User Profile

[pallin]

Oh Merle, you must have been devastated when you lost the ring. But what a wonderful feeling to find it again. A tiger-eye cygnet ring. My wife has an Onyx cygnet that belonged to her father.

[pallin]

Nice carving! I could say something about how we dress for winter, but I won't. (Ventura, California)

[pallin]

I do not worry one minute about someone producing copies of my carvings via CNC machine. Have at it!
Here is one example: How would you define in 3-axis coordinates the various cuts of this carving? The depth, angle, and curvature change in every fraction of an inch. I doubt there is any CNC...

[pallin]

More than 20 years ago, I was talking to a bird carver in Maine. There were some beautiful "carvings" in his shop, but they were all resin copies. Customers would not pay for his time creating the originals. As mentioned above, real wood is too variable. It takes a skilled carver to overcome...

[pallin]

Go to the Tools+ forum. Type "Warren" in the Search box, limit the search to the Tools, etc. forum. You will get over 450 hits. Somewhere in those postings will be your answer, or a link to what you want.

[pallin]

You haven't said what type of carving you do (or plan to do). I have been carving for 75 years and have never had more than a sturdy table to which I clamp my projects. I do mostly large reliefs.

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[pallin]

It is also clear to me that much of the finish carving was done with traditional hand tools (gouges). Study the grooves in the shingle-like pieces of the lower garment. Most of the grooves are straight, up-&-down. But on photo #6 you see that the gouge had to be angled around the left arm &...

[pallin]

The bottom has some clues as to age - There are saw marks, both linear and circular. The object in the left hand is missing a piece - possibly a spear point. The lack of checking or damage tells me it's not really old.

[pallin]

The original demand for carved figures was religious, particularly during the gothic & rococo periods. The cathedral in Seville, Spain has 144 wooden figures just on the massive altarpiece. The market has expanded to all sorts of figures: farmers, hunters, itinerant merchants, athletes - even V...

[pallin]

It is similar to figures produced by instructors or students at woodcarving schools in Europe such as the ones in Brienz, Switzerland or Oberammergau, Germany. Many of those instructors have shops in the local community where they sell examples of their work. The ethnic character of the figure does...

[pallin]

I use this box, but it is mostly gouges. I keep only two knives among my "working" tools.

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[pallin]

One of the things your knife box should provide is easy identification of each knife. Often the blade shape is the thing you're after. You should not have to take half of them out in order the find the one you want. Some carvers put a mark on the visible end of the handle.

[pallin]

Our ability to progress from beginner-level carving to advanced projects is rarely a matter of tool choices. It is a matter of acquiring a personal skill set and motivation. Understanding wood and the relationship of cuts to grain direction is essential knowledge. No knife will provide a shortcut to...

[pallin]

Sappy - There are some very similar challenges in this spherical subject. I decided to do it in relief (positive) rather than intaglio (negative). How much depth (wood thickness) do you have to work with?

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[pallin]

Wonderful, Arthur! I'm sure you have a deep appreciation for the historic carving skills of floral artists like Grinling Gibbons and (more recently) David Esterley....

[pallin]

I agree with Arthur - incorporate the cracks and voids into the design. This bowl was turned from worm-riddled Black Walnut. It doesn't hold water, but that wasn't the plan.

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[pallin]

At first I thought the design was based on Albrecht Durer's "Praying Hands." Then I looked closer and saw the leaves. Here is one I did among my early reliefs.

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[pallin]

It sounds like it is working well for you. I have had good experiences with Black Walnut, wood turning as well as carving. Some of the pieces I've carved recently are at least 70 years old.
I have also broken down a sycamore log similar to the walnut log you described. Letting it air dry between...

[pallin]

Not all materials are suitable for carving. First, they have to be a little softer than the tools we use to carve them. They have to have some cohesion - they have to hold together for the thing we're carving. There needs to be some lasting quality to the material, although ice, carrots, watermelons,...

[pallin]

"Whatever floats your boat." All of us started carving for some reason. Call it creative urge, or need to occupy your hands, or desire to make money. If the reason was satisfied, we kept going. In my story above (#25) I started as a kid making my own toys. Then I whittled as a Scoutmaster....