EddieJ

I've been struggling for time of late, but thought that I had better get the little warrior finished before Halloween. The hair has taken between 8-10 hrs to do, with over 500 holes drilled in the scalp, then horse hair threaded in. I still need to drill more holes to fill it out, and cover the forehead a bit, but it's getting there. I also bought an old hairdressers training head from Ebay for £7.00 and started work on it this afternoon. Again, there is more to do, but the result so far is 'looking up'

Done... I have told them that I have reported them to both Ebay and their the state police. I wonder how soon that it will get pulled.

Here is the photo from the other side that they didn't use. I have also tried to phone Ebay, but they just keep cutting me off. The report feature doesn't allow you to give a written reason for reporting an advert. That is pretty crap. Don't worry mine is safely tucked away after having the first one stolen before it even got to me.

Don't be tempted to buy this saw on Ebay, it is a photo of my saw and my photo. I have reported the listing. Stihl MS 192 C-E Powerhead only, never used, 1.8hp, 7.4lbs | eBay

I'm afraid that I don't currently have any further details about the following, but it has to be worth showing.

Once the art exhibition in November is done and dusted, the fish thing will be heading straight outside. Anything to stop the old bag from going outside!!

Thanks for the replies, and don't worry Rob I have calmed down a bit now, but I'm now left not knowing what to do with it. I had a bit more of a play last weekend, and at 5' tall, this is how it now looks! There is still much to do, but it is taking shape. Someone is giving me a load of horse hair for the head, and I'm also carving a shrunken head which will be held by yet more hair in the right hand. I also need to do more work with the blow lamp. I have also never carved hands before, and it is suprising just how hard it is to engage your brain to the finger/thumb aspect of them. That was a bit of a learning curve for me. edit... I forgot to mention that I am entering this in an art exhibition at Alfriston in November. It could prove to be a bit controversial!

This is a work in progress that I started this afternoon, which will ultimately end up being a full size figure. I need to change the shape of the ears, and work on the burning etc, but the basics are there and this afternoon was just a play. The head will be finished with horse hair. The long and short of this one is that we live next to a right nasty witch of a woman who shouts abuse as soon as you go into the garden. Recently I was the last of six neighbours to fall out with her, and I have now decided to do her a favour and make a sculpture that will look at her every time that she goes out into her garden. Freaky shot.

It didn't seem worth starting another thread for this. I've had another play. The mouse on the bench is a quick model/mock up, for a chainsaw carving that I quite fancy trying. After it was made I decided that I quite liked the shape and size, so made the second holding a tea light. Both were carved using an Arbortech mini grinder. I do need to find some lime or something similar, as oak is just to brittle to use for this small scale stuff whilst using an Arbortech. On the tea light version, the nose snapped off once, the tail tip once, and the feet twice!

Thanks Baggy, good find.

Or save yourself £160.00 Shaving Horse Plans - Greenwoodworking using a shaving horse - YouTube .

I must admit that I did buy three very simple and small carvings from him for a fiver. Then after a long chat to him, and even learning a few tricks, he looked at me said, "You're going to copy them aren't you":biggrin: I didn't lie and just said "yes, but on a much larger scale using a chainsaw". And even then, they are only going to be a rough interpretation with a change of limb positions etc. I only went for the horse theme, as I have a mate who has a stall at the various horse shows, and he said that he would put some of my stuff on his stall if it was horse related. My 13yr old daughter came up with a good little design yesterday which will appeal to the 'teenage girl brigade' Once I made the first one, I'll post it up.

That is something that I have never understood people not doing. You often see photos of some stunning work, yet the area around looks a real mess, which spoils everything. Attention to detail such as that makes a massive difference.

I have just got back from Hickstead show ground and there was a guy there selling all kinds of horse sculpture and pretty much anything else that you could think of with prices starting at just £3.00 up to £23.00 for an absolutely superb and truly accurate carving of a horse showing every single muscle and hair detail. All of which have come from Indonesia. £23.00 is/was crazy cheap, and that is with him making a profit on it. So much for that little idea.

Now that Bosch have apparently abandoned their 100mm sander in favour of a 75mm sander, you could just point out to him that the Makita has 25% greater sanding area, a belt speed of 500m/min compared with 330m/min and has a 1200w motor compared to 750w. I'm sure that he will then see the error of his way.

Not sure that nudes and flames would be a good combination Rob! My daughter has already told me that I now need to make a horse that is rearing up for her. I knew that I shouldn't have taken it home with me.

I figured that after making the simple deer cut out on the bandsaw, I figured why not try to cut out a horse. Obviously there was also a bit of sanding involved. With a bit more practice, I reckon that it shouldn't be too difficult to get right. Made from air dried home grown oak and measuring approx 200mm long x 165mm high x 50mm wide.

I couldn't click like as I don't have an FB account. Looks good though.

