[big_Wayne_P]

Here is the pic of Nad's Village Santas
All are different
He will log in later and explain them
I am posting this pic for him
See the comments Nad made yesterday in the thread to sell or not to sell
in the general carving section

{The one in lower right is a 15 inch Santa that I
screwed up.Was to be one for sale. but I made a
mistake that puts me over the limit as far as time
goes..Done about a year ago. The other three are the same pattern.
The faces and beards took about 15 minutes to do...If you have
enough looking room, it is easy to see that while all
three came of the same master,excluding the painting,
they are different....nad}

[nadcarves]

First of all,I paid my debt to palm tools years ago,and still am. Nerve damage to three fingers,and the ever present danger of frost bite during the winter.The Santa looking up was done as a free style carving for the heck of it,still unfinished in photo. Now done. Several major mistakes in that I had to carve behind the arms.The beard was carved upside down because of the shape.Some other mistakes, that were covered up by hot melting a green plastic Christmas tree over them...The three other Santas,one with flag done a year ago.Two unfinished ones were part of 35 done for the village.Without going into a blow by blow description, each represents about 45 minutes from when it came out of the block.I did six at a time for each process,body carving, face carving,beard, face painting, etc to save time..I used a WEE CHEER to do the face,,eyes were drawn and cut with the edge of whatever chisel fit the lines.Beards free drawn and then carved,three to four veiners, and assorted other tools to get flow, or incorporate lifts to individual mass areas.Sanding done with a 5 1/2 Makita orbital sander,gesso 1 1/2 inch brush ..As you see,my carving methods are not for everyone..As for paying dues,I learned by doing everything wrong..Maybe the following will reduce your bill.. Go backwards. What do you want to do in the future? You are here today,make a map of what is needed to get there...including problems.You have tools, instead of doing a carving, get a block of wood, and try every cut that you can think of.In short, learn your tools..A Vee tool is two No.1 chisels joined, so why not learn how to duplicate a V tool with that worthless flat chisel..You all know that a V tool can be laid on its side to vary the cut,so can a veiner , especially in beards.The inside edge of shallow tools can cut arms in the round.. Two hand control is vastly superior to one hand control, especially when shooting a rifle, maybe even carving as well.. Mistakes will teach you more than perfection...getting beaten at a show will do the same.I mentioned the mistakes on the Santa above,not my most recent female 20 inches tall. At about the thirty hour mark, I decided to make some changes on the face. At 33 hours,I cut her in half...Carving is a learning process..I was going to make some comments about beards,since I have been on too long ,will tell you about new carving from a piece of found wood..To get an idea of it, scrunch your eyes up as tight as you can, and stick your tongue out....Got that shape??????????????????Will be called,"the exact moment that Bubba discovered the warm can of beer in his hand, wasen't his. And the liquid in it was not ----! As ever, thank you for your time,nad

[Donna_T]

Thanks, Nad for the benefit of your experience. We've been missing you here. Glad to see you back. santas!
Donna T

[nadcarves]

Not experience. Carving is something I love,and there is so much to learn, and so many directions to go..If you were to give me your phone number,In the distance between the computer and the phone, I would forget it..However, I have the ability to gather all seemingly unrelated items and put them together..Carving for example,,three facets for each carving...The carver, the tool, the wood....Since wood never surrenders, and the carver,regardless of experience, is the creator,this leaves the tool as the unknown quantity...If the tool makes you struggle,you fight each cut and the carving will never be as you intended...That is why I use old tools,they don't make me fight the carving..They also drive me batty.I have a short tool that I'll put up at a show for a couple of bucks..Has part of the word newbold on it. Now, if an Addis,newbold, it is prior to 1840,maybe 30's? If a Newbold, it could go back to 1790's? Can't find anyone who has a Newbold chisel to scan me the lettering...So,???? Regarding your short bent, and my inability to get an e-mail back..............First of all Stubi, is a soft tool, so the edge that breaks is not due to the steel being brittle...This leaves either scratch marks,or you are thinning the edge too much...Short bents should be slightly rounded, that takes care of the thinning. Take a good magnifying glass and check the inside (in cannel ) surface..If there are grinding marks leading to the areas that break away,you will either have to polish this surface,or reverse bevel the cutting edge..What you do depends on the sweep..Shallow tools can take more of a reverse bevel..When you get into the higher numbers, a dramatic reverse bevel could split your tool making two chisels not worth a darn.(if you went too deep into the wood, but, then going too deep into wood with a 10/11 without the reverse bevel ,could do the same thing.) This is more a consideration on larger, more brittle steel tools. Ashley Iles, Stubi are more forgiving .Grinding marks are why I gave up buying by mail order years ago..Much easier to pick out tools in shops or shows that needed less rework...So kid, check out the tool and let me know what the problem is, should you not be able to fix it,send me size and sweep,will send one of mine to keep you in business,until I get around to it...Going to quit before this turns into the Sunday paper nadwacky carving section..cordially Nad