Looking for warbler pattern

[Blackjaxe]

Hi Doug, I used Basswood for my Warbler. Great for knife and chisels but it has problems when you want to use power tools. Basswood has a tendency to fuzz-up and then you need to sand so there goes half your detail. The first time I tried Tupelo I thought I had a piece of punky wood, my chisels are razor sharp and they ripped and gouged the wood terribly. worst experience I ever had with a piece of wood. I gave up on that piece. Not enough experience, but I'll try again as I have a large piece of Tupelo.

I based my Black Throated Blue on some photos I had as well as a lot of research on the net. My pattern is right off a photo, and might apear a bit on the slim side and not as puffy as the carving shown on the from cover of "Wildfowl Carving" spring 2003. That carvings is very impressive, I feel far more typical of the warbler shape than mine.

Ken

[KayakJockey]

Ken
I just had a look at that cover "2003" on the web and I can tell you that I have seen tons of live BTB's in situ and yours is the most realistic carving I have seen. With the tupelo I mostly used narrow knife blades but I have since read that it is most suited to power carving which is what I'll do if I use it again as it was a lot of work.
Doug

[Blackjaxe]

Thanks for the great comments Doug, we get a lot of Myrtle Warblers up here and they defy the typical warbler shape as well. Thing is about the Black Throated that they are such a striking bird and they do venture into the south east corner of my province I just wanted to carve one.

I have both a Foredom and a Dremel and I'm experimenting on scrap Tupelo so I can get comfortable with it. I'm also making some very thin bladed chisels from hacksaw blades and want to see if it tears the wood.

I'd sure like to see your Warbler as a W.I.P. do you want my pattern. Send me a private message so I can hook-up with you via e-mail. I can also give you the colour break-down.

Ken