dervishcarving

Hey fellow bowl-turners I had had an interesting request from a mate who makes audiophile equipment. He is looking at building something that involves wooden hemispheres (no idea how) and thought i might be able to turn him some bowls. Unfortunately I am going in for a hand operation in 2 days and so i wil be out of action for a couple of months so i cant help. I thought i would put it here and see what people think. He is looking for some hardwood bowls, maybe maple? fruitwood? Yew? something hard that would have a decent resonance i assume. Something in teh range of 40-50cm with a wall thickness of say 15-25cm. I dont have any further details but i can pass on any questions. anyone think they could have a go? and if so, what price? at the moment its in the 'design phase' and might not come to anything but i know there are people here with better bowl turning skills than me

like that one, gives soem nice details on how the fibnal cuts are made on a large trunk section for crane-lifting. I always wondered what was the best way

when Craig gets to visit to see the toys can i come along? Oh..craig, you coming to carrbridge again this year? i havent figured what im gonna carve yet but would be great if you could bring a big saw along again? am considering a bench this year.

biscuit is always good. especially with a nice cup of tea but on topic, i do like thes frames. might give it a go soon

when you do start selling them, give us first refusal eh? i really like teh look and teh idea will be worth giving it a god few tests 'washing up' and see if it dosnt crack when you get it hot again. after that, stock up and start selling. i could see them doing v well

too far south for me sorry

nice piece pig, good expression workign on stumps takes some getting used to but i also prefer it now. provided i can get all eth way round them its easier than a stand-alone log. unless its HUGE of course

something very pleasing about their shape eh?

have you managed to make any that will fit into a dremel? if so id be inteested

nice one that is

ahhh, the unkindest cut of all, makes a ram-bam-thank-you-ma'am into a cutlet nice piece tho mate can you believe its only about 8 weeks will woodfest!?!?!?!?!!? is it too early to panic? im only asking....do let me know when its time please

Thanks Si. the door was supposed to be different but i found a big pocket of rot and had to change the design...came out fine though so i was happy

ach, the head at carrbridge was not a disaster, you fixed it fine. But this one i prefer, i like the balance and form of it

you know tom, i prefer this to the last stag you did, the one at carrbridge. has good balance. how did Sunday go? was gonna pop down but after 3 days of hard carving on the wizards tower i was shattered

cheers Rob, the toonie bar i got from you was a blessing on this. removing all teh bark/sapwood took AGES so i was glad to have a lightweight bar. The toonie bar seems to have turned my 440 into a whole new saw too, much more responsive and quicker cutting :thumbup:

small saws (stihl MS180 for example) are great for carving with a short 12 inch dime-tip bar. the balance is right and it has enough power.

good job there

Cheers Mark took 3 days to do this one. If i had thought to have a ripping saw it might have been a bit quicker but its a big job

http://arbtalk.co.uk/forum/chainsaw-carving-forum/72780-radgast-browns-house.html petrol is probably just as good, just avoid smoking too close

pics are up Mark. ladder yes, but 19 foot is a bit high for a ladder. hopefuly they will manage somehow. i use a plant sprayer to oil now. dilute the oil wit about 205 white spirit and it flows better. diesel also works according to Simon O'Rouke

very good point David and i will bear that in mind (no pun intended). I have only been caring 2 years now so none of my pieces are old enough to be at risk yet (teh stuff i did in year 1 were all pretty small)

oh, yes! lot of work. each 'stone' needs 12 cuts and then some 'weathering' My Harricane was very handy for this job, i could get a nice 'weathered stone' effect using it. The biggest work though was removing the bark. I didnt have a ripping chain available so it took AGES to remove the bark all the way round that 19 foot! next time i will make sure i have a ripper. Anyone got any handy tips for removing bark quick and easy? getting it off this Elm, still alive, sap rising in the spring,.....it was a nightmare!

Thanks chaps. We used scaffold but, if im honest, it was not really good enough for the job. It was all we had and so we made-do but i didnt feel comfortable with it. I dont like working on scaffold with a chainsaw, feels too 'wobbly' but maybe im just getting old Cherry picker was an option but the ground is v sloped at teh base of the tree and i wasnt sure if it would be any safer. would have involved les work though dismantling the tower to move round teh tree again and again As for your question David... I am not aware of any 'legal' requiremebnt to check any carving in private gardens BUt you have a good point. I pointed out to the owner that there is rot in the tree and so it coul dbecome unstable after 'soem time' but i have no idea how long. Ill mention it to her and her gardener next month and leave it up to them. me? im just a saw jockey with a little artistic flair, im not competent to judge if a tree is safe or not.

Ok, a bit of an obscure title but Radgast the Brown was one of the wizards in Tolkein lore. he was the slightly scruffy one who spoke to teh animals and i assumed to live in a bit of a ramshackle tower. This was a tower i carved revently as part of a pair of carvings in Old Aberdeen. Lovely garden owned by a very posh lady. she wanted fairly restrained (yeh, like i can do that) but liked teh tower idea when i suggested it. The tree has a lot of lean and rot at the bottom (Hollow to 3 or 4 foot up at least) but is 19 foot high (yes, 19 foot!!! 3x bigger than what i have done before) so i had to not take away too much solid wood at the base or i would risk making it unstable. Meant the door was not quite where i wanted it and i couldnt do anythign to reduce the lean-effect but hey... it came out ok. owner was delighted and I just wish i had charged twice as much!

Might work but no guarantees. cracks are likely to start from the heartwood at the top so a plunge cut there might help, but then you are risking letting water in which can add to the problem. I had similar worries with teh 19 foot (yes, 19 foot) tower i carved a couple of days ago. i added a few expansion cuts at the top (disguised as stonework) but its still likely to crack. especially as its so tall they are not going to be able to oil it!