[Cap Crutch]

Hello, all,

I'm a new member here. I've been an amateur woodworker since I was a kid with my Dad, and I'm still a rank amateur, but I'm trying to get into it more, and plan to. Along the way I did some relief carving as a teenager (that's all the carving I've done) but I would like to do some carving of furniture and trim, etc., and would like to do some larger carvings out of some logs I've saved eventually. I have some nice walnut from my yard, some linden from my Mom's yard, and some choke cherry I found. The project I would like to make is an Indian head with a couple feathers. Local Algonquian. In a big long yellow pine dugout...out in the bay. (Just kidding about the boat) I guess the way to approach it is do it in miniature Indian head and then go bigger, right? I have saws...loblolly might be the way to go for a practice run...are there any wooden Indian carvers here? I'm excited, just bought a starter kit of Hirsch gouges and slipstones and rouge, I just hope I can get them to work. My Dad gave me some CMT carving tools and we tried and tried to get them sharp and could not do it. Dad was not a carver or sharpener, though. Maybe with these new stones I'm buying with the other tools. Dull tools are intolerable. I really liked that relief carving in mahogany I did as a kid. Mahogany's nice wood. OK, like I said, Hello from Virginia, Jeff

[slather]

Welcome Jeff ,
There is lots of help available on this site, also it might help if you could find a local carving club too help with the sharpening . I find that carvers are more then happy too pass on what they have learned

[Donna_T]

Hello and welcome, Jeff.
Glad you could join us. You'll find some good help here and I enourage you to surf through old postings for answers to some of your carving questions. And as Al said, I'd also encourage you to seek out a carving supplier and club near you so you can get support and help--Carvers are very generous with assistance.

If you don't have good tools that can be sharpened well and that will hold that sharp edge, it's much more difficult to carve anything. Carving southern basswood and local "found" wood is usually much harder to do than northern basswood. Northern basswood has less grain and (although it's considered hardwood) it's quite nice to hand carve.

Let us know what general area you're in and perhaps other members of this board can help you find a club and a good carving supplier. Many of us that don't have a carving supplier nearby have to rely on catalogues for our material. Seems like there are good suppliers in about every geographical location and I've ordered from many. However, once or twice a year there's a carving show within driving distance and there are usually suppliers/vendors there so you can actually see and touch their tools. Don't forget, though, most carving tools do not come pre-sharpened and ready to carve.

Donna T

[Mottles]

Hello and welcome Jeff, looking forward to seeing some of your past and future carvings. Know what you mean about dull tools!
Kathy