While my time spent on woodcarving has waned a bit lately my interest in this age old handcraft is still as strong as ever. I enjoy all facets of woodcarving, from simple whittlings to architectural masterpieces. One of my keen interests has always been in sculptural carvings.

Here are a couple of carvings of grape leaves that I did as an exercise in tool technique and working with grain direction. They are about 10″ in length and 7″ wide and carved from Basswood.

I did these through a weekly class held at a local Italian Cultural Center. The class goals were to learn and practise the skills and traditional techniques of sculpting in wood and to explore the still life, wildlife, Romanesque, Renaissance and Baroque styles.

Continue reading 'Sculptured Grape Leaf Woodcarvings'

1. When carving Cottonwood Bark ensure that the wood is no more than a year off the tree. Cottonwood Bark contains a waxy oil that will dissipate over time and cause the bark to become brittle and dry. Once this happens your chisel will break the edges of the bark, making it hard to create a quality carving.

2. Make a scribble mark on the waste side of a cut to ensure that you remember what side to make your cut on.

3. Static cling causes dust to attach itself to your faceshield. Wipe your faceshield with a laundry dryer antistatic sheet. Try a sheet that has been used in the dryer at least once because a fresh sheet will leave streaks and a sheet that has been used too much won’t have enough ‘cling repellent’ left on it to be useful.

4. When sanding by hand without a sanding block you can keep your sandpaper from tearing so easily by covering the back side with duct tape prior to use. This works well with palm sanders too.

5. One annoyance when using an orbital sander is that it continues to spin after it has been turned off. Instead of buying one of those ‘sander sitters’ just use a piece of carpet that has a bit of pile.

These are just a few tips that I picked up over this past week. They come from a variety of sources including books, magazines, newsletters, online and some from personal experience.

There are more Woodworking Tips and Tidbits located here.

Back to the shop…

When asked what hobbies I have I often mention, in addition to woodworking, how I enjoy gardening. However, lately I realized that the majority of the gardening I do would be best termed as ‘yard work’. While gardening evokes images of kneeling in a bed of sweet-smelling, brightly colored flowers musing about the beauty of life, most of what I do involves a pick, a shovel, a wheelbarrow and large boulders.

However, one thing about gardening that I don’t consider work is when I get to combine woodworking with it. The way I do this is by building projects meant for the outdoors. One of my favorite projects is a fun one I call The Birdhouse Bench. Here’s a couple I made the other day:

Each one is about 30″ wide, 15″ deep, 40″ tall and made from scrap lumber. They only take a few hours to build and make a great addition to your garden.

Continue reading 'Building Benches Is For The Birds'

This month’s meeting of the Nova Woodturner’s Guild was another fun and informative gathering for approximately 40 members. We were treated to an instructional segment on spindle turning and a ‘show and tell’ of some great work by the Guild members.

Dave Wilkins conducted the spindle turning instruction, demonstrating the use of the skew and spindle gouge.

Working with just a scrap piece of wood, he turned it round and demonstrated the proper use of these two woodturning tools. Working with the skew he showed how the peeling cut can be used to remove a lot of material quickly and how the planing cut is used to smooth. He spoke of the ideal position of the skew on the wood, where using the middle of the blade is preferred. He validated this by showing us the riving action caused by using the heel of the blade and how using the toe easily causes a ‘catch’, the bane of the skew.

Continue reading 'Woodturning Spindles At The NWG'