Same as above. Mine gets used on an almost daily basis and blows the Ryobi into the weeds. The Makita is in a different league. I bought the Ryobi 610mm x 100mm size belt sander before the Makita, and thought that the Ryobi is was okay, then I worked along side someone who had a Makita 9403, and couldn't believe just how much better and faster it was. When sanding the components of a bog stock modular two bay oak frame, I save approx 4hrs of sanding time when compared to using the Ryobi. If the spec details are correct, the Ryobi has a belt speed of 240-400m/min and the Makita has a belt speed of 500m/min. Which ever make or model that you decide upon, buy decent belts and a stick of belt cleaner. The belt cleaner is worth every penny. Buy Abrasive Belt & Disc Cleaners from Axminster, fast delivery for the UK

Just a quick idea for anyone who fancies having a go at making these to sell on. Make a simple base, drill a shallow hole, then add a tea light.

Exhibitions/events This weekend was my first public exhibition, and here are a few things that I have learnt from it, in no particular order. Even with loads of PR, don't rely on local media supporting your chosen event! Make sure that you have someone to help you set up and clear up site. I didn't and it made for very hard work. Also allow plenty of time for the above. Take plenty of water to drink. I hadn't realised just how thirsty that you get. If possible, try and involve children. Get them interested and the parents have to follow. Bite your tongue and be nice to everyone, even when the parent comes over to 'demand' one of the free rain deer that I had been offering to children. Had the child been out of ear shot, my polite stance may/would have been different! Don't try and be too ambitious about what you think that you can achieve over the time of the event. Take along as much of your own publicity as you can, including something to display business cards in. Take along enough stands/tables etc to put your tools on. Make a check list of what tools and equipment that you shall need. Then go over the list and check it again. It is surprising what you forget the first time around. Don't leave anything sharp just laying around. This may sound obvious, but you can quickly forget when talking to someone. Remember that talking to endless amounts of people soon seems to knacker you out, so try and find somewhere to sit down and chill out away from people. You have your cards etc out, and any potential clients can always come back. Expect that I shall think of more later, but for now one last thing... Enjoy it.

The Arbortech blade may be fine for your use, but it would be handy to borrow one first just to give it a go. I spotted a couple of days ago that they make a planing blade which looks like it could be an interesting bit of kit. Not wishing to go off topic.. Ref the framing, I only have two books both of which I would highly recommend. Timber Building In Britain by R.W.Brunskill and the second is Goss's Roofing Ready Reckoner Feel free to send me a private message any time, and I can forward my contact details on to you.

Brilliant thread. Being an oak framer by trade and also in a previous career a tree surgeon, I'm kind of lucky that I already had a fair few tools to hand before venturing into carving. My first mistake was thinking that I needed an Arbortech 4" industrial carving blade. For me that has been a big waste of money as it hardly gets used. I find the chainsaw does the same job with less chip being thrown all over you. My second mistake was buying all three of the Holey Galahad curved grinding discs. Thankfully I brought them at a very discounted price, but when the time comes to replace them, I shall only buy the coarse blade, and forget about the medium and fine. On green oak I have found that they are just a waste of time, as they clog up in seconds. Okay that's the negative out of the way, so here is a list that I shall no doubt add to of the positive items. I have three chainsaws, an MS260 which in truth has been a pile of s##t from new. A superb electric MSE180, and finally an MS192 which I still haven't got around to fitting a carving bar to. One Arbortech product that I really rate highly is my mini carver. I opted for the whole unit, rather than just the head. The sanding discs are expensive for it, but with care and respect they do last a long time. I'm lucky enough to have some lovely Pfeil carving chisels, but these don't get used as often as perhaps they should. My Triton Superjaws has proved to be a useful asset and I wouldn't be without it. Because of my job, I Have a couple of very handy Makita sanders, a 4" belt and an orbital one. I also have a Bosch Delta, which is very good for small detail work, but the sanding pads are just way to expensive and don't last five seconds! I also have the usual hand tools and files that others appear to own and use, but would be very interested to learn and hear about the use of wire brushes?

Many thanks for the positive replies, it would have been nice to have got the rest done, but I reckon that the off cuts will do just as well. I can't take any credit for the deer, as I found them on this link, which shows exactly how to make them. Cutting a 3-D reindeer on the bandsaw

You must be stupid was amongst three negative comments that I received today for making this batch of 8" high deer. I had intended to make 30 of them, but two problems reared their ugly heads. The first being the new band saw blades that I bought. They were packaged wrongly and were two inches too short, then the second problem happened when my one remaining blade snapped half way through! The reason for me being called stupid, is that I'm giving my work to children for free. I'm doing an exhibition and demonstration next weekend and wanted to involve children, by getting them to sand up the deer above and then take them home as a reward/pressie. If just one child gets inspired, then I have achieved something good, and yet others only put you down for wanting to be nice. Sadly because of the problems with the blades, I'm now stuffed to get them all made in time. They take approx 17mins to cut out, and I just don't have the time. Today was my one shot.