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.

Contest Results

First of all, I need to apologize about not having posted in a while.  I have just started a new job that takes me away from home for days at a time, and I have been very busy.  I hope that things settle down soon so that I can get back to posting, and more importantly, carving.  I hope that you will stick around in the interim.

Next, I would like to thank all of you that sent in your ideas for a beginning-carver project.  All of the ideas were fantastic and it was difficult to make a choice, but in the end I had to make a decision.  After considering all of the entries and the benefits that each project would give to a beginning carver, the idea that I settled on was carving a study stick, an idea sent in by Keith Stewart. 

CONGRATULATIONS KEITH!!!  YOU WIN!!!

For those of you who may not know, a study stick is a practice piece where one carves multiple faces in the blank at various stages of completeness.  It is a step-by-step study of the needed cuts to complete the details of the face.  I believe that this project will give a beginning carver the confidence and practice that he/she needs to tackle what is arguably the most difficult part of a caricature to carve, the face.  It will also give the more seasoned carver some great practice and a chance to maybe try something different with faces.

I hope to get started soon on this new tutorial and I hope that you will follow along.  No, I take that back.  I hope that you will CARVE.

Custom Knife Orders and Competition (Win Your Own Custom Knife)

I’ve had some interest lately in my custom carving knives, in that people are wondering if they can “special order” a specific blade or handle shape that is not listed on the Knife Gallery Page.  The answer is a resounding “YES”!!!  I am always more than happy to take a special order if you have something particular in mind and I have the ability to fill the order. 

Why, just today, I received an email from a customer asking if I could make a specific shape of blade.  He attached a photo of the blade that he wanted and asked how much extra it would be for me to make one like that.  I was more than happy to craft him a knife to his specific length and shape of blade, and the price of a true “custom” knife is the same as for any of my other knives, a measly $30.00.

So, moral of the story, if you want a special blade or handle, send me an email with a sketch or a photo of the knife that you want, be specific now, and I’ll do my best to fill your request.  So, show your support for The Old Stump Blog by ordering your own knife today.

All that aside, I’m about ready to start another tutorial.  I would like to do something directed toward the beginners in the group, who might not have the self confidence yet to attempt something more advanced.  I thought that it would be fun to get some feedback from you, my faithful followers, and maybe make a competition out of it.  Here’s my idea:

Submit your idea for a beginner-level carving to theoldstump@live.com , being specific and original.  I will sort through the submitted ideas and choose the one that I like the best.  Yes I know, that’s not very subjective, but hey, this isn’t Burger King!  Here are the rules:

·         All ideas must be original

·         Any idea will be entertained (you don't have to stick with medieval or cowboy themes)

·         The idea must be “beginning carver level”

·         You can submit as many ideas as you would like, just do so in separate emails

·         Submit all entries to theoldstump@live.com with the title “Carving idea” in the subject line

·         All ideas must be received by Saturday, April 23^rd to be eligible for consideration

The chosen submission will then receive as a reward a Free Custom Made Carving Knife of his/her own specifications and have their idea implemented in the next tutorial.  So, put on your thinking caps and let’s see what you come up with.

My Tool Box

I thought that it might be kind of fun to let you have a peek at, and into for that matter, my tool box.  I made this old thing out of some scrap pieces of pine that I had laying around my shop.  I build it as a prototype, but it worked so well that I have been using it ever since.  The construction is simple, all butt joints and screws, but it's durable and keeps all of my tools handy.

Inside the little drawer at the bottom I keep my strop, some honing compound, a couple of dowels for add-ons, some super glue, and a couple of pieces of sandpaper.  The drawer is shallow, but I find it quite useful.  Here's a look under the hood:

As you can see, I don't really have very many tools in my box.  It looks like I have 17 palm tools and 12 knives, a few of which I use all of the time, and some that I hardly ever use.  In fact, most of the knives that I have in the box I made as prototypes themselves to test out new blade shapes and lengths.  Actually, I only use about 4 of the knives at all.  I guess I just like to look at the others.  Of the palm tools, I probably use 9 of them all of the time, and the rest I will use every now and then.  See what I mean about not needing very many tools to produce some nice carvings?

All of the palm tools are arranged according to width and profile so that I know where each is without guessing.  All of my knives are also arranged in three rows: rough out, general carving, and detail.  I suppose that one could put some labels on each tool so that he could tell them apart, but this system works for me.

Also in the box you can see my glove and thumb guard in the lid, an assortment of small files to get into those hard to reach places, and a pencil and sharpie to draw with.  That's really all that I use to get the job done.  Here's a picture where I have removed the palm tool insert so that you can see the construction underneath.

As you can see, none of the tools edges can touch each other because of the grid that I made out of 1/4" plywood.  The only thing that I would like to change is to add some foam or some rubber at the bottom of the box so that the points of my knives are protected.  Right now, there is only a piece of cardboard, but it seems to be getting the job done.