Better late than . . .

[chuckt]

never - so they say. So here's my minimal output for Christmas this year. Started about 3 days before Christmas. My wife will be painting them today. (As I write actully.) The Cipa style Santa is for me mum. The other two - not sure yet. I was hoping to complete 3 of the Cipa Santa's - one for me mum, one for me mum-in-law, and one for our good friend Brian (a priest in MA). I am such a perfectionist that I labored over the one for about 12 hours over 3 days. Ha - 3 of them? What was I thinking? He was tremendously fun to carve though.

I also knocked out 3 or 4 of the "5 min wizard" style faces as Santa's. I want to put magnets on the back for refrigerator magnet ornaments.

The Jostlyn (sp?) style ornaments were from an online PDF of an article (the taller one) and the other from the UK Carving mag's most recent issue.

So - at least I got a few done. Thanks Shawn and Cindy for these designs. I really enjoyed carving them. Hopefully me mum and other recipients will like them.

The last pic was "Santa's Workshop" for the last few days. A table in our basement to one side where I could work while the family and I were watching Christmas movies.

Cheers
ChuckT

[Ron T]

Hi Chuck,

Very nice Santas. I like your style.

[Kenny_S]

Well, it is about time we saw some of your work. Outstanding work!

[cseymour]

HI Chuck,
Great job, I did a bunch of those Cyndi Joslyn patterns for the ornament swap. I really like the way yours came out.

Happy New Year to you and your family.

Your neighbor in the valley.

Chris

[chuckt]

Thanks guys!

Heh heh - yeah Kenny - I know. I talk a great game but I agree that it's way overdue for me to walk the walk so to speak eh? ;-) Thanks for your patience everyone. My New Years resolution this year will be to CARVE more, post more PICS, and maybe talk a little less. (just a little less though - heh heh).

I do have a question - on my Cipa Santa I was running into trouble on his sides where the arm bulge sits. No matter which direction I tried to cut - I felt like I was cutting against the grain - and rather then getting smooth clean u shape it kept turning into a hard edged V. Very frustration. I had to cheat a little and resort to sandpaper to smooth those areas out. Any hints or suggestions?

Thanks again for your kind words!
ChuckT

[Sharon of the Dell]

Chuck, great work on the carvings!And I thought I was last minute! You could cheat and use power! I'm just teasing! They're really good carvings!

[gene-messer]

Chuck .. that bigger santa is excellent ... the carving is first rate ..

Gene

[MackTheKnife]

Very nice work, Chuck. I had a similar problem on a lovespoon I just finished. What worked for me was lots of very small, shallow cuts with a VERY sharp, pointed knife. By shallow I'm talking little more force applied than the weight of the knife itself. Takes a while, but the results are worth it.

Bob

[chuckt]

Thanks Sharon & Gene - you're very kind. I really enjoyed carving that Santa. Shawns designs make it very easy for a relative beginner to look good. :-)

Bob - yeah, that's basically what I ended up trying to do, but I think my Flexcut detail knife is just shy of being truly sharp. I think I'll send it off to Rick so I can get a true reference of what really SHARP is all about. Thanks for your thoughts. Glad to know I was on the right track.

Cheers
ChuckT

PS: My wife didn't have time to paint him before we had to leave for NH to my parents house. I gave him to my mom anyway - and she LOVEs him just as he is. No paint at all. My wife did get the tallers Santa tree ornament painted and he came out great. I'll post a pic tomorrow. Ended up giving him to my mom also. Aren't moms great? I could have the most mangled piece of wood on the planet carved with a butter knife and she'd love him. :-)

[mateo]

Those Santas look great! I especially like the first one. You can really tell that you put some time and love into them.

Your observation about mothers is right on. I like to give carvings to my grandma but I sure would not expect an unbiased opinion from her.

Hope you had a good Chistmas.
Matt