[Irishman]

Very very nice carving. The father and son theme really brings emotion to the piece. It would be a great gift idea for someone.
Patrick

[Nancy_G]

Garry -- that's not luck.
That's pure TALENT

[Sue in Eureka]

That is just amazing. I am always in awe of the work on this board. You've got to be proud of that! Beautiful.
Sue

[Ashbys]

Thanks All

Chipper,
Doing a relief like this I use alot of different tools. And I could and should buy a coupple of dog-legs which I have yet to do.

The length of tools only becomes an issuse if your looking for room to get into an area where the cut is just to confined to make. The size of the cut has nothing to do with the length of the tool. I like the midsize Phiel but because my work is being so varried the full size are often picked up.
Now to be a bit more direct , the outer logs to get the chop marks I used a 3/5 gouge nice open radius which I used turned down to enhance the edge roundness.
To get the inside logs lines I used a spoon V cutter 12a/8 First I ran a center line and then using the side of the V I opened the round . The photos show what I mean. Then I came back in to the center of the cut and used a spoon D8a/7 to roll the cut out a bit more.
I use the skew tool a lot to enhance lines for detail and the Rammelson sweep V plam to get most hair line which combined with the flex-cut mirco gouge gives some nice roll patterns.
To complete Lincoln I used 27 different gouges and knives. I used the 7f/10 to remove most of the background, and will say it has quickly become one of the most used gouges.

hope that helps
Garry

[Irish]

Perfect framing, Garry! Just holds everything together and the outward roll of the logs adds to the depth of the shadows.

Susan

[Mottles]

Hi Garry, the use of the carved log frame is perfect and compliments your fantastic carving on this piece!
Kathy

[Ashbys]

Susan and Kathy,

Susan I am glad you like the frame, I know we talked about the shadowbox idea and I was almost ready to do it when My wife said , isit it a bit heavy. I almost started to cut it down from the back side but I am glad I didn't.

Thanks for the kind words.
Garry

[decoycarve]

Got to see this carving in person on Saturday and sometimes I just don't know what to say. Garry is going to get me back into relief carving one of these days and when I do he will be my mentor. Garry claims to be a beginner which in time he is but he seems to have a natural "Feel" for the wood. This carving is 3" thick and the Back wall of the cabin is 3/4" at best. Look at the page of the book and how the page is turned. He is in the mode now of being able to carve but trying to figure out why wood carves. His next step is aquiring the rest of the tools a master uses. Give him a full set of dogleg and bent gouges and he will exell even more. As A judge in some carving shows some times two really good carvings comes down to finding something wrong with one of them so a winner can be picked. The only thing I can find in Garrys carvings is what Sue calls dust bunnies. Its those little pieces of wood that stick up when we dig in the wood a little instead of slicing. When you are trying to get all of them some of them hide. When you think you have them all the ones that are hiding come back out. I know this is not a skill level but a lack of tooling problem. Keep up the good work Im going to need some help getting back into relief.
Goody

[Ashbys]

Goody,
After the visit on Sat. I decided to see about increasing the tool hopper. So yep I started looking at getting the doglegs and the spoon skews. Now I am posting your message so everyone can see what I need here and convincing them the tools are necessary.

Now with a bit of luck they will be here before I finish the sisters.

I did this Lincoln to get an idea of facial structure before I did the one in Ind. This is the portrait I hope to do there and should be leaving about the 20th. And started making the list for the things I will need to take with me.

Garry

[Callynne]

Garry, that is just awesome! And your idea for the frame is so perfect! I certainly enjoy watching you bring these pictures to life! Thanks for sharing, we'll be watching to see what you do with those new tools!! Deborah