Winged Heart Lovespoon WIP Part 2

[MackTheKnife]

At this point the front of the spoon is about 90% complete. The back is more like 65% complete. That discoloration on the back is an uff-da! I broke the raised part of the cord/ribbon of the knot and had to super-glue the broken piece back. Luckily the break didn't go all the way through! The break occurred because I outsmarted myself. Carving alder, at least this piece of alder, is something of an exercise in frustration. The medullary rays (at least I think that's what people who are smarter about wood than I am call them) are softer and much less dense than the surrounding wood, which makes them prone to chipping out, especially if you are carving cross grain. Putting flat tops on the cord/ribbon was leading to more chipping than I wanted to deal with. So I got smart and carved a mid-line ridge. Worked like a champ. When I got to the back of the spoon, I didn't think I was going to like how that mid-line ridge would interact with the wings, so I decided to move the ridge to one side of the cord/ribbon (does anyone know the proper terminology for this?). After all, who said the ridge had to be down the center? Nobody! Right? Well, I discovered for myself why a mid-line ridge is better. A ridge to one side is a lot more fragile than a mid-line ridge. As I was carving an intersection, a piece of the ridge just snapped off. ****! I hate it when that happens. So, out comes the super-glue, the carver's best friend.

So that's the story so far, and here are the pictures.

[fly fisher]

Re: Winged Heart Lovespoon WIP Part 2

Looks good Bob shame about the slight break but these things happen. I break my carvings from time to time but just throw them in the bin and start again.I do own some superglue but have it for when i cut myself [ lot better than going to the hospital ]

[MackTheKnife]

Re: Winged Heart Lovespoon WIP Part 2

That's why I call super-glue the carver's best friend. It can not only patch up the carving, it can patch up the carver too!

I've patched up worse breaks than that. Carve off the rough spots and off you go.

[LBlake]

Re: Winged Heart Lovespoon WIP Part 2

It's coming along really beautifully, Bob! I like that midline ridge thing (assuming I understand what you mean by that!) I think I'm too sleepy, though, because I am just not grasping how you are describing the break, so I'm going to think on it a little more, and I'll get back to you if I have any useful ideas to contribute.

[MackTheKnife]

Re: Winged Heart Lovespoon WIP Part 2

Let me see if I can be a little more clear on things.

Midline ridge: this means that if you look at a cross-section of the cord/ribbon it will resemble a rectangle with an equilateral triangle sitting on top, like a child's drawing of a house. So, instead of the top of the cord/ribbon being flat it comes to a point along the center line.

In the back instead of the top of the cord/ribbon (oh, hell, I'm just going to call it a cord for now) coming to a point in the center, it comes to a point on one edge. Looking at the second photo you can see that the break occurred at the junction of the two top lobes of the heart. The grain, of course, runs straight along the long axis of the spoon. Now the cord that forms the right hand lobe of the heart has the high point running along the inside of the curve. The cord that forms the left hand lobe has the high point running along the outside of the curve. At the junction of the two lobes the cord from the left lobe passes under the cord for the right lobe. To clean up the joint below and to the right of the junction I had to basically cut against the grain. I was cutting up and to the left. The top edge of the left-lobe cord had to be below the top edge of the right-lobe cord. This left the top of the right-lobe cord completely unsupported laterally. This, the grain direction, the angle of the junction and the meshugana quality of the wood (alder, in case you forgot) combined to make a break very likely. I had made an angled stop cut along the lower edge of the right-lobe cord. As I was cutting up from below on the left-lobe cord toward the junction the chip that I was peeling up (yeah, yeah, I was probably too aggressive and taking too big a chip) pressed against the top of the right-lobe cord and broke off a chip about 3/8" of an inch long and a ragged 1/8" deep. It was easy to glue back in place, and I soaked the area with thin CA glue to strengthen it. With some further carving and the light use of some of The Devil's Paper, the break is much less apparent.

I really like the looks of the slanted top of the cord with the ridge on one side even better than the midline ridge. With maple or even poplar I wouldn't hesitate to use it, but if I ever do another alder spoon, I'm going to stick with the midline ridge.

I'll try to take some photos at an angle to show it better.

[MackTheKnife]

Re: Winged Heart Lovespoon WIP Part 2

Here are a couple of detail shots of the cords. The second photo shows the break really well.

[LBlake]

Re: Winged Heart Lovespoon WIP Part 2

Ahhhhh - yes, the angled view finally made me understand. I'm not sure I can actually see the break, but I assume I know where it is now. I'm afraid have no advice for you, though. Unless, of course, you want to have the cords completely overlap each-other, rather than going through each other.
Anyway, it sure looks like it's coming along nicely! The cords look really graceful and delicate. Can't wait to see it all finished!

[MackTheKnife]

Re: Winged Heart Lovespoon WIP Part 2

Laura, the fact that you can't actually see the break is good news!