User Profile

[Brian T]

Love it. Skunks and Porcupines are rare here but out and about in late summers.
Many more on the Great Plains.

[Brian T]

Some tool vendors take trades or buy estate collections. Pays to ask.
I scored a Stubai carver's adze (7/75) that needed a tune up but cuts just fine
at the rough-out stage. (#7 sweep and 3" across.)

[Brian T]

I'm accustomed to having a pet cat underfoot for most of my life. I can remember them all.
Easy to see how your design could be painted up to become a memorial for any coloration of cat.
I see a kitten in your carving. I like it.

[Brian T]

I would hang that one on my wall. Probably in my kitchen to see it every morning. Well done.
How big is it? Maybe 6" tall? Plan B would be to hang it as an ornament in the fig tree that eats up 1/4 of my living room.
You did a fine job of the proportions and placement of the nose...

[Brian T]

Acrylic medium is really paint with no pigment. Just brush it on. Some brands are labelled as "acrylic varnish."
Meant to be used as a protective over coating. You will find that a little goes a long way.

Pre-soak your brush(es) in water for 20 minutes to get water...

[Brian T]

I use acrylic medium because it has the best possible compatibility with acrylic paints.
Bottles of matte, satin or gloss. It's really paint with no pigment so it's transparent.
You can mix brands ( eg Speed Ball medium and Grumbacher acrylic paint).

It's also superior to water...

[Brian T]

I can tell. There's going to be a wipe-out....

[Brian T]

Under a microscope, wood anatomy is like a fingerprint = there's no mistaking it for any other species.
Anything less than that is smoke, mirrors and guess-work at best.
Proper wood identification has been a part of my career since I was a grad student.
In North America, that's likely...

[Brian T]

Not quite. It's a very specific style of bushcraft carving.
You carve spoons only and you must use particular tools to do it.
Five miles in from the middle of nowhere, can't find the plug-in for the band saw.

Just yesterday, I ran across some Youtubes of this style of spoon...

[Brian T]

Good thing that I'm not supposed to do any heavy lifting.
Otherwise, I'd be cleaning behind the kitchen stove.
It's so bad, even I notice.

[Brian T]

Stacked and stickered in the shade, you can expect the wood to air-dry at a rate of about 1" thickness per year.
Slow drying seems to ease the strains of water loss better than fast/hot drying.

Paint the cut ends with anything you've got, even carpenter's glue.
The concept...

[Brian T]

Sorry if this sounds vague. I made no notes.

There's a very ritualized, dogmatic style of spoon carving that you will find as an aspect of "bushcraft" across the EU.

To begin with the spoon blank must be roughed out with an axe.
Something like the little Gransfors...

[Brian T]

Finally! There is a use for kale.

I enjoy getting out and driving around on nice days even if it's only a trip to the dump with garbage.
Wave to people I know is as close as we usually ever got in the best of circumstances.

I guess I'm at considerable risk as I have...

[Brian T]

Doing the right thing....

[Brian T]

First thing I look at is the topper under the hand. I like what I see.
Conversation starter.
That loop will be nice when you have to hang the cane somewhere.
I'm already thinking what places I have in my own house for that!

[Brian T]

Thanks, I'l ponder a rewrite. Inside bevels with a strop? Three strokes. Just 3, that's enough.

Grits? Scanning Electron Microscope pictures show that steel edges are so soft and plastic that 1500, is the top grit.

I need to use all kinds of mandrels, a tennis ball included....

[Brian T]

There's a bunch of abrasive choices, there's a bunch of technique choices from freehand to machinery.
Not one of them will do it for you.

I do freehand. That's what I was taught. Watch me and you would never learn the tricks.
Some things are never written down for some reason,...

[Brian T]

Wonderful fantasy animals. I wonder what adventures they have been in?
Kids have the best imaginations.

[Brian T]

You don't have the lung power to breathe through a HEPA filter, unassisted. Forget it.
I don't recall how many horse power it took to run our HEPA lab chambers but I had smaller outboard motors.

The mask concept is to catch far larger aerosol droplets which might carry the virus....

[Brian T]

Clamp-down here this week. Strict grocery store rationing (eg 1 x 12 TP limit).
Next grocery store is 90 miles away so relax.

It's gone on here every week for many years. The grocery store allowed it to happen. Just money to them.
Isolated groups buy ALL the flour and their...