging the handle during the sharpening process.  It's a simple solution to a simple problem, but hey, I'm a simple guy.  So, protect your knife handle with a piece of tape and keep that glossy finish looking like new.

The Winning Knife

This working out of town is really cramping my style.  I haven't had a minute to carve anything new, but I did get a chance over the weekend while at home to make the Custom Knife for our contest winner Keith Stewart.  As he requested, it's a 2-1/2" scimitar blade mounted in a stubby-style handle made of cedar wood.  It's a nice knife and turned out razor sharp and very comfortable in the hand.  Here are a couple of pictures of it:

Thanks again to everyone who submitted their ideas for the next project.  As soon as the dust settles from this new job, we'll get started on the tutorial.