Jim
the only thing I did with this basswood was put on several coats of boiled linseed oil. The pieces were all 6X6X14 blocks and had a fairly narrow grain pattern, must have come from the far north because the growth rings were narrow. To get the fur to look the way it does I used a 3/8' U gouge and took very small bites with the very center of the gouge in a scooping motion.

the carvings are excellent
just a question about the size of the block of basswood
could you use a smaller block of wood and still come up with the same size carving
from the picture, it does not look like it needs to be 6 wide X 6 thick

for example 3 X 4 X length
4 X 4 X length

Greyhair,
Those are great carvings. I wish to do as well. I guess I go along with Hi Ho, It is inherently Santa Clause to have a red coat. Which reminds me.... Colin, do I remember from some long-ago post that you were with RCMP? If so, there's your affinity for Santa Clause... the red coat and the black belt.

Jerry, Hartwell, GA

Jerry,
You are probably right never thought of it that way. I am very fortunate to have a mountie Santa carving that my friend Dave Francis who is an outstanding Santa carver from Castlegar BC sent to me. You can see it on his web site follow the link.
http://www.snowcottagecarvings.com/gallery.html
Colin

[oldbearx2]

Hey Greyhair great looking Santa's. Don't worry too much about painting them they are great as is. I also did some carving out of basswood that had a narrow grain pattern, however it was all fairly small, 3x3 or smaller. It does add a different look that is pleasing to the eye. have fun, carve oldbearx2

Harold

Colin,
I loved the mountie Santa. It looks like Dave is a master carver.

I bet that there are quite a few ex-police types on this message board. I did 20 years (1965-85) on the job. Have you ever carved any 'mountie carvings'? I have thought about doing some police caricatures. But, then again, I have thought about carving almost everything. So little time...so much carving to do.

Jerry, Hartwell, GA

Wayne
I could have gotten by with a 4X6X14 piece but i could not find any for sale so I went to the bigger piece. If I had used the 4X6 piece I would have had very little room for error because it ended up 3 7/8' wide and 5 3/4 long and 13 1/2 inces tall. I am not comfortable with so little wood.