Gardenmac

Nice work, All the Best for 2017.

Good Job. Great face.

Good Job, will be well received.

Great work. What did you use for the eyes?

Seriously need a catch up soon. Great work.

Easy to use site, well done.

Also having tried to purchase a carving saw from a couple of local suppliers, they unfortunately didn't come through. I would just like to say many thanks for the great service, advice and excellent delivery. The new saw meant I completed a carving to a deadline. Will be my first port of call from now on.

Wee Bear didn't have a chance to sit awhile before he has been whisked off to his new welcome home.

Took a break from the big owl carve and carved this wee fella. He's gonna have a welcome sign

Russ, if I were you I'd be considering a 60cc category saw. Not much more weight than 50 cc and would give you a broader spectrum. If you get a 50cc it won't be long before you're wanting another, bigger saw.

 

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Thanks Si, always a need for a bigger saw:biggrin:

Bigger is not always better, block out with you bigger saw/bar and then your much better off with a shorter carving bar. All carvers are different in their approach, also when you can afford it, buy s number of different length bars and saws to support the bar you have.

In my opinion an ms 180 with a 12 ins Sugi bar and 1/4 pitch chain is an excellent middle of the road carving combination.

 

But more importantly keep practising, you will see improvement yourself as you keep carving.

Many thanks, bars on order today.

Looks great well done. I think Si (wise wood) has given the best advice there with a slight angle on your cut.

Keep them coming.

Many thanks, I'm going to give the angle cut ago on the next one, once the carving bars arrive.

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

Many thanks, I'm about to order a couple of carving bars and was looking at a bigger saw, cant decide between Echo CS501SX or the Husky550xp. I notice that Skylands Arb have both available but the Husky comes with a spare bar and two chains. I normally use Stihl but recently invested in an Echo 360 from RobD and its a great machine. I hope to be carving bigger timber so its time to invest in a machine with a bit more power.

Nice work Si, hope to catch up at some point soon.

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

Many thanks, I've been re working the shape to make it look more like an owl and less like a totem.

Hope to practice more as the winter pulls in and day job starts to drop off.

Russ

There was a thread on here sometime ago, I think it's title was 'eye burning tool' take a look at that. I got mine from Shaun 'Norfolkngood' is his name on here, I'm sure he will be more than happy to sell you a pair. I use 25mm and 12 mm for smaller carvings.

Thanks Ian, will check him out. Been using 25mm marbles in smaller owl versions so a 25mm burning bit would be a great addition to the tool box.

This is the biggest log I've carved and one thing that is on the shopping list is a saw with a longer bar. Biggest bar I have is on the 211 and it's 16" which has been great for blocking out on smaller pieces but certainly harder work on this much bigger log.

Hi Russ

If I can help with my limited knowledge, reduce the size of the head above the wing line to define the shape a little more. I stopped using marbles for eyes, try using a dime tip bar to shape the top of the eye and then use your burning tool and burn a semi circle under the cut, with a bit of practice it looks effective.

 

I like the look of your feathers in the 3rd pic, nice one.

Hi Ian, am about to go out and reshape the head following your comment and gonna try define the wing feathers following on from Si's comment.

Where did you get your eye burning tool from?

Many thanks

Hi Russ

A good first attempt.

One of the things that helps me is to mentally simplifying the shape of what I'm trying to carve and go for that shape. An otter, for example is an elongated peanut. When I'm doing owls I think of a tilted rugby ball at 45 degrees. One end of the 'ball' (the head) is rounded the other end (the tail) is is pointedand elongated. The tip of the saw is great for marking in the face either side of the beak at right angles.

Hope this helps.

Carrie

http://www.carrieoncarving.co.uk

Many thanks for the great tips re the shapes and face.

Slowly building up the right tools for the job and need to invest in a couple of carving bars next.

That's very nice, good effort mate, thanks for sharing👍

Many thanks, trying to get this one up to a standard so I can donate it to local primary school.

Hey Russ I've been wondering where you've been lately.

My two pence worth, the first pic of the feather detail. Instead of cutting in at 90° to the log, undercut at about 30° so you get an overlay giving the impression the feathers are lying on top of each other. Also define wings and layer the wing tip feathers.

Hope that all makes sense.

Always best to study photos of your subject matter to understand form rather than guess, I speak from experience 😜

 

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Many thanks Si, will give that ago. Heard that a Mohican is running around the woods with a chainsaw. Good man great cause:thumbup:

Realise that the standards are ever increasing when you look at the level of carving at the Husky Cup, Carve Carrbridge and the APF etc.

Thought I'd be brave and show you my latest effort which is far way off those pro standards. But I've been working on the feather texture and this is the biggest piece of timber I've carved to date.

I need to source some 55mm marbles for the eyes and tidy up the faces. Any feed back most appreciated.

Old guy on an allotment once told me to crush the plant underfoot to break the waxy coating then apply a mix of white vinegar and lawn sand to trick the plant into releasing its nitrogen store. A couple of applications and important crushing under foot and it worked. I did add glysophate to the mix and for 12 months the bugger was gone. But....then slowly it started to reappear so I simply use a patio weeding knife to excavate the new shoots at root.

My first big carving event ...... My head is empty I heard the radio 2 piece and it was good to be fair. Well I'm packed and about to head North

Good Luck, enjoy... I'm sure it will be a great event to participate in.

Anyone hear Zoe Ball talking about Chainsaw Carving this morning. Think she was giving a mention to the guys at Carve Carrbridge this weekend. Good Luck Guys enjoy n go create.

It may be something we will look at in the future, its a relatively new area for me so lots of research and testing, but if there is a market for it I don't see why not.

Cheers for the heads up.

Jon

No worries, good luck and let us know when your oils are on the market.

Hi Jon, will you be adding colour to your Danish Oil? I've been using coloured oils on the carvings I do to add to the character and help with weather protection.