Carving the prairie falcon

[nadcarves]

I have the book, first eight pages missing.. Would like to either BUY copies of the pages, or if there is a book for sale, buy the book...Show in March,,,want to incorporate the falcon into a planned carving.....Also, someone familiar with Falcons , hawks to pulverize my carving..............Geeze Nad, didn't know A Falcon,, had a beard and pointy hat..................Santas so slow, am thinking of carving one with a tin cup ,and going directly into the carving I want to do Thank you all for your help NAD Bright side of slow Santa sales, will have some serious items for raffle tables rest of the year...................

[nadcarves]

Pages acquired..An excellent friend, and I were yacking on the phone, he didn't know I was looking for the book and had just borrowed itt..So pages on the way, NOW, I can start on that block of Walnut..Also, thinking about getting a 70 plus pound block up the ladder and out of the basement...Would have been no problem 10/15, ok 20 years ago..........But gravity has been getting stronger around here lately............has anyone any comments on the Illustrated Owl book,,?????

[Hugh]

Got the Illustrated Owl book, and it has a lot of good information for me. I like the graphics, and any reference thats around is certainly welcome. Lori is very disciplined in presenting her information also. Money well spent in my estimation

[squbrigg]

I find the Owl book super.....and I'm not a bird carver, but will be soon venturing into the unknown and trying one. If I can only find a chunk of wood big enough to do a life sized Snowy Owl from!!! Perhaps I'll laminate some Basswood, that should work.

Book has an excess of drawings to work from, with every feather and toe nail described "six ways to Sunday". Photographs, sketches, and line drawings, everything you need to know on the two owls examined.

Bob

[falconer]

Hey, I may be able to help you with your Falcon problem if you would like.

[Hugh]

How large a piece of wood do you need Bob. I glued blocks when I started. When delivering a carving to a very prestigious customer, I noticed one of my carvings that I had glued the block for. It was displayed on a shelf, and standing back I could see the glue lines. Last glue job for me. You will be doing a lot of work on a large bird like a snowy owl, get a good start. I just put a lg order in for tupelo, a few larger blocks included. It should be here in a couple weeks. Shipper said it would leave his address on Monday. Let me know the size of block you need, and I'll check.

[squbrigg]

Hugh,

The Snowy Owl measures 20" X 9" X 7", minimum, for full size. Those are the pattern dimensions, so the blank should have some extra on it. Then I need to think of a setting or base. Big bird!!!

They tell me that you can get Tupelo that size, so if you get some in your order, let me know and I'll purchase it from you.

Should be quite an adventure, as the only other bird I've done in the round was the Chickadee!!! Talking "In for a penny, in for a pound!"

Bob

[mark yundt]

check with cape fear, I just got a piece 24x10x10 for a job,,, nice stuff.They 're harvesting some new stuff, and drying it, not sure if it'll be ready soon though.I've glued bigger blocks with no problem. up to 6 ft. tall x 2 ft wide x 18" deep with no problem of glue lines showing.You just have to watch the growth rings,and be sure they're PERFECTLY flat. Look at a table top, what, 3 ft wide, 6-8 ft long all glued up, no lines,, you can see differences in grain but no lines.It's all in the prep.Very large statues are almost all glued up,,, saves time, material, and prevents movement and cracking. Yes there are some old ones done out of massive tree trunks but over time they all seemed to split because of it.For an example I submitted a statue of St. Placido,,, glued up out of 19 pcs of poplar... the Shroud is 25 pcs plus,,basswood clear finish,, you can see the grain,,, that's all

[slivers&dust]

I had to glue up six pieces for the full size Canada goose I did.

I ran each piece over the joiner first and glued up 2 pieces approx. 10 wide x 4 thick and 1 piece 10 x 2 then had a friend run them through his drum sander before gluing up the 3 pieces into the final 10x10x20+ block. I didn’t have any issues with the joints. Like Mark said make sure the joints are flat and your golden.

I don’t have any pic’s on this PC but on my web shots there are some. The thing weighed 40lbs glued up, 20lbs after cutting the blank and 12lbs when done.

here is the direct link http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/...84247795KdDloZ

[mark yundt]

Yes, I saw the bird,,,, very slick! Great Job on the prep work,,,, shows in the final piece. Granted,,, on a bird that's stoned and burned the chances for lines to show is greater than on a statue that's smooth.But even with the grain patterns themselves ,even though tupelo is "supposed" to be grainless, there is still a chance for lines to show considering you're working in all three dimensions and grain does appear. With careful placements of joints,if possible, attention to stoning and smooth, low temp burning, lines , from any condition can be reduced if not eliminated.