User Profile

[Brian T]

American made copper rivets are easy to find with the horse tack parts in an big farm store.
I can grind and prune them down to suit my needs. Then drill holes in the carving for a press-fit.

I did this fish in pine to see what the combination of paints would look like. Lots of...

[Brian T]

What changed color in the titanium paint? Maybe the binder? The oxide should stay white.
I use it mostly as an under painting on western red cedar.
Colors like red and yellow are far brighter, sitting on top of that.

Thanks for another pos.ting of some of your Escher works....

[Brian T]

There's untold variety of decorative inlays in the carvings of the Pacific Northwest First Nations.

Abalone is now a protected species here so all that's found is really old or black market from poachers which I would never support. Shell from NZ is much more brightly colored but I have...

[Brian T]

There's the two sorts: the microplanes and the saw rasps. I don't think that the microplanes are robust enough to last very long. I've got some microplanes that I use in the kitchen but don't think of them as being useful in wood carving.
The saw rasp OTOH, will give grandpa a run for his money....

[Brian T]

Thank you very much. Inlay of any kind is not an embellishment that is at all common here in the the WCI forums. I often add copper and abalone shell but the silver wire, I need to study.

Wood choice: Can this be done with softer woods like the conifers? Anything less than gun stock...

[Brian T]

Cottonwood bark can hold some rather intricate detail. Quite impressive.
Hand carving and Dremel/Foredom power carving, too.

Holds absolutely no interest for me at all which is odd.

One of the local bark carvers gifted me a sack of really good stuff long ago.
I...

[Brian T]

Wow. A lot of carving method has changed for me in the past 5 years. Things have gone it two directions.

First, I can get into the tight spots in wood quite well with very small PacNW style crooked knives. Also, I discovered that I like a textured surface of chips as opposed to a very...

[Brian T]

There might be some good resources here before you xxx off in a huff. A little patience, OK?

Look at a Canadian $10.00 postage stamp of a Blue Whale.
I looked at a bunch of Google pictures (not so poisonous) to CONFIRM what I could see in a 24" burl slab.
I knew what it...

[Brian T]

Depending upon who is counting, there are 5-6 species of cottonwoods native to North America.
We have big cottonwoods (Populus trichocarpa) in low wet sites, usually along river bottom land.
4-6' in diameter and 100-125 feet tall. Self-pruning, the branches may be 12" diameter when...

[Brian T]

All the way back to the OP First .
If it is your plan to carve conifer woods (spruce, pine, fir, cedars), there are a few details of wood anatomy that you need to learn for when you go shopping/looking for carving wood. Ignoring these will turn out to be an expensive lesson for firewood and...

[Brian T]

Use a wire brush to clean it. I worry sometimes if the original colors were really necessary in the first place. It looks old and weathered. I like that. What's the justification for any kind of finish? Most outdoor stuff goes off in a couple of years then you try again. Indoor stuff needs vacuuming....

[Brian T]

That looks good. A big enough handle to be comfortable. Thank you for that.

Need longer tines to reach that last olive in the bottom of the jar!

That ought to take an oven-baked oil finish to be done forever.

A big fork with robust tines is a useful kitchen prep...

[Brian T]

I was gifted a couple of power saws, one gas, one electric.
For local parts and service in this community with active logging and saw mills,
I'd like to go STIHL.

[Brian T]

The plastic bottle templates are brilliant. Different size bottles,
different curves built in, easy to hold against the stick.
I will be doing that for matching eyes.

[Brian T]

Glenn:
This guy makes a range to look at. I have a couple.
Not very sharp, needed a lot of help but good steel.

The knives I bought as a group were made originally by the late Mike Komick
in Summerland, BC.

Cariboo Blades would make just about any design...

[Brian T]

Good to watch how it is done. Thankyou.
Have you got leaf patterns to trace or do you freehand it all?

[Brian T]

Recently, I bought a collection of 7 knives, Pacific Northwest First Nations designs for wood carving.
Some are beautiful little flakes of steel for intricate shaping.
In that, I got a double edged, flat knife. A carving knife design new to me.
Very interesting to practice with when...

[Brian T]

Nobody brought it up so I remind you that farrier's hoof trimming knives should be in good supply in New Zealand. As the new ones might be costly, there's still a lifetime of wood carving steel in a farrier's knife too narrow for them to use.

On the Left Mora #171 left and right pair from...

[Brian T]

I shot ISU Rapid Fire with a Unique Vitesse, back in the days of .22 cal shorts.
Great challenge to shoot better than 590x600.
There were so many 600 shooters that the event went up to .22 cal LR.
I liked the anatomical grip but it was for a wholly different posture than for carving....

[Brian T]

Welcome from the deep south (53N) in the Canadian Rockies.