feathers

[A_Swope]

I've been planning on carving an owl but one thing i'm worried about that might mess up is the feathers. would I be better off handcarving or using power?

[Donsexton]

If you want to carve a super realistic owl with extreme detail I would think power would be faster but you could get the job done with just hand tools. I think it depends on your style I can carve detail but I don’t enjoy doing it. I opt for stylized or suggest at detail most of the bird carvers I know do use power for feathers or burn them in.

[Orygoner]

In my experience you can mess up feathers with either hand tools or rotary carvers. The power tools just let me do it much faster. :-)

Seriously, I do think the biggest issue in any attempt at carving realistic likenesses like you're contemplating is the study that goes into the preparation for your carving. Then you have to keep referring to it of course during your carving. I say that somewhat to keep reminding myself, in fact, to slow down and check my reference.

I DO think the rotary tools and the good selection of bits allows you to take some of the "work" out of the carving process. I say that even though I love to shave a duck to round with a draw knife, spokeshave and rasp.

I think the micro carver type tool (I use a Micro-Ram) and burning pen (I use a Colwood) are pretty essential for doing a detailed, realistic sort of carving. The paint job can make or break it of course, but you need a good "canvas" to start with.

[torpidhummer]

I have a whole pile of messed up,birds,it all takes a whole lot of time,as mentioned before,if you are really interested in carving realistic and well detailed feathers on your birds. First you have decide,if you want to use knives,gouges,etc. or power tools. Having good tools can be expensive and once you get hooked the expense seems to never end. Good bird carving books,explaining what tools you can get by with are a must. If you can attend a bird carving seminar with a good instructor to guide you through the process,I would suggest you go for it. If you are like most of us,we feel that would be to expensive but in the long run it's not. I did not have the good fortune to go to a carving seminar for some reason or another and I ended up spending a small fortune by over purchasing tools and all other "bells,whistles and gadgets" that would make me a good bird carver. For instance, I paid over $300.00 good bucks on a soldering station,when my good friend "Ken " on this forum suggested I use a butane pencil soldering tool ($25.00) when I already had one hiding on my carving station,(Ken I hoped you had your morning coffee before you read this).

Oscar

Go along with what was recommended before do your research practice and when you think you have done all that research and practice some more.

Do some research on all of the past bird and animal carving threads on this board. You will discover there are many tricks of the trade and advice on carving birds and feathers, freely and gracefully given by some great bird carvers that belong to this board.

Oscar

[Blackjaxe]

OUCH, darn I'm looking for new coffe cup. when I dropped mine I broke the handle.....JK

Oscar I wish that I'd been able to help you before you spent all that money on the new toy. Your advice to Aswope is definetly steering this new carver in the right direction. But I think that all of us get a bit wound-up when we take on a new hobby, I've seen lots of people spend a pile of money on things that they didn't need.

Aswope, here's my nickles worth....every time you make a mistake you learn something. All those oops add up to a lot of experience. Like Oscar said " Research is the key" understanding feather groups and how each of them work for the bird as a whole will make a better carver out of you. Just try not to make the feathers look like shingles on a roof, have them blend into one another very subletly. There are some feathers that should be quite noticable like the tertials and flight feathers and others like the breast should be very soft looking.

A good power carving tool like a Foredom or Dremel or one of the smaller Micro Motors can set you back a few $100 and more when you start buying all the different bits. You can get almost the same effects with a good set of small chisels.

But either way like Randy said, neither tool will prevent a mess-up. Tools do not make the carving. I've tried that...I laid one of my best chisels beside a block of wood that already had the pattern laid out and told the chisel to get to work. Well I waited a nothing happened, so I tried a different chisel, I figured maybe the first one had a hearing problem....nope that didn't work either. I had to do it myself and what ever happened I was solely responsible for.

Ken

Better to have tried and failed than not try at all.

[Schaef]

I would advise you to use hand tools first. You can only screw up slowly, and you have time to really think about what you're doing.
First, study a feather and notice how curvy it is. It curves away from the origin. Ask "where is the origin?" and make sure it points there. It curves slightly up at one edge and down on the other (so feather edges can interlock, or form a complete surface). There are lots of other things to understand later...Now, with just those things in mind, take out a pencil and draw some feathers on paper. Then take out a V-tool and "draw" some feathers on wood.
Once you've "got it", then try rotary tools and burning tools and decide which you prefer. Then you can get into more feather subtleties, like how masses of feathers create the wing chord and provide lift, interesting things like that.
Hope that helps you!

[Wildbirdcarver]

Lori Corbett has great tutorials on www.whisperingeagle.com her website. Check them out. She has helped me a great deal. Dick M

[A_Swope]

I would go to a seminar but I have never heard of any coming to central PA