Four New 3/8" #9 Gouges

I spent some time out in my shop this week and was able to complete a few new gouges.  I have received some very positive feedback from those who purchased the first four, and I appreciate what they have said through emails and threads on the Woodcarving Illustrated forum.  Here are some pics of the next four:

 

The wood species are as follows from the top down: Olive, Walnut, Macassar Ebony, and African Mahogany.  They are turned out great.  I hope you like them and I will make them all available for purchase on the Knife Gallery page.

 

 

I have made very little progress on my dragon.  I hope to get some time on this three-day weekend to finish carving the small pieces of the scene and maybe start painting him.  I'll keep you all up to date on my progress.  Thanks for checking in.

My Little Dragon

Well, those four palm tools are going fast.  The frist three are already sold.  One sold within 30 minutes of putting in the Knife Gallery.  The thing that has surprised me the most is that the tool with the Honduras Rosewood handle hasn't sold yet.  In my eyes, it was the most beautiful of the four.  Oh well, I guess we all have our own unique tastes.

I suppose it’s about time that I show you folks the carving that has been occupying my time for the past several weeks.  I thought that I would try something completely different thatn anything I had ever seen done.  Here's what I came up with.

I was inspired by a piece of clipart that had a caricature dragon in it.

Tip from the Stump:  It’s amazing where inspiration for a carving can come from.  I get ideas from movies, photos, children’s books, and clipart.  Keep your mind open and a pencil handy to jot down the ideas as they come.

I didn’t have a block of wood big enough to carve the size of piece I wanted, so I ended gluing up several pieces to get a blank large enough to suit my needs.  The arms and head are attached and the tail is actually two segments glued together so that I could get the tip of the tail to wrap around and lay nicely over the foot.

He’s definitely a one of a kind original.  I think that’s why I enjoy carving medieval and fantasy caricatures so much; not many others are carving them.  Now all I need to do is put together a little scene to set this fellow off nicely.  I hope you like him.

Four Palm Tools Available

Well, I decided that I would make a few of my new palm gouges that I have been making available available for purchase.  I have been having a great time making and using a set for myself, so I thought that I would spread the fun and sell a few.  Besides, I just purchased a new mini lathe in order to turn the handles and I need to pay for it somehow (wink, wink, nudge, nudge)!

I use O-1 high carbon tungsten-vanadium alloy tool steel that I harden and temper to approximately RC58 for the business end.  For the handle, I chose a variety of beautiful, exotic woods.  I had a great time exploring the artistic side of my brain by matching ferrules to the different woods.  The ferrules are made of copper that I use various techniques to give color and patina to the piece.  When all three pieces are assembles, it makes for a wonderful combination.  The best thing about them though, is how they glide through wood and make gorgeous little ribbons.  Now that's what I'm talking about!



The handles of the above pictured are as follows from top to bottom: Honduras Rosewood, Zebrawood, Wenge, and Padauk.  They turned out very striking indeed.  Go to my Knife Gallery page and scroll to the bottom to take a better look at each one with links to more photos, or to purchase your favorite one.  Happy Carving!!!

Custom Orders Made Easy!!!

Hooray!!! 

I have finally figured out how to streamline my quality custom knife orders for my many and fantastic carving friends.  Before now, all custom order transactions were handled via email; often with several messages sent back and forth until the correct specifications for the order were made clear.  This occasionally resulted in a day or two of email tag and lengthened the time that my customers had to wait to received their custom knives.

Now, at the bottom of the "Knife Gallery" page (click the link at the top of this page to go there) you will find a Custom Knife Orders section.  This new section is outfitted with five drop-down menus for each aspect of the custom knife specifications and a convenient "Add to Cart" button for easy check out.  No more email ping pong and confusion!!!  The "Custom Orders" page is still available for help in making your custom knife decisions and, of course (sigh), if you still have questions you can reach me by email at:   theoldstump@live.com


I certainly hope that this new format will make custom knives more accessible to more people.  Ain't technology great!

My Shop-Made Gouge

I've never been truly satisfied with any gouge that I have purchased from a commercial manufacturer.  I've owned tools from a variety of suppliers, but have had complaints about all of them.  Some of my concerns are: the grinds and flutes are off center, the blades are not mounted in the handle straight, ugly wood for the handle (you know my motto, "Don't carve with an Ugly Tool!"), low quality steel that doesn't take or hold an edge well, . . .   The list goes on and on.

Since I'm a knife maker, and know a thing or two about steel and making quality tools, I took it on as a challenge to make my own gouge.  I found a piece of drill rod made of O-1 High Carbon Tungsten-Vanadium Tool Steel.  Now that's what I'm talking about!  O-1 is perfect for a top quality tool.  It takes a razor edge and keeps holds it for a very long time.  I proceeded to forge the blade, hardened and tempered the steel to approximately 59HRC, filed the flute, shaped the heal and polished her up all nice and shiny like.

The one thing that is missing in my shop, the one tool that I covet, is a good lathe.  Even a bad lathe would be better than what I have.  But, me and my spindle and bench top belt sander get along great, so I solicited their help in shaping a suitable handle from a beautiful piece of black walnut.  I made my own ferrule from a 1/2" copper coupler which I trimmed off and rolled the front edge over.  With a little 5 minute epoxy, everything was fastened forever into place.  I wood burned the size and sweep onto the flat portion of the handle so that I can see it when it's upside down in my tool box. 

After the finish on the handle was dry, it was time to put it to the test.  OOOOOHHHH MY!  Now that's how a tool should feel.  It handles terrific and glides through end grain like it's cutting through hot butter.  After making a mountain of curly little shavings, I tested the blade on the hairs of my arm.  Let me just say that I need to wear my watch to cover up the bald spot.  That's how a tool should hold its edge.

I guess I've opened a can of worms.  Now I'm going to have to replace all of the gouges in my tool box with ones of my own making.  I think I'll make each handle from a different species of wood to make them as beautiful as they are functional, and maybe get a little fancy and creative with the ferrules.  I'll post photos of each as I get them made.  I guess that cowboy carving that I'm working on will have to wait for a little while.  I'm going back out to my workshop to play!

Who knows, maybe I'll like making these tools enough to sell them if there was enough interest.

The King Gets His Colors

Well, here he is in all of his majesty.  The regal old monarch is full of attitude, but his eyes reflect the kindness with which he uses to rule his subjects.  I think I captured exactly what I was going for in this piece.  The crown was probably the funnest part to make.  It's made out of a piece of copper flashing cut out and soldered together.  The studded jewels are the heads off of some round brads that were soldered into place as well.  I set it on his head in a dapper, slightly-ascue fashion that I think gives this piece some real character.

There are many more photographs on the Carvings Gallery Page if you care to stop in and have a better look.  I would love to know what you think, so please leave a comment or send me an email.  Thanks for dropping by.

My Weeks Work

I spent some time out in my shop this week and here's a picture of the fruits of my labors:

Starting at the top and going clockwise, the woods are black walnut, ash, cocobolo, Hawaiian toon, spalted maple, mahogany, flame figured box elder, and Osage orange.  The blades are and assortment of detail, all-purpose, and rough-out styles.  All eight of them turned out beautifully and all are available for purchase on the Knife Gallery Page if you see something that sparks your interest.