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[Brian T]

If photographs offer any proof, 1,500 grit is the finest you need.
I follow the scanning electron microscope pictures in Leonard Lee's book
The Complete Guide To Sharpening.

What he shows is that steel will never, ever approachthe crystalline sharp edges of flint, obsidian or...

[Brian T]

Bee'swax is edible. Fairly tasteless but edible. I can buy loaded boxes of honey comb to eat.
I use an oven baking, vegetable oil finishing process which cannot be washed out of wood at any kitchen temperature.
No, it does not go rancid. 3 minutes and 30 seconds and 70 spoons and 30 forks...

[Brian T]

Good plan, the drawer pulls. Never, ever would have thought of those.
Nothing quite like canes made with diamond willow.
I'll vote for the dragon. Did you bend that one?

[Brian T]

I like the idea of a 'set' of spoons. Yours are nicely designed, like snow flakes, no 2 are every the same!...

[Brian T]

Google the name of the event....

[Brian T]

Welcome to WCI forums.

I use a Bernzomatic propane bottle torch. Mostly to burn off excess fuzzies from chainsaw carvings that I buy.
It is so hot that I use a wire brush to scrub off most of the black charcoal. I see that I do not get any "acorn brown" coloring.
...

[Brian T]

You get the placement of the eyes and the slope of the bridge of the nose just right, every time.
Careful or people will start to call you "Tripod."

[Brian T]

Honing compounds are industrial polishing abrasives.So, industry depends upon the suppliers for some sense of predictable performance.
Maybe you make kitchen cutlery. You expect a particular appearance after polishing. I have some cleavers that need more than a lick and a promise.
You...

[Brian T]

How small is "tiny?"
Years back, there was a member of this parish who carved freight trains etc, in the leads of carpenter's pencils.
Might have carved some plain pencils as well. He wandered off to other things.

[Brian T]

In some instances, both the adult beetles and the maggot-looking larvae are wood borers.
In other insects, the eggs hatch and the larvae tunnel and eat until mature.
Then they bore up to the bark, pupate and change into adults to chew their way out.
We have 18,000,000 ha of dead standing...

[Brian T]

Good score! Can you guess which region that wood came from?
I'm told that the northern basswood is a little more consistent and maybe a little softer
than bass wood cut in the south.

Would have been an interesting wood anatomy puzzle to putz around with.

[Brian T]

That would feel good under the hand. Terribly formal carving with the tie!

[Brian T]

Welcome. Is there a particular style of carving that you like best?...

[Brian T]

They are all very fine abrasives. As long as you can hold the bevel angle the same each time, any one of them will do.
I try to coat the strop surface fairly evenly. Most of the time, I do not succeed but I find it does not matter.
Just like coloring with big Crayola crayons.
...

[Brian T]

Ah. I missed that in the title. Pinus aristata = P. longaeva. = Bristlecone pines. "Methusela" is what? some 7,000 years old?
What all have those trees seen come and go? We planted a row of them on the campus where I worked.
Absolutley positive that admin would cut them down...

[Brian T]

Semantics is right! Certainly depends on which school you went to! Excellent description.

I have coarse abrasives that I use in sharpening.
I have several different kinds of strops. They are carriers for honing compound.
My final step is to hone the edges of my tools on the...

[Brian T]

Disgusting! Makes me want to blow the dust off my 4x5 cameras and the wooden tripods.
Her images are so much easier to interpret in B&W.

[Brian T]

ARGHHHHHH! Is that not the absolute pits to hit a sand grain in dirty wood? You have my sympathies, sir.
Joint the sucker and start from square one again. Hard on the head.
I just bought a 6-speed electric grinder to save me some time with the coarse grinds.
Might be OK for final...

[Brian T]

Quality artists' paints do perform on paper and canvas unlike the more economical craft paints.
I think the carrier vehicle is quite different. I do like a lot of the craft mixed colors.

I came to carving from decades of painting and inherited a lot more material from my Dad....

[Brian T]

Carving conifer, cedar in particular, some kind of a sealer is essential.
I have got into the habit of doing a total but simple underpainting with acrylic titanium white. Any brand will do.
The surface needs a sealer and I want to hide the deep chocolate color of the wood. The wood color...