3 Amigos

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I spoke with someone yesterday close to Mike and Sherri Shipley. From what I gathered, Mike only sold the part of the business that made the gouges...I believe he will still keep making his great carving knives!...

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Oh, man! That is spectacular!!!!

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Very, very nice! Bark carving is addictive, in fact, I love carving caricatures, but I got into bark carving, and found that I had neglected to carve anything but bark for the better part of 12 months!

Carving bark allows me to regress back to 4th and 5th grade art class when we were given...

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Rod...I currently live in Great Bend, Kansas which has the distinction of being the place on the Arkansas River where the wagon trains coming from the east headed southwest on the Sante Fe Trail. We are about 20 miles from Ft. Larned which is where the detachment of cavalry soldiers were garrisoned...

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Rod and all:
Here is the finished product! Gave them at our employee meeting this morning and they loved them!

They are painted with thinned acrylics using Matte Acrylic Medium instead of water. I then put on a coat of BLO, and then a coat of Watco Liquid Satin Finishing wax. It really...

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I am with you , Di! I get the shakes just thinking about it! Although, since I got rid of the 3/16" blade and when back to a 3/8" blade, it is easier to adjust!...

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Thank you! All of the thanks goes to Roger Stegall for sharing that tip with me during his class sometime back! That is a perfect specimen to use to burnish!

Great looking carving, by the way!!!...

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Great job!

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I have taken a class at Peter Engler's place in Branson, and it was great! They always have classes going, and if you ask, they even have instructors that will give classes on request to meet your schedule by appointment.

Their website is www.peterengler.com.

Ask for Laura...she...

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Roger uses a pointed, but dull deer antler to lightly rub the skin portion of the carving...in these cases, the face, neck, forehead and hands.

I am a deer hunter, and always have sheds laying around. I took a brow tine and made it work for my use. When the BLO is applied to the carving,...

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The skin on both carvings are just the natural wood burnished with a dull deer antler. The plain BLO gives a nice look to the skin that a flesh tone paint can't, IMO....

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I see a fireplace chimney sticking out to the left on the piece 3rd up from the bottom!

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My old process was to paint with thinned acrylics, then dip in tinted BLO...got this from taking a class from Mike Shipley. Later on I added putting on a coat of Howard's Feed N Wax. I have had zero problem with the acrylic paint coming off. In fact, the wax coat has added a much deeper contrast to...

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Thanks, Brian! Russian Olive is sure enough durable! When it gets started here in the pastures, it is hard to manage....not to mention the nasty thorns it grows!...

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Our Catholic church here has folks from the holy land come in once a year and offer carvings for sale. The carvings are from 'Olive Wood', and I would suspect it is from basically a Russian Olive tree. As Pallin said, I think it is super hard and would probably work OK with power, but maybe not so...

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I have always heard Miller's Falls tools were very good quality.

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Nice, nice, nice! Let me say that your carvings do not indicate that you are a beginner! Very good work!

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I am a bank manager here in Central Kansas, and I carve gifts for my employees each Christmas. Well, a bout with COVID right after Thanksgiving got me behind, but I finished the carvings over the New Year's weekend.

Now, they are ready for the paint table! They are Mike Shipley's pattern...