Blue Wing Teal Drake W.I.P.

[Blackjaxe]

Once again to all of you who gave me such great reviews and complements on my Warbler I cannot thank you enough,and I hope in some small way I was able to give a bit of insight into the how I carve and paint and maybe in that way pass on some usefull tricks and techniques.

I haven't progressed that much on my smoothie, I finally got my pattern finished after much consternation and research. When I was doing the cut-out I broke the bandsaw blade, replaced that then broke the guide. After going to 3 different stores found the necessary parts and got everything cut-out.

A lot of carvers use power tools to rough-out the blank, I don't. I use mostly chisels and handheld rasps and only when I'm near the finishing stages do I use a Dremel or Foredom. The reason for this is I don't have a adequate dusk collecting system or the larger Typhoon Bits to take off the wood as most power carvers would. There's no better way to quickly get rid of a lot of excess wood than using one of those Typhoon's....wow do they remove wood quick,..... and thumbs, fingers or whatever else gets in the way...!!!!!!!!............here Kitty, Kitty.........LOL

Sorry, I just had to add that.

OK so here we go, Blue Wing Teal Drake Smoothie.

Ken

[Orygoner]

We can both keep our eye on Bob Mitchell, but I'll keep an eye on your thread too. Thx for starting it up.

[William]

Nice bird! looks like atlantic white cedar, good job on the head.

Bill
^v^

[markken5889]

Hi Ken,

Looking really great so far!

Mark

[torpidhummer]

Ken,your off to the races,your duck is looking good.

Oscar

[Blackjaxe]

I've been very busy this last while and finally managed to squeek in 3 hours this week-end. I finished the bill and trial fitted the eyes.
Now comes the intense part, laying out the Tertials, Wings and sidepockets. Hopefully I'm not overstepping the parameters of carving a Smoothie with the amount of detail I'm putting into the tertials.
Once I have this part finished there will be fitting the head permanently and some sanding, 3 coats of sealer, and then Gesso.

I made a couple of Micro Chisels from Allen Keys to help carve some of the detail in the tertials. You will notice in the bottom of the neck I relieved some wood this makes fitting the head a lot easier as you only have the outside edge making contact, as the wood is somewhat pliable you can get a almost invisible joint. I learned this trick from fitting inlay work in Banjo Necks.

Ken

[markken5889]

Hi Ken,

this deke is really looking great! I'm liking the work you've been doing with the feathers. I'm not sure about the "rules" for showing a smoothie, but this is sure looking good!

Mark

[john r]

Enjoying the photos and looking forward to more! Nice work!

[SeaLeveler]

Beautiful cuttin there.Tony

[markken5889]

Hey Ken,

Check out IWCA I was looking at Section 8 rules, and it seems like your teal will work out fine. But hey, I'm no judge!

Mark