Deer

 

  Yesterday, I made a deer for our yard.  Eva had talked about wanting something to add character to the otherwise dead winter yard.  We looked a a variety of things on the Net and as always I went my own way anyway.  I did closely examine several of the internet examples to get an idea of what sort of proportions  worked best.  The trick is to get the general size, shape and proportion so even something this rustic and non-representational  will be perceived as a deer.  It is also important to remember that your "art" may be better if it doesn't try to copy real life too closely.

  

  I had the good luck to pick up the cedar body on the side of the road a while ago and then get the head just the other day.  Dried cedar is very light and so spindly legs are plenty strong enough.  The neck needed to be thicker than the legs but I didn't have a natural branch available so I roughed up an aged 2 x 2.  The building process was not complicated, creating the design and gathering the materials together took the majority of my time.  I even made several sketches first.  All the angles are drilled free hand and set by eye, once the general plan was formed it was easy.  Making up my mind took the most time. 

   

  Rustic wood working might be a good place to start your wood working career since it doesn't really require any special or expensive tools.  I have the good fortune to have inherited two excellent draw knives but lower cost alternatives are out there if you look and can sharpen your tools properly. Any drill that will turn a large spade bit is adequate.  The saw I use for tough lumber is a cheap pull saw from the local hardware store.  I have two very good edge tools in the hatchet and bench knife, but again decent quality tools are readily available for a decent price. 

  I will keep my eye out for materials to make a fawn for the spring time.

 cheers ianw 

My Brutes

  In my shop I have several tools that are 'brutes', these are tools that do the ugly work that needs to be done.  I don't abuse these tools, but I do use them hard.

Heavy dudes, for heavy work - left to right

a- Heavy bladed knives with shop made handles.  These knives get used for scraping, staple prying, and cutting any sort of none wood.

b- Linemen's plyers. Great for cutting heavier wire, pulling nails/staples and twisting stuff.

c- Plywood saw, Japanese style.  I am on my second blade with this saw. When in doubt this is the saw I use.  It cuts wood, plywood. bone and all sorts of plastic hose and pipe.  I once cut a blue recycling box apart with this saw.

d- The rasp.  I made the handle for this rasp.  This tool never gets used on decent wood, it cuts like a demented chain saw.

e- Super Screw Driver.  This tools has opened more paint cans, pried more stuff apart and with stood more torque than I would have imagined.  I really don't remember when or where I got but would miss it terribly if I lost it.

f- Glue Knife.  I do not have much luck with silicone glue brushes, give me a heavy duty pallet knife every time.  Eventually these knives get thin from having the build up glue ground off and they break.  This is my second one so I think they last me 15 or so years, good value.

                                                        

and on top

g- Japanese Shop Scissors - These scissor will cut leather, paper, tin, duct tape, rags, you name it and they were cheap.  When they get lose I hit the hinge with a hammer and start all over again. I love knives, but sometime scissors are just better.

h- Pry Bar  I have torn apart skids and bricks with this bar.  This tool and a hammer make me the new anti-hero "Distructo Man"

  There are times when grace and subtly are not what is needed.  At those times of brute force you also need the right tool.  Using the correct tool, always makes the job safer, easier and quicker. 

Bench Knives

Hobby Knife Set

     It is impossible to work with wood without having an assortment of knives available to trim, adjust or scrape your materials into shape.  Knives are also used to smear wet glue or to scrape dried glue away.  I have a set of knives like the ones above that I use for all of the above jobs and then some.

   As you know from previous blogs I am not keen on throw away tools, so I also have a bunch of other knives that  I resharpen rather than throw away.  Recently I added a knife that I made to my shop tools.

left, trim knife, razor sharp
right, hacking knife, heavy weight blade.

     Saying that I made the knife maybe miss leading.  I made the handle, I bought the blade.  You can see the hacking knife is not meant to be held in the hand for long and so the handle is not very useful.   The knife on the left will be used to trim edges and clear tear out from hand cut wood, as well as remove glue and probably sharpen pencils.  I made the handle from hard maple and I glued it to the metal blade and itself instead of going to the trouble of riveting it.  I used Contact Cement, (follow the instructions, leave it to cure) and so have no expectation of the handle coming loose.

right- blade, comes pre sharpened, needs some honing.
2nd right- pencil sharpening knife, made by my father.
3rd from right- hacking knife
left- new trim knife

   Many years ago my father made the pencil sharpening knife from one of these blade blanks.  He cut the blade off short and then fitted an off center handle:

   The handle is ideal for a right handed person to use.  The knife doesn't really have any other particular use other than to sharpen pencils. Last spring my father passed away, that pencil sharping knife hangs out on my work bench and is used often and never with out personal feelings.  

   I have  a passion for edge tools and bench knives are no exception. 

P.S. Happy New Year.