[Bartster]

dave,

great looking bear you have there, the sikkens darkened it just enough making it a good brown for a bear,

thanks for sharing

bart

[whitecree]

My wife just passed behind me and went 'awwwww'.

One more carving I 'owe' her.

[squbrigg]

Great job Dave. Love the way the colour came out with the stain, that Sikkins is great stuff.

To solve your tippy problem, what about a small base to stand him on and drill a small hole up into one rear paw for a dowel and coresponding one in the base and glue him. The dowel will solve the tippy problem by keeping him attached to the base more securly than just gluing him alone.

Bob

[Lightningbolt]

Thank's and I'm glad you've been enjoying my carving experience which has been "bearly" anything less than fun for me!

And I just can't say enough good things about that Sikken's stain. It really has the most noticable quality finish unlike any of the cheap Home Depot, Lowe's, or Wal-Mart stuff like Minwax or such that I've tried. I keep a small amount of the Cetol 1 and the Cetol 2-3 in two tiny 1/2 pint cans so that I don't have to open the big gallon cans everytime that I need some for a small project. Sikken's is expensive and I want to keep it sealed as much as possible and undisturbed.

Anyway, my point is I know that this stuff is good because when I only use just a tiny amount on a small carving like the bear, oh man, does that stuff have the strongest vapor odor that I've ever experienced! I raise all the windows then open the doors and then come back an hour later to walk into something as strong as a brick wall! I would advise this stain to be used outside only or you'd be best advised to leave and let it stand overnight if used indoor's. That is some strong stuff and I love it's effect on my rustic wood projects... but not my lungs!

Bob: Thanks for the tip and I'm now on the prowl (or more appropriate: "growl") for some kind of base to attach the bear. I'll post a picture when it's all done but I want the "right" piece of wood which might take more than a "bare-moment" to find.

Meantime, I had a lot of fun walking around all day with the bear tucked into one of the cargo pockets of the BDU's that I usually wear to work. All the kid's know that I'm always packing my latest carving project in these pockets so their curiosity is always up wondering what's there so today they tuned right in. The adults were a little slower to spot the cuddly little bears head protruding from the cozy confines of the pocket but most did catch it.

Don't believe that I'll chance "bruising" the bear's nose during a second day's pocket ride but I've already had a lot of fun with him and brightened up a lot of peoples day!

[Mottles]

Well, I can 'bearly' contain myself again I love your bears. So just had to say 'a bear in the pocket is worth two in the bush'.
Kathy

[Lightningbolt]

Thanks Kathy. You make it so much easier to "bear it out" 'till the end!!

Thought that I'd post a couple more pictures of the stand that I finally got it mounted onto and it's no longer "Tipsy" the circus bear!
I used a wood in the sycamore family that I also like to build rustic furniture from. I usually just call it camoflauge wood since that's what it looks like with it's multi coloring.

I've also already cut out a couple more bear blanks which will be holding hearts and there won't be any mounting these on a seperate stand since I allowed enough wood at the bottom from the original wood block for that. I intend to give one to the Boy Scout camp museum down the road and the other to an elderly couple who today gave me a truck full of white pine logs. Looks like I'm gonna be busy this spring perfecting my chainsaw bears.

Until next time...

[Lightningbolt]

I guess that I could have started another thread on these new little bears but I just figured that I'd keep them all contained here...

First, I've got a very bad case of spring carving fever and just can't seem to get a handle on it! Today I tried really hard to change gears as I begun working on a new sourwood walking stick. As fate would have it I only got the two tips cut off to make the would-be walking stick the size that I wanted. And that's as far as the walking stick got!!

I immediately picked up one of the cut-off tips and decided that I must try to carve a very mini bear on this small piece of sourwood. I have to admit that I just wasn't yet ready to start on a new walking stick because I still just have too much "bear" left in my system that needs an outlet. Also, after seeing Thor's thread on carving "Little People" I knew that I also wanted to go this route so why not a baby bear which should make the Mama Bear just too happy!!

The picture's are pretty much self-explainatory and show my progress so far. The sourwood stick was dated September of 2005 so it's had several drying months and carved nicely. It went quite fast and I imagine that I've got about an hour in it so far and can't imagine it taking much more than that to finish up.

I really like these small carvings and thought that perhaps I should carve the whole darn family now! You know, Papa Bear, Mama Bear, and a bunch of baby "Cub" Bears. Someone suggested today that I should make one of the signs into a book that the bear was reading entitled, "Goldilock's and The Three Little Bears"!

I'll be away from the computer for about a week after today so it might be a little while before I can post the completed baby Bear but I will do so ASAP.

I hope that the carving bug is biting you as hard as it's bitten me with all this unbelieveable warm spring weather!! Be safe, have fun, and don't stop carving!