Woodcarving

The months leading to Christmas have extra security around the shop. Guards are posted to prevent word getting out about possible gifts being created within. Blogging is ignored. All of the gifts made it out in plenty of time, but the blog didn’t write itself, and the wimpy guards wouldn’t write anything, heading for warmer regions the moment this winter’s cold arrived.

I did take a few photos, but am not excited with them. Dark Walnut needs a lot of light to photograph well. I don’t know whether these photos suffer from my capability, getting used to a new camera, or the dearth of real light bulbs.

One might surmise from what I show here that there are four grandchildren, each having 3 parts to their names, one family liking lighter color wood and another liking darker wood. Correct. Each of the grandchildren now have a pencil box, either of Cherry or Walnut, and each supplied with “The World’s Best Pencils” and a sharpener. Each of those boxes uses standard pencil box construction, simple dovetails, sliding lid, solid base.

A young woman in our family puts up with a very strange nervous system malady and sometimes appreciates assistance when walking. I thought she needed something better than the mass-produced piece of aluminum tubing she has been using. The walking staff is dual purpose, long for use as a staff, and with a handle for use as a cane. The twisty part is a double helix, similar to one of the symbols of her profession.

The oval rose is one of my favorite classical carvings. I’ve made several of these carvings. The box with the oval rose is about 9″ by 6″ by 2 3/4″ high. The lid is a flip up lid which will stand open at just a bit beyond 90 degrees. No pencils in that box. It traveled with a load of cookies.

Finish on all of the boxes is shellac and wax. All of the Walnut items have additional dark stain, Min-Wax Jacobean. The walking staff has  a polyurethane finish, better for exterior use.

UPDATE: In response to Shannon’s comment, I’ve attached the pattern for the oval rose, both as an image and as a PDF.  The pattern is free. The carving sequence is an exercise for the carver.  🙂

… and for hints on how to transfer complicated patterns, see the “Ponce on That” section of a recent post.

Tool tote!

Yes, a tool tote. One project too many found me making numerous trips to the workshop, usually for a few tools per trip. It’s long past time to have a carry tote or tool tote for the projects away from the workshop. One of the very simple projects at Paul Sellers’ Woodworking Masterclass site is a “Carrying Tote.” The purpose of the 2 episode project is to teach the basic dado (housed dado in UK) joint. Hey, I had some lumber of appropriate size. Actually it was a bit wider and I wasn’t in the mood for ripping. So, I used the width I had and it worked out OK. Building the tote itself was easy.

But, it was plain. Plain wood. Ahhhh, the problem was an absence of carvings! Have to fix that…

There was a time that we vacationed away from the shop, and I substituted a pencil and yellow notepad for gouges and wood … making lots of drawings of Acanthus leaves and scrolls.

I borrowed from that collection for these carvings. These are shapes that are actually better in high relief, on wood an inch thick or more. The challenge here was executing them in low relief while still giving the right sense of shape. At the same time, I wanted them incised instead of raised where every knock and bump would produce damage.

The box is made of Radiata Pine from New Zealand, the “white wood” carried by our big orange home center. When I started, I was skeptical about carving this stuff. It actually worked out well, a bit stringy in places, but not too bad. Finish is 3 coats of shellac. No rub out. No wax.