pine knot carving

 Well a new discovery was made today in reference to carving pine knots. I saw a video a few years back where a Sand O Flex was used to clean up a carving from any fuzzies or scraps still on the carving. Well I recently got one and though I haven't used it on a bass wood carving I did experiment with it on a pine knot carving. I have to say it did great though it did seem to leave a film coloring on the carving, but everything looked smooth and clean so I didn't think anything of it.



Then today I finished a second carving and as I did before I used the Sand O Flex to clean up the carving and of course same as before. Maybe it was because the color of this piece of wood seemed to be a bit darker but the color distortion seemed even more evident and this would simply not due. So I got out a buffing wheel from my Dremel and began to go over the face with mild pressure. To my amazement it not only began to clean up the wood it was as if it was taking the film on the wood and using it as a wax. Not only was I getting a cleaner piece of wood but it was giving it a luster and also seemed to bring out all the colors of the wood. I was so excited about the results that I got out the carving from the other day and began to do the same on it. The carving in the end has a look as if a sealant coating was placed on the wood. I have placed a sealant coating on previous carvings but was always unsatisfied in the end. The carving would look great but the wonderful scent of the wood was gone. Now if this works I can get a finished look to the piece and still preserve the wonderful scent of the pine.

as always happy trails

and

Carpe diem 4 carving

carving table pt II aka wood spirit carving

Today looked to be a good weather day so thought I would get out there and get some more done on my carving. the carving table is really nice except I am used to holding the carving in my hand so I am really not utilizing the table as much as I maybe should. This may just take some time to readjust the way I do things carving wise.

I believe for the most part this one is done. I may go in and do some clean up, I may even turn him over and carve something on the other side but for now he is done. I am extremely happy with his features though one side didn't have as much wood to work with for the cheek bones. I like the way the lighting works to highlight the features and seems to in some ways change his expression or maybe I should say the intensity of his expression. Either way I am happy as this is a new venture for me, both carving pine knots and power carving in general.

On a side note I will be doing some research on the proper way to care for my carbide bits as they get a build up on them from the pine knots. I need to find the most efficient way of cleaning these and still maintaining a sharp edge on the bits. Once I find something I will share what I have found.

 

as always happy trails

and

Carpe diem 4 carving

new table for carving

 Well today was a nice enough day so I thought I would look at the available pieces I have in the garage and see if I could make me a better table for power carving pine knots. I had some peg board, some scrap lumber and an old stool that I made for my oldest son when he was in 1st grade maybe second. He has another stool that is much nicer and it actually was set up to switch to two different heights dependent upon which desk he was sitting at. So I used the stool as the base but the bottom is now the top. I cut 4 pieces of wood and cut them to the same height and gave them an angled cut at the base. This would give a slight lean to the peg board. I cut the peg board to the height and width that I wanted then cut notches so the peg board would fit down over the frame of the stool. After everything was either nailed or screwed together I had a new table. This is my prototype so I will use it for awhile and see if there are any changes or modifications I might consider if I build a replacement. After I was done I still had some time before heading out to pick up the boys so I got out a pine knot and gave the table it's first test drive.


When it comes to carving pine knots I am slowing down and not expecting great detail right away. Now my first bit of time carving are akin to my time spent on the band saw setting up a rough cut. As you can see my main focus is the nose and eye placement. I am happy with my beginning efforts but already see I need more depth in the carving itself. I will post more on the carving later.



Before I forget, I am using a worktable I bought from Ace Hardware and is seems plenty sturdy for this and the clamps hold the carving table without any issue. It also gives me shelving on the lower deck of the worktable for keeping my bits for easy access. The only thing I have already logged in my mind as a possible addition to the next table built would be to have the base of table in a slight angle for holding the carving. I may see if there is any way to attach one to this table but that won't be anytime soon. I will complete the carving with the table the way it is set up now and see if I still feel the same way once I am done.

as always happy trails

and

Carpe diem 4 carving   

 Well yesterday my sinuses got the best of me and for the most part I was down for the count. So since I would be sitting around all day I decided to get out some old carvings and apply some paint. I will tell you this was relaxing but painting numerous carvings all at once is not my standard operating procedure. I like to paint them individually so I can manipulate the paint for each carving. Though you could make an argument for painting multiple carvings at once for the efficiency of paint consumption and usage let alone the production value added. All in all I was happy with the way most of them came out. I do have one or two I need to do some additional painting and one that I may modify what I have painted thus far.

 What I did find is that this is a good way to try new things and experiment. If this was carving you were preparing to sell this may not be the time for you to get bold. Don't all of us have old carvings that we didn't think we would sell but we liked enough not to throw away or am I the only one that does this. Well if you are like me and you do, you may not have painted them but I encourage you to. The next rainy day or a day like yesterday where you are just sitting around with nothing to do get out some of the carvings and experiment. Step away from how you normally would paint things and try a new approach, or simply modify the way you currently do things just a bit to see if there are any benefits to the modifications. You never know till you try.

as always happy trails

and

Carpe diem 4 carving

(and painting)

remeber on feb 10th

 Back on the 10th of February I showed a carving I had done, one of two. Well I finally got around to painting everything but he may not be done just yet. As I was looking over the carving this morning I started to think that I could do the body the same way but I could shape the base to look like one end of a football field. Flatten out the middle section paint it green with some white lines thrown in. Then in the side that slope up I could paint it to look like a full stadium, mostly painting in a whole bunch of red dots throwing in a few white dots every so often. After all not everyone on game day wears red, but most do. If I do this I will make sure to paint the two colors of green on the field and the white outline, just enough to set it in the minds of what stadium you are looking at. I will even paint the outside as close to the color as possible and paint in some of the black windows , once again just enough that a fan would recognize the similarity. I will post picture once I have this laid out but this could be cool.

 

as always happy trails

and

Carpe diem 4 carving

not a farmer carving lol! it's the flip carving

So I have a carving that I did late last spring, carved from a pine knot with my Dremel due to the hardness of the wood. Pine knots are found in the joint of a pine tree where a branch is coming out. These knots are found on downed trees that are dead and decaying, since I have never hunted them I don't know how far along the tree needs to be to find the good knots. I bought mine from the tree wiz on Etsy.

This one is my first two carvings, the side that looks like a tornado with a face is the very first one. Since there are two sides I struggled with how to set this carving up. My first thing was simple, put it on a stick so you can easily rotate it to both sides so you can enjoy either side. But the carving would sit on the table with the base of the man with the candle, with of course, a stick sticking out of his head. So needless to say I wasn't happy leaving it at that. I then took a piece of scrap wood and made a stand and it actually balanced itself, that is, until fate steps in. So yesterday I was putzing around the garage and I came across a piece of wood that I had turned on the lathe back when I had one and this got me thinking. So I swiftly got out the band saw, cut the base in an angle and drilled two holes. Next I got out the carving, placed the stick into the hole on the side and now I have a stand for the carving. The only thing that bothered me was if you didn't have the stick in far enough it could loose it's balance. So I got out a wood ball that I have had way to long, drilled a hole in it placed a wood dowel in the hole and now the stand is perfectly balanced even if the stick doesn't protrude out the other side. So today I put a stain finish on the stand and wooden ball and as soon as it dries I will put a clear coat on the two pieces and this carving will be done, stand and all.

 

 

as always happy trails

and

Carpe diem 4 carving