dervishcarving

Where are you based? oh, cancel that, S England. Me possibly being able to get somethign for you up here in the NE Scotland is of limited use

Thanks Simon. Gnome, I did this in my spare time too. Carvign is a hobby for me and so i take days off to do the carving OR i do some carving on Saturday. I think i spent about 10 hours or so on the gruffalo. That will include all carving and finishing/colouring but not the planning. As i have only been carving 6 or 8 months I am still a bit slow but I dont mind that. each piece i cut, i learn. I havent ever seen any one else carving (although if i make it to Carve Carrbridge this weekend I can see some of the best carving) so i have to figure out how to do things as i go along.

yoiks...scary angle

Good stuff that curpinol. I use ronseal decking protector (has wax as well as oil so leaves a wax coating, Splinters recommended it a while back). The one i have planned (and the wood is upright and ready for me to start, once i get the time) will have a wingspan of about 1.5m, assuming the wood is sound and is going to be placed kinda out-int-the-open. I think i will just extend the 'base' upwards a little. This one i have plenty of time for so i dont have to rush it, not like the recent dog carving

Hi I like that bird. I have to do a similar piece pretty soon for a community site so its nice to see what other people have done. I think i will have to leave more wood between bottom-wing and base tho, otherwise it will get snapped, its going to be close to the childrens' area

Nice finish! I have milled Elm ready to sut to make a keyed chair, I just need to find teh time to cut it (and finish it). Dunno if i will manage that level of finish tho! good work

I dont do any climbing work, its all either carving or snedding/cutting to length and some wind-blown clearing. I wear Oregon Class II wellies. Cost me 45 quid including delivery. Feet get hot after a 6 or 7 hour day in the woods but not unbearable so and so far, no blisters/bunions/complaints. If PPE is the last line of defense then yes, skill/care/training should make them unnecessary BUT, last line of defense is still part of the defense. Just my 3p worth (VAT increase makes a 2p-worth more expensive now)

Ah, my owl/rabbit piece from a while back is poplar (wind damaged also, they seem prone to that). I finished it with linseed oil. Expensive but gives a nice hard finish

So the children who use the community area close to my house got the Gruffalo so i figured the dog walkers should get something too. Chainsaw-carved in oak and then sanded smooth. Finished with decking oil (with wax). I wanted to try to bring some 'movement' to the piece so i have used some steel bars to support the front of the dog, allowing his front-legs to be 'free'. Where he is placed the grass is allowed to grow nice and long so eventually it will look like he is leaping up to look over the long grass. Oh... its the brown (oak colored) dog, not the daft black one. That's my dog Albus (latin joke).

proper! I had a commission to do one of these but then it changed into a dragon instead... I would have preferred to do one of these. There is something very pleasing about the shape. What wood is this? lovely finish

Yeh, keep the CC down to 40-ish is a good idea for a carving bar. I THINK its due to the lack of nose-sprocket ,eaning there is more of a chance of tearing the chain off but that could be my poor engineering knowledge

Like that a lot, there is a lot of 'air' in it, always more impressive somehow. Good job

Hi all recently i decided i needed a nice little carvign knife so i had a look at Wilderness 1-2-1 Home. Rob had a nice selection of knives and some at a discount price so i figured i would order one. Unfortunately it was tail end of the stock and the knife, when it arrived, had some small rusk-marks on teh base of the blade and on teh metal-work holding the blade in place. Nothing major but enough that it was worth contacting him about it. His response was immediate and could not be more helpful. Offered me a full refund or, if i could wait a couple of weeks till he got back form a trip, a replacement. I opted to wait and in due course he got back to say he was back from his holiday but unfortunately the last of those knives he had also had a slight blemish so he gave me a full refund AND told me to keep the knife. He was courteous throughout the whole process and I just wanted to tell you all about his great customer service. To me, that kind of customer service is what makes a shop worth going to. The knife is perfectly functional and he could have said 'thems the breaks' but he didnt, he did all he could to replace and when that proved impossible he refunded and left me the knife. I will definitely keep using his shop Oh..sorry if this kind of post casues any problems from site sponsors, if it does please just remove it. Dave

Hey Gee, welcome aboard There wil be plenty of opinions on what-saw, enjoy the Stihl/Husky debate There are some good discussions already on some of the older threads which are probably worth looking through. I would suggest using a saw you are familiar with is a good idea so maybe one like your mate has? a carving bar makes a big difference and there has been a good discussion thread about carving bars quite recently too. http://arbtalk.co.uk/forum/chainsaw-carving-forum/46188-bar.html Buying from Rob will certainly ensure you get a quality service but remember that without a 'chainsaw ticket' (qualification) you are going to struggle to buy Stihl products online. before anyone else says it, PPE! Its easy to ignore it but its really important, especially when using a petrol-saw. Ok, so chainsaw-proof gloves are (in my opinion only) a bit of a waste unless you can get hold of a pair for cheep as they only give protection on the back of the left hand, but the rest of it.. legs/boots/head/face/ear... all essential main thing, have fun and feel free to ask questions, I certainly did when i started

Get him snipped. i got Albus snipped as soon as he started running off to find bitches in heat. definitely cured him of that. He is still a daft lump but there is no cure for being a Lab

Like that, is v different from my style but definitely like it Lovely finish as well. What festival was it sited at?

yep, finally got onto the bodgers site list to ask there. amazi9ng wood-engineering on that piece

Hi Michael, great to see a new member. I love your gorilla, great use of space and gives a real impression of mass. One day i will get the hang of fur, i just cant seem to get it right yet Will be interesting to see the difference in styles across the Atlantic. We have less bears here in the UK none in-fact

Nice work there! I kinda like the eyes, even if they are a little 'surprised'

My question wasn't if its possible, I have started turning a big bowl with a normal pole-lathe and it works ok, its just a complete thug. My question was more about efficiency. Big bowl + momentum. the ability to conserve that momentum would be more efficient

Yep, a treadle lathe would be fine but I have to work with what i have We use pole lathes that are a very old design.

Thanks for the input there lads, excellent engineering-viewpoint Alec. I dont have any desire to go to that length for it! i dotn think i have anywhere near the skill needed. I run direct drive to the bowl via a mandrel so there is nowhere to fit a true ratchet-system, i would have to go the route you suggest which would, i suspect, be a horribly complicated build. I think the leather idea is worth a short, i contacted Ben Orford (he made the tools i use, lovely chap and very helpful) and he said a similar thing but suggested dogfish skin as it has barbs so it would grip one-way and run smooth the other. Now i just need to find some dogfish skin I will ask on the bodgers site once the administrator gets back from holiday and activates my account. This is a more long-term project. My small bowls are now coming out lovely and people are buying them they are also asking for larger ones, hence the 'ratchet' question. I will post the results here if anyone is interested Dave

wow, thats nice work by somebody Im amazed at the wood skills of some people. i am more of a chainsa-carving or bowl-turning type

adding a wheel-hub is ok but we try to only use traditional green-wood methods/equipment so metal wheels and bearings is kind of 'against the grain' (pardon the pun)

Now thats not a bad idea, i can try that Sunday. Any one else have any ideas? or a link to a page where it is discussed or even a pic/video?