dervishcarving

David, you know yer fungi! Recognising a problem fungus purely from a small external fruiting body is dam impressive! I did my PhD on molecular genetics looking at molecular phylogeny of some plant and insect parasitic fungi (Verticillium species). Since then i have not had much to do with mycology but i know a few that specialise in that field. You sir, you could stand with the best of them. you knows yer onions (if you know what i mean). Colour me impressed

Thats pure wood porn mate! I never thought i would say this but.. I gotta get me some crabs

Every year in the small town of Ridgeway, Pennsylvania, they host a chainsaw carving event. just a small one... this year there were 217 or so carvers. Takes over the whole town. After saying 'no, its too dam cold that time of year' I finally went. and yes, it was DAM cold at times (-10 or so for a couple of days with snow and 30+mph winds) but I had a blast. I finally got to carve a piece that has been stuck in my head for a few years, a memorial to the 343 firefighters who died when the twin towers were attacked. 6 days or so work (but it was so cold I wasnt working all the time) Firefighter at one end (from a photograph i saw after the collapse), his equipment at the other end and then Cinders, the firehouse mascot (apparently they always have dalmatians) underneath. Cinders was a last minute addition and wasnt great but i was pretty happy with the rest As internationals the local Husky rep loaned us saws... brand new, still in the box, 550XPs... now thats what i call a loaner saw! Last photo is me (left) and Gary Shand (right) who carved a great Wizard and with whom i had a fantastic time. Roll on next time

I think you nailed it!... oh.. wait... you said screws. so.. you screwed it? no, that dosnt sound right either way... great work

Not sure why you would go this route over say a Sugihara bar? Are the new Husky ones very very cheep? Sent from my SM-G920F using Arbtalk mobile app

Great idea Sent from my SM-G920F using Arbtalk mobile app

We could try milling it sometime Craig?

what he said

excellent face there... dogs take practice

like it.. impressive though, i struggle to carve at that angle

cute wee squirrel, like it

its tough pricing stuff like this. I get all kinds of grief from the full-time carvers as i do a lot of community project (and for me, that means free. or at-most at-cost). But if you need to shell out for tools to do the job, then you got to charge for the job. a well carved throne is worth a decent saw and bar. Just depends on how you feel about charging a school, your skill level and how good it comes out. The echo is a great wee saw. i use a 360wes with my 16inch tsumara fine-tip detailing bar (One of Simon O'Roukes ones, amazing for fine detail but ony for that) and its fantastic. I tend to use stihl ms181 with a 12 inch sugi dime tip for most of my detailing work, mainly because those saws are great value (but still cheep enough to be almost disposable, 210 or so for the saw? whats not to like) but produce loads of power for detailing and nicely balanced. it can also take a beating and with a sugi tip (well dressed, heals cut back properly on the chain!) you can be pretty brutal with it and i almost use it for blocking out. each to their own though.

He did one at Carrbridge 3 years ago

i started with electric, cheep one from B and Q. the biggest drawback is heat. You can only run them for a maximum period and then you have to let them cool down. I also found it hard to remember to re-fill the oil, but i am very forgetful

Splendid work mate. really like those. Simon archer does a great sheep too

nice work

a trawl back through this forum will answer all of these questions mate. With lots of details

like yer nuts mate

came good mate. seems like half my pieces look wrong to me untill almost the last minute...and sometimes even then. sometimes you just got to walk away for a bit and come back to it afresh. the final piece is superb

a good days work there

Try Simon Archer, Wisewood

This is a great setup for detail work. I run a 14 inch Tsumara dime tip on it (very small radius tip) and its a perfect balance. If you contact Rob (at the link quoted below) he can give great advice on packages for what you need

You can give it a quick winnowing first (just put a big cloth on the ground outside (when there is a bit of wind) and drop the shaving from shoulder height onto the cloth. Most of the dust will blow away and the shavings should be fine for pet bedding. We give a lot of bandsaw-dust to chicken farmers and no issues yet. Id agree with Steve though, avoid poisonous species .. Steve knows his woods

fantastic find. Enjoyed that a lot

This was commissioned as a secret Christmas gift so I couldn't post before now. Deerhound. These dogs are hard, especially working from just photographs. But I keep getting offered these commissions so what can ya do? Merry Christmas all of you