[Mottles]

Hi Mel, we have been looking for something for the back wall behind our entertainment center for a long while. Then, just the other day a light bulb went off in my head. Why not a carving on panel, but it would have to be something substancial. So, the dawning of this bright idea! LOL
I really would like to make this work for a couple of reasons (1)for my wall and (2) as a learning how/to for this thread.
So stay tuned, I'll either swim or sink either way a good try.
I will keep everyone updated as I go along. Will let everyone know what I find out tomorrow at the wood store.
Kathy

[Irish]

Kathy,

You are well up to this one !!!! It will be a blast !!!!! And if you can get thicker wood you will will dramatically reduce the cupping problems as well as make some woodworker very happy to not have to plane a big thick piece DOWN to 1".

I accepted a long time ago that:

1. All relief carvings will eventually warp, cup and just down right wobble against the wall. I can't stop this natural process but I can contain it with clamping, bracing and lamination.

2. Any painting on a relief carving will eventually change because of the patina or oxidizing of the wood underneath. So I think about the color of thw wood ten years from now when I pick out my paint colors.

3. BLO will turn everything yellow. Which is OK with me as I love the look of old orange-yellow pine.

4. A some time I will sadly watch a carving that I spent forever working on crack in half. And if I can catch it in time I will butterfly splint the crack. I might even do the splint right on the face of the carving and not even try to hide the fact that it's cracking.

5. That no matter how long I work on a piece there will always be that one more fuzzy bunny that will drive me crazy. I have no solution for this one but to put a time limit on me fussing otherwise I would still be working on my first relief carving and it would be about 1/16" thick.

Kathy, you are going to do great!!!!!

Susan

[Mottles]

Originally Posted by Ashbys

Susan,

Thanks,
I guess I was thinking about laminate support. Plywood , But again this is a long piece and thin.

Kathy,

I bow to the master ( mistress ) .

Seems like all the ladies in my life enjoy telling me what to do

Lol

Garry

Garry, take heart this is meant to be a learning thread hopefully for all of us. You and Susan both are great and I really do appreciate your thoughts. As they say two heads are better than one and we'll come up with a solution. Hey, it's our job as ladies to guide you fellas, it's not really telling you what to do. It's guiding you! lol
I do appreciate your input!
Kathy

[Ashbys]

Kathy

Thanks for the support!

Cupping is something I fight with every day. If you think , carvings cup from carving , well you should see what they do when you add heat .

Did a piece for a friend, It bowed before I had it out of the laser. He still wanted it , I told him to call me in a week if it didn't striaghten up. He called me and asked what I did to the wood. It was completly flat !

The trivia question is , what happened ?

And the next one is why will your cupping be less than if it was done in West Virginia ?


Ash

[Irish]

Originally Posted by Ashbys

And the next one is why will your cupping be less than if it was done in West Virginia ?


Ash

Because ... your carving bench is the damp, muddy dirt floor of the lean-to added to the privy ..... And that, for once, is a straight honest answer.

I watched in horror one day as my Dad took this warped carving outside and laid it face down on a wet sidewalk - it had rained earlier that day. He then threw a plastic trash bag over it and then dropped a concrete block on top. I will note here that the particular piece of side walk was not in direct sunshine. Then he came back into the house as if he had done nothing odd or strange.

Well, being curious and not able to hold my tongue I just had to ask what he was doing. He said that in a couple of days the board would have soaked up the moisture from the sidewalk in an even distribution. Being moist and plyable the concrete block would then return it to flat. Letting it set there for several days would 'set' the board back to flat.

So carving on a damp dirt floor keeps that little extra moisture in the wood and relieves the day's tension ...

Susan

[Ashbys]

Well Dang!

I would have responded yesterday but ...

I had to use the privy ...

slipped in the mud ....

crashed into the lean to ...

fell on the bench .....

broke three skids.......

had to replace them ....

didn't have any ....

went to the lumber yard .....

had to pay 2 whole dollars to get in the dump ...

found two skids...

pulling them out of the pile ....

slipped on a banana peal .....

fell down , broke the skid ....

starting getting dark ...

found a washer ....

took the motor ....

found a freezer ...

took the door ...

while taking the door to the truck ...

tripped over another skid ...

took the skid ..

came home.

Put the freezer door over the sink hole ...

put the skids into place ..and fixed the bench ..

attached the motor to the bench ..

added a wooden wheel pulley ,,

carved a fan blade ..

attached it to the pulley ..

turned on the fan ...

dried up the floor ...

Now , I am in an enclosed building with airconditioning , a finished floor , with a new carving bench ....

Thanks Susan....

Garry


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[Ashbys]

Kathy ,

Sorry for breaking the thread. But there are reasons for the changes Susan's Dad was a smart man. The reason the piece I did for my friend went flat , was because it had time to normalize the humidity balanced in the piece and replaced the water I removed while cutting it.

Your piece will move less where you live than it would here , because of the moisture content in the air there.

Ash

[Irish]

OH ... my sides hurt after that one!!!!!
Susan

[Ashbys]

Susan ,

Went back to the lumber yard today . Took my son with me , cost me 3 whole dollars today .. tax increase ....

Got the freezer...

with fishing season comming needed a new worm bed....

Important things first !

Ash

[Mottles]

Now , I am in an enclosed building with airconditioning , a finished floor , with a new carving bench ....

Thanks Susan....

Garry

Me too, Susan I was ROTFLMAO and after the two hour ride home from Phoenix I needed the exercise!
Garry, you are a funny guy....loved the tale!

The folks at Woodworkers Source www.woodworkerssource.net were really helpful today. Didn't come home with any wood though. Susan you were right about board width their basswood measured at 10 inches in width. The fellow I talked to at the store just happened to be a relief carver and gave me some ideas. He said if he needs a board to be wider than the average width he glues another board to the first one. He said he makes sure he matches the grain and he uses Elmers Wood Glue and clamps.

He wasn't too excited about using one panel as I had planned. Which I had thought about making three panels one three foot and two one foot. He also suggested using a thicker board and could supply the wood I wanted in 1 13/16 inch thickness.

He mentioned he has worked with Africian Mahogany and has done several relief carvings using Alder. The Africian Mahogany (beautiful wood) I could get in 12" width and the same for the Alder. He gave me a small Alder board to carve on and see how I like it. He suggested I take some of my scrape wood and practice gluing pieces together. He showed me a really cute wooden mannequin in the front entry of the store he had made. His reason was to show me elements of the mannequin he had glued together. Nose, ears, eyebrows and I couldn't tell at all he had glued these elements. You probably could but to me it looked darn good.

Many of the things you talked about he echoed too. Clamp, Clamp, Clamp

So, I'm putting my wood purchase plans on hold for the time being, while I learn more about how to go about my project.

Thank you, and Garry for your help it's very much appreciated.

Kathy





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