Catching Up - the news that is fit to type.

  There has been a small interruption in the flow of blogs for no other reason than there were other things to do.  While Thanksgiving is not the huge holiday for Canada that it seems to be in the United States we have still been busy with friends, family and fall fair.

  So the first up date is to show the results from the Rockton World's Fair. I entered four carvings and:

  Two of my entries did well.  The other two where good but not as good as the eventual winners.  There is a serious wood carving club in our area and they keep the standards high.

  

  Also a Gnome update.  You saw the house in the shop on September 13th. Here it is peacefully installed in Nicole's garden.  

  All of these projects do not require many tools or much expenditure.  Give it a try, chip carving is particularly cost effective, really only one knife. 

  cheers ianw 

p.s. get out and see the Fall Colours before they're blown away.

  

Two Woodcraft Projects

  Recently I made a Gnome Home, not a cabinet grade shop project but...one that was appreciated. (also fun) 

  So, I had some materials laying around and made another yard ornament.

   Rudolf is about 6 inches tall including antlers. This is the sort of shop project you can do living in an apartment. I found the body and head are wind fall lumber from the side of the road. The legs are whittled round(ish) from a 1 x 1 cedar fence board and the nose. I think I once bought a small bag of noses (knobs) at a craft store. A project like this is even a good one for a beginner with very limited tools.  I needed a hand saw, drill, two sized drill bits, a shop knife and pliers to make the antlers. You don't even need to sand the deer if you want to avoid the mess and dust. 

    This next project used more tools.  The tools, glue and clamps that made the box were more involved than the carving equipment.  I have some bass wood boards that cut re-sawed to make the basic box. The box is held together with glue and dowels.

  Chip carving knives are quite basic and for this project I only used the one on the left.

It has been a couple of years since I did any chip carving so this design is a bit rough. I had forgotten how enjoyable this type of wood working can be.

  The lid is held in position by two end pins.  That type of hinge system can be adapted to nearly any sized box and long pins can be used instead of tiny hinges with tiny screws. While this box has some carved bling it is a solid functional item too.

  

  The hinge pin is visible in this view.   You can also see if you look closely, the dowel pins. Each end has four tiny dowel pins, made from cocktail tooth picks. My plan for this box is for it to be used as a pencil case so it will get knocked around during its life, but also appreciated and used .  Chip carved items are often heavily carved, in the case only the back and bottom are uncarved. Traditionally the back would have been carved too.  The carver is partly showing off, and originally killing time in the down time or off season so the more detailed and intricate the better. 

  Now I need to clear shop space because I have taken on a large restoration project, not difficult but LARGE.  Details to follow.

cheers IanW

Fall Fair Season is upon us!!

get out and visit your local fair,

better yet enter to win.

  

Two Kinds of Carving

  Aside from working on the long, long chair rail I have been spending some time finishing a relief carving that I began a while ago.  The carving part is finished, it is the sanding and finishing part that I am doing now.  It seems that final sanding is going to take nearly as long as the initial carving.

  Basswood is the preferred carving wood in this part of the country although butternut is also poplar although getting very rare.
  

  Chip carving is an old folk art style of carving, to put ornaments on to common objects.  The piece I just finished will become the carved top of an art box of some type.  I don't have a plan yet.

  The great thing about chip carving is it takes one tool, a chip carving knife.  I drew my own design last evening and then cut out the chips.  Spray varnish was created for chip carvers.  

a Moor small Chip Carving Knife.

  I am spending time  carving again because I foresee a time without large shop machines.  Carving will keep me playing with wood, and improving my skills without big machines with there mess and noise.  

  Give it a try.

cheers, ianw 

Wood Carving, Where Do You Start

     Kari Hultman is very fine woodworker and blogger who's site I have followed for sometime.  She graciously gave me permission to share her most recent blog entry on wood carving.

http://villagecarpenter.blogspot.com/2011/04/wood-carving-where-do-you-start.html

         A few years ago I dabbled with chip carving, it was a quiet, low tech way to play with wood in a house instead of in  an unheated garage workshop.  I also let me get back to wood without spending a fortune on tools.  With chip carving I was reminded how much I like wood, it textures and smell.

two of a set of four coasters, the others are lost to the mists of time.

   Over time I made some coasters and a couple of trivets, they mostly got spread among family.  Now occasionally I use the chip carving and whittling skills I learned on larger projects to add an ornamental touch.  Not as often as I would like, lack of confidence and lack of nerve usually keep me from trying something on a nearly completed project.

   This winter I took some time to practice some carving techniques with the intention of making a couple of plain looking band saw boxes and then adding bling with some relief carving.        ( just don't hold your breath to see the results.  If you read this blog regularly you will know how long it took me to get around to making the box joint jig). Those projects will come, in time, I believe.

  Kari's blog about where to start is very helpful for a beginner wood worker, and also for an experienced woodworker that is letting go of his shop and moving into a smaller space.  Giving up your table saw and your planer doesn't  have to mean giving up wood.  There are lots of clubs for carvers around and they are dead keen to encourage and help me people.  Carving reminds us that there is lots of beautiful things you can do with wood, in a limited space with a tight budget.

Working with wood is good for the mind, the hands and the soul.