[foundwood]

I don't know if this is the beginning, or the end of this project!

I learned so much that I really don't know where to start. Here goes:
1. The top center shattered out when I was cutting the rough-out for the branch/limb detailing on the right side. The center of the fifth picture below shows the trunk terminating at a ragged break.
2. I am going to stop where I am on this one, because I cannot bear to look at the nose/ mouth one more time. Chalk it up to figuring out what you want to do next time due to the fact that you don't like what you did this time. Learning can be both frustrating and fun at times.
3. This was so new to me that I put the cart before the horse on the detailing. I should have planned the trunk arrangement more carefully so the branches would have made better sense. The center/third picture shows a rather plain central trunk, whereas the second photo depicts what I had hoped the entire piece would portray in terms of detail.
4. My second and third efforts are always more successful than my first. Note to self: Keep repeating the last sentence as your mantra for the next two days.
5. I will find a much more dense and hard wood for my second effort. It was great to start with a chunk of wood as soft as the cypress. It was easy to try a variety of tools and methods. However, the wood must be cut very thin for this whole piece to work. I had to have a thicker cross section with the cypress, or it would bust: see number one above.

Thank you all for indulging my flight of fancy on this one, and I promise to make a showing again in the future with this concept.

[GardenGnome]

I think I get the idea you were going for. Most interesting. I sense you will try again. If I may say something. Be sure to take your time and think through each move. This will help keep breakage to a minimum. Perhaps a rotary saw would be good for this project. Clamp the piece down and use both hands on the tool and go slow. You will find the rhythm of the tool and the speed will pick up as you become accustomed to the way it cuts.

Good luck with your next attempt.

Christopher the Garden Gnome

[squbrigg]

Well, you certainly have a good start, and I can feel for you incuring a break like that. Frustrating to no end! Lesson learned, glad you are carrying on.

Have you chosen a new wood yet? I hesitate to make suggestions, as I'm not sure what is available locally. Too hard and it will be a nightmare to carve, too soft it will fracture again, something in between with good strength?

Love your concept and tenacity. Good luck.

Bob

[foundwood]

Thanks for the observations and comments. I am seriously considering a piece of black walnut, if the owner will part with a chunk for my next attempt.

I used a Bosch saber saw to cut the rough-out, and it worked wonderfully. The top of the crown shattered when I hit a knot. I thought about trying to pin and glue it back together, but it was a very concentrated area in terms of the future loads that would be applied from carving.

I know how to approach the whole project now. All I need is the wood! Does anyone have any suggestions as to what would be available in Southeastern, North Carolina?

[AlArchie]

It would seem like you are onto the right idea with using a different wood as Bob suggested. Might I suggest you try one of those rotary type "saws" for removing waste. the type with the bit that looks like a spriral drill bit. These do not put any reciprocating stresses on the material as even a fine bladed saber saw does. I've used these bits a few times in my Dremel and they seem to work very well. There are specialty tools made to handle these bits but the other rotaries might work if you have one.

Al

[AlArchie]

Sorry, Christopher, I jumped right over your reply...didn't mean to duplicate.

Al

[foundwood]

Hey Al,

I bought four of the "cutting" bits from Harbor freight. The first one was a Rotozip tile cutter, and boy did it work great! So well, in fact, that I revisited the store and got a great deal on a three-pack that had 1/8", 1/4", and 5/16" diameter bits. The 1/4" fit perfectly in my Flexcut RPC, and I used it a great deal to slot and angle some of the sections around the nose and mouth. The best part: they never clog with wet or moist wood like a burr.

These jewels are pretty scary to work with. I shudder to think how bad it would hurt to get "stuck" by one when pushing through the back side of a piece.

[GardenGnome]

Originally Posted by AlArchie

Sorry, Christopher, I jumped right over your reply...didn't mean to duplicate.

Al

Tiz no problem, mon. As a matter of fact you described bit better than I did.
Great minds think alike.

Christopher the Garden Gnome

[Eleanor]

Hi Foundwood,
Very interesting to see how you've been getting on, looks like it was going fine to me! As for the break, there's no shame in a bit of white wood glue - the mends can be hard to spot and all the BEST people ( ahem) use it.
Re. burrs , I like a dentists drill bit in my dremel, it's surprisingly fast, has a tiny spherical head and can be used to shift wood in delicate places with deadly accuracy. Great for piercings , nostrils, mouth corners, earholes etc. The size of the bit looks as tho it would take hours to shift any wood but actually it only takes a couple of minutes to shift a bit of wood the size, say, of a grape. RRzzzzz!!

[foundwood]

Eleanor,
The broken piece wasn't the only part that I lost sight of: I only posted pictures from the side, top, and rear, because a portrait view of the the nose and mouth looked like something that Dr. Moreau would have exiled from his island. Yes Ma'am, it was that ugly. White glue couldn't fix it even if I substituted parts from Brad Pitt. It was more homely than my mother-in-law after she stumbled down the steps at Thanksgiving and ended up with a faceful of potato salad. On second thought, nothing could ever be that bad, but accepting the fact that this carving was done, and laughing "inside" at the Queen of Darkness both brought a sense of bittersweet satisfaction.