[JimSawyer]

I've been watching with great interest as to how you were going to solve this problem. What fun, (and informative), it has been to watch this come together. Can't wait for yur next update. Thank you for sharing!

[A Willburger]

A-ha I new you come around to it. Just joking but look at the first page of your thread I asked if you were going to attach it to a background.
Your carving is coming along nicely.
Andy

[Ashbys]

Lol

Jim , sometimes the best way to learn is just jump in with both feet , and see what happens.

Andy ,
I really wasn't sure. I have bounced a lot of ideas around as to what to do. I also needed to look at the size. and where I can place it. But adjustment is all part of the process. I was thinking about a mantel piece, now well I have to look at a different location, the things I learned were things I will never forget. And I might never have considered this for a background, had I not had the spalted maple. The pastel colors just really work.

I really considered just a simple base with an acryllic post. It would have been low key enough, that it would not have taken away from the carving and given all the support needed , then the family got involved and said they had a place for it , if I wanted to do more so I started looking at other possibilites .

More to what could I do with it , as soon as I put the maple behind it , I was hooked.

Now to find time to work on it . LOL

Ash

[Ashbys]

Mostly material removal , but I made one adjustment. The caving will be able to free stand and hold it's own weight now. It was a very simple adjustment and I doubt it will ever be noticed.

I have freed the legs and seperated them. The body form is almost done and I have started carving in the round.

Anyway the update pics.

Ash

[sharon cottrell]

It's looking great.You're an inspiration.Thankyou for showing us the journey on it. Maybe some day I'll try something that complex.

[Claude]

Originally Posted by Ashbys

Mostly material removal , but I made one adjustment. The caving will be able to free stand and hold it's own weight now. It was a very simple adjustment and I doubt it will ever be noticed.
...
Ash

So, what was the simple adjustment, please?
Claude

[Ashbys]

Claude

While working on the clearing of the legs , well I .. well .. er .. broke the out side leg. Matched it glued it , and then broke it again , so I thought the glue seam gave .. nope it broke 1/16 of an inch below the seam . So I took a look at the drawing . I wanted to find out why at that point it was breaking .

If you look at the painting and the angle of the horse the front leg is located behind the front toe of Napoleon. In doing so the stress point was focused on the extream center of the horses leg. This caused all the weight strees to locate into the weakest part of the carving.

I wanted the carving to be better balanced , to do so I needed to change the center of gravity . I wanted to get the weight centered of the support. First I drilled the center of the leg and inserted a 1/2 inch oak dowel that runs across the weak section. The leg is 3/4 inch thick so I have room to get the dowel into place.

Although this will give strength to the section the weight would not be over the supports, so I extended the leg by a 1/4 of an inch and adjusted the angle of the horse , to place the bulk weight over the 3 inch support center. The legs being spread, one forward one back extends the support center.

If the legs were matched side to side , they would act like a pivot , since I spread them , they act as a support base and spread the weight between them.

Ash

[doris]

yes, that is a nice simple solution... and how do you fix the carving now when you want work on it ?

[Mottles]

Oh my gosh Ash! Thank goodness you found a fix for the leg and were able to make adjustments. Are you planning a base support for your carving?
Kathy
Oh by the way, looks really great your progess is really showing now.

[Ashbys]

Doris,

You mean how do I clamp it. I don't. But should I need to , I have side clamps which lock on to the thighs, as well as the shoulders that lock it in place. Since there are no finished areas, there are no issues about clamping.

Ash