[A Willburger]

Hi Toffeeliz,
I might have found a source of wood for you. Peter Paces is a very good woodcarver and lives I think near Croydon, England and has a web site and he just started to sell wood. P.Paces - Carving Lime for Sale or P.Paces - Woodcarving Menu(V5)
Hope that helps. Thanks for the compliment about my carving.
Andy

[bullshipper]

Hi Toffeeliz, Great first carving,stick with it ,I can't wait to see what you're second ones going to be. You have got a natural talent for carvin. Keep us updated with pics.


Lonnie

[Toffeeliz]

Originally Posted by A Willburger

Hi Toffeeliz,
I might have found a source of wood for you. Peter Paces is a very good woodcarver and lives I think near Croydon, England and has a web site and he just started to sell wood. P.Paces - Carving Lime for Sale or P.Paces - Woodcarving Menu(V5)
Hope that helps. Thanks for the compliment about my carving.
Andy

tah mate! I've been working on my second piece in cedar - its better than the pine but otherwise i can't compare it to anything else. Croyden isn't close to me, but i'll see if I can ask him about the p&p...by the looks of things, it'd cost me the same for the wood as it would to have it delivered! =_=

Originally Posted by bullshipper

Hi Toffeeliz, Great first carving,stick with it ,I can't wait to see what you're second ones going to be. You have got a natural talent for carvin. Keep us updated with pics.Lonnie

You reckon so? thats good haha, cos I've already gotten some quids worth of chisels and spent two saturdays getting my outhouse ready to use as a carving room!

I'm doing a squirrel at the moment, the one in last months Carving magazine. Once it's roughed out I'll post some pics up, but at the moment its just a lump of wood thats vaguely taking shape...has anyone read the Woodcarving book by Chris Pye that has the phoenix on the front? I'm thinking of getting it, after flicking through I saw a lot of stuff that I want to do when I'm more experienced, and I want to try the book one to make a gift for my wonderful grandad who is helping me/funding me through this

[psychomikeo500]

I've learned that sharp tools definately make carving easier. Sometimes i even use scouring powder on the back of cereal box cardboard to polosh the edge of sharpened tools.

[hruukki]

Hi Toffeeliz!
-Henry Taylor tools definitely great: hard steel, will keep edge well - nice sound too when cutting
-if you can afford it, buy larger amounts of wood from some stock. I do that here (in Finland) and the price of good limewood can be around 600£ per cubic meter, even though it's imported. I don't have to buy a whole cubic but some planks at least. Will last me a long time. I'm fairly sure it will be the less expensive alternative, wherever you live. (Well of course a carver may sell chunks he's not going to use, for a very reasonable price - I didn't have the patience to do the math on that website someone gave you).
-it really pays to learn to sharpen your tools and keep them sharp. I suggest Chris Pye's book Woodcarving tools, materials and equipment. Also for carving tecnique, his DVD:s are great. He also has a DVD on sharpening. There are others of course, likely just as good.
Have fun carving!

[Toffeeliz]

thanks mates!

pyschomikeo500 - i have some nice sharp tools now, and a sharpening stone. I'm very scared of it and am dreading having any of my tools go blunt

hruuki - I have a book by Chris Pye, the one with the phoenix on the front and I think it says some stuff about sharpening in that. Also, in the latest issue of Woodcarving here in the UK he has an article on it.
wood wise, i think I might have found a stocker for a reasonable price from Wales. Reasonable in that the wood is cheap and the postage is only £10 at its most expensive!

You must have a huge garage/storing place for £600 worth of wood :O

[Hi_Ho_Sliver]

go to a flea market, yard sale, whatever and buy a very cheap knife or two and practice sharpening on them.....you will soon learn thats it not bad at all getting an edge and keeping it.....once sharp, a strop will keep it that way until you damage the edge someway.

[hruukki]

Toffeeliz - it was just the price per cubic meter, for your reference - I only need to buy a few planks to get it for that.

Yes the sharpening section is very good in that book. Was totally new idea to me that the end of the tool is good to polish before sharpening the actual edge. Makes sense of course when I think of it.

Oh yes forgot to add: nice to see that you start with your own design in the very beginning. I suppose it also makes learning technique more meaningful. I also aim to design my own stuff but not much until I have the technique down better. Otherwise I think I'll just use more time than necessary.

[Toffeeliz]

Hi_Ho_Silver - good idea! I have a chisel that I can grab some cheap gouges at the market, i can use those to practice on, and an old straight one to practice that lol. Half of the carving is in getting everything prepared!

hruuki - thanks when i started this i wasn't even thinking i was goibng to take up carving as a hobby, i was just playing around at college and next thing i knew i was looking in the library for books on making puppets. The carving I'm doing at the moment is working from a frog oprnament we have - i haven't got it exactly the same but its nice to work with a guide.

[ElWoodTroll]

Originally Posted by Toffeeliz

... getting my outhouse ready to use as a carving room!
.....

Now THAT is determination..... I think your hooked. My very first face was carved from a piece of telephone pole in art class. It didn't look near as good as your's. Keep up the good work!