dervishcarving

like that!

couldn't agree more... styles and attitudes towards our own work change all the time. When i first started and for the first coupe of years i would put down the saw way too early and go to the grinder or the sander. Then i started to trust the saw more and would do more and more of the work with just the saw. But i would still sand things a lot (what i would now call 'too much). Thins tended to come out looking a bit... 'same-y' if you know what i mean? Then i started to play with saw/blowtorch/flapsander and liked the results and, for now at least, THATS the 'style' i tend to stick to. Everyone has their own approach and I think we all need to find the one we are most comfortable with... and then push it as far as we can I tried some hadnd tools but found i have minimal skill with them.... much to my shame i think just put them away early this year and haven't gone back to them. I think i will try them again this Christmas though, when i cant be out carvign Ill be in the shed hand-carving (its also where i store my beer barrels, shhhh! don't tell the wife!) provided you are enjoying what you are doing and constantly trying to improve, I think you are doing the right thing.

the hardest part was carving it on a 90 degree angle! no idea why the pictures came out on their side, sorry about that

Customer wanted a hare for their Granny's Christmas gift. She sent me some photos of smooth-sanded hares that others had done... nah, not my style any more. Chainsaw + blowtorch + flapsander (sandoflex) gives much nicer finish I think. Used a soldering iron on the eye then a coat of decking-oil mixed 50-50 with woodpreserver. Gotta love Douglas Fir, the colour is glorious

me too! but the chances of the Minogue sisters both showing up to my carving site insisting on giving me £1 million in cash and then satisfying my ever desire (including a proper strip-clean of all my saws, including the harrycane! man, thats a pain in the @rse to clean properly, have to remove the bar covers and everything!) are probably quite slim I mean... what are the chances of them coming back for a third time??

great twist on the usual christmas trees, nicely original

all natural does not necessarily mean its safe for all though. I 'thought' Osmo contained nut oils? could be wrong of course, but that does open up the possibility of allergy-issues. Mineral oil is, at least, non-reactive. Sorry, i get riled up when i hear 'natural' being equated to 'safe' (its the scientist in me).. makes me want to start listing all the natural-stuff that will seriously ruin your day

I always think its best to focus on improving and developing before starting to think about 'what you can sell it for'. Carving is very much like that for me anyway, constantly wanting to improve

second hand, record power are decent enough, id suggest find a swivel head if youc an, allows him to turn bowls as well if he wants

Big J is right, we had a similar problem with a stand in the woods where i work. Theye got thinned and then windblown soon after. w as a shame. As for my interest, would depend on price and options for delivery. I dont have my own transport system for anything big. anything from 4 foot diameter down to 2 foot diameter is ideal for me...thats diameter at base of but, 4 - 7 foot lengths are what i typically work with. Happy to discuss if its a viable to have delivered, Im always looking for potential sources of larger carving logs. facebook:_ dervishcarving

sorry... should have said Buts. Buts, i meant fat buts. I like big buts... and there we go again. Nurse, more pills please

If you have any nice fat bust Id be interested in them for carving. My carving space is in Stonehaven

Its rude to complain that a pair is too big

nice one

I use a norwood mill a lot at my mates place. Don't know the model but its not as small as that and not on a trailer. Its a great piece of kit which takes a beating and still cuts well. We have it housed in a timber-framed sawshed (that we built from douglass firr we milled on the saw mill) and regularly mill 4 or 5m (i think) lumps with diameters up to 28 inch or so. Only niggles are the water-lubrication which is just drip-feed (could do with a pump for bigger logs) and the guard panels are a little flimsy (just plastic). Other than that, would recommend

Rob D was selling the Chinese alaskan-alike ones. cheep and seem to be fairly decent too

Sometimes i have a chance to do 'community projects', free pieces for local community groups that cant, or have no chance of getting the funding to buy one. I love doing these projects, very rewarding. I was asked to replace a dog-carving i had in a local community woodland. The original was stolen (and i was angry!). I agreed but insisted they supply the log and it had to be BIG. too big for anyone to be able to steel it! They supplied a 6 foot long, 4 foot diameter Douglas log... glorious, but hard as concrete! So i made them this. Inspired by the amazing wolfhound Simon O'rouke did a while back when i just couldn't get the face right.

Its more a case of not wasting so much wood Astra. You turn the wood that would usually be hollowed out when turning a bowl can be removed in 1 piece and made into another bowl...and so on and so on. Expensive kit lazarus?

Shaun Gilbert maybe?

Ive had 2 customers who gave that kind of sob-story. What they dont realise is that on facebook i could see the news of the holiday they had just booked. All part of the game mate.

nice one. Im never quite happy with my hares

I find i use a 10inch dime-tip for most of my detail work and a 14inch tsumara R7 (ish) for very fine or hard-to-reach details. Blocking out i prefer my 550xp with a stock 15 inch bar. i know many use 18inch bars but how often do you cut that big? if i need to make a big cut i use a bigger saw but most of my blocking out dosnt need that much depth and the simple reality is.... longer bars = loss of potential cutting power

Good first attempt mate. Several good suggestions already posted. My usual rule is that there are very few (if any) straight lines in nature. an additional one is that most birds are aerodynamically shaped and that dictates head shape etc. practice is all that we need, just endless practice

You should have come say hello. we dont bite. always good to chat with fellow arbtalkers

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