TonyIOM
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Everything posted by TonyIOM
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Thanks for all your compliments! Here is my source material - not a great deal to go on so so I used my artistic licence (made it up as I went along)! Cheers Tony
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Hi Mark It took about 3 days in total of which half was spent thinking, walking away and coming back, and numerous cups of tea! Cheers Tony
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Hello Here's a recent carving I did using a 10" thick slab of macrocarpa for Cabballeros MC. It took a long time to remove the various layers in the design but overall I'm happy with it. Beats doing bears and owls! Cheers, Tony
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Hi Its pumpkin time! A relatively quick carve if it didn't have a stem, a face or need sanded or painted orange then black These ones range from 8" diameter to around 14". I have hollowed one out and used flickering LED candle lights inside which are pretty effective. Cheers, Tony
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Hi I think you'll curse the day you skimped on the gravel mat but if you like driving and walking in deep gravel, then crack on. Here are pictures of a garden I landscaped with COREgravel mats which are 8'x4' and terram backed. The mat is 2" deep and needs 85kg of gravel per sq m - a gravel drive without the mat needs to be about 4" deep to avoid base material breaking through so twice the cost for gravel. The total area matted was 120 square metres and 2 of us prepared the sub base, blinded it with concrete or sharp sand, laid the mats and filled it with gravel in one 8 hour day. 4 years on, the driveway looks as good as the day it was laid and the customer had 2 X5's Cheers, Tony
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Thanks for the compliments. The Gruffalo took about 3 days and the mouse about a day then I went back and applied paint. It was difficult keeping the decking oil off the paint without damaging but I won in the end! The mouse sold but not the Gruffalo - I'm carving a full set so I'm happy to keep him for a while - some smart a$$ offered me £300 for him and I politely declined Cheers, Tony
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Good job there Ian! I find it difficult getting just the right angle for your saw whilst have having a comfortable body position. I did my first stump a few weeks ago; a 4' tall and wide stump sat on a bank with a big drop on one side. I had to detach one limb and carve it separately as it was too dangerous to work in situ. Good luck with your next one! Cheers
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Good morning I was a at a trade show on the Isle of Man at the weekend and had a lot of interest in my Gruffalo carvings. The Gruffalo is just over 4' tall and about 22" wide, carved from macrocarpa. Sales of £950 was good but didn't beat my record of £1500 2 years ago. I hope you like them! Cheers Tony
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Hi Today a friend milled some of the elm I've been collecting and we found some beautiful swirly grain. We decided to call it tiger elm on account of its stripes! A good morning's work produced 26 boards at 2" thick and various widths so I'm more than happy Cheers Tony
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Hi Mark, I've found some pictures of the timber and a stockist in USA. I hope you are sitting down when you see the price! Cheers, Tony Buy Buckeye Burl - For Sale Online: Blanks & Blocks
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Hi Thanks for the feedback and compliments - I can relate to your comment about thinking time and I spent a lot of that on this job. It was an important commission to demonstrate that I could carve not just bears and I found it very satisfying but frustrating. Since posting it on my facebook page. Manx Chainsaw Carvings, I've been asked to quote for a boxer, bloodhound and a labrador! Oh dear what have I started Cheers, Tony
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Very good! I just do that to break up the expanse of wood and sometimes its helps the piece not look too top-heavy. I carve the branches/knots when I get stuck on the main carving - no knots = easy job. There are a lot of side branches on this one! Cheers Tony
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Good evening everyone Here's a couple of before and after pictures of my most complicated carving to date and my first dogs! I think I prefer bears and owls This was a commission order and took a full 4 days so I either need to charge more or work a bit faster! Cheers from a wet and windy Isle of Man. Tony
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Hi , I use a Husky 353 for my carvings generally running a 14" bar and its great - a good power to weight ratio. Its good for blocking out and I'm carving mostly hardwoods including oak. I have a 20" bar with a narrower than standard nose, I think its called a toonie bar. I used that last week to fell a cypress of some type which was 20" at the base and it did the job just fine. I think the smaller nose reduces kickback. I have a couple of MS180's with dime tip bars for details etc. Hope this helps, Cheers, Tony
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I wish I was a tree surgeon/arborist then I wouldn't need to scratch around to find suitable timber. I either have too much little stuff or massive butts and not much inbetween! Have a go Harvey, a basic owl is just a round head on a rugby ball shaped body and then you can improvise from there! Cheers
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Hi Mick, I used teak oil tinted with a 'Burmese Teak' Colron wood dye which makes an otherwise bland piece of Douglas fir a bit more interesting. The mushroom is in 2 pieces, the base being a piece of oak, treated the same. Cheers
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Hello Here are the products of my labour getting these carvings done for Mother's Day. The bears are very popular but I'm getting somewhat tired of them now! My next commissions include a 3' and 5' gnome, a giraffe, elephant, donkey and an angel so plenty of variety there Cheers Tony
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Sorry for the confusion, the elm shell is my second attempt! The first got separated from the stump when blocking out! I have quite a lot of timber now to work with including this 3.8m by 3' oak log and tons of beech and elm - better keep practising on the scraps before I let myself loose on this lot! Cheers for all your comments.
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Hi I've decided to move away from animals for a while and seeking a new challenge I decided to carve seashells - living on a very small island I'm hoping they will be popular. I found it difficult to keep a consistent spiral going but I'm pleased with progress from the elm shell to the beech one. The first shell is in the firewood pile! Cheers. Happy Christmas and a prosperous New Year to you all.
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Thanks. The cartoon style suits my abilities too! A local garden centre has agreed to stock my carvings so I've been busy carving to create a big display in the New Year. Cheers Tony
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Penguins are hot just now thanks to John Lewis and the Penguins of Madagascar film. Made from spalted beech and elm, these are my first few attempts - I await your critical appraisals!
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Its speculative at the moment but a local seafood restaurant has expressed an interest for an eye-catching pavement sign. I'm working on a display stand for it and will put pictures up when done. Cheers
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Here is a big crab that I'm working on, made from spalted beech. I'm going to make it into a advertising sign, mounted on a large oak block. its about 2' across and 6" deep.
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A recent commission for a mother and baby hedgehog in beech and elm. I get asked to do a lot of hogs but I find them fiddly to do on account of their small size. These are about 12-18" long. Their heads have been sanded smooth, then waxed and teak oiled.
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Hi I had an enquiry this week looking for large slab of hardwood, in oak or whatever with good grain pattern. Its for use as a shop counter so will need to be kiln dried preferably. All my timber is wet and still in the log! So far so good - the catch is they want it at least 70cm wide, 3" thick and a minimum of 4m length, ideally 6m with the bark on preferably but a waney edge both sides will do! I suggested a couple of bookend pieces would be a more realistic prospect and I would eat my hat if such a 6m section was available:001_smile: Does anybody have anything that may come close? I would need to arrange collection and onwards delivery to the Isle of Man. Cheers Tony
