[slivers&dust]

Obviously I'm just getting started but I thought it would be fun (for me) to track it along here and share the progress w/pics. (incase I get stuck again and need your help)

In the first pic, there in the back, is Mark G's Mt. Man mask I started a few weeks back. I've set it aside in favor of going through the steps in Jeff Phares' books. I hope to get back to it when I get a better grasp on carving the nose and eyes and keeping the face from getting to flat. So far to this point I don't like the shape of the nose and how the face is getting flat on it. I have picked up on some of the techniques for setting the nose in better in the books. Especially the top cut and the specific cuts for the nostrils. Whether or not I can do them is still to be determined.

Anyway here is where I'm at so far. I'll follow up with additional photos as I go along and see how I do.

Suggestions welcomed and appreciated at any point along the journey.

Thanks

[Thor]

Ok, first I was so distracted by all of those tools (drool) and your wonderful work bench, that I wasn't even looking at your work in progress...then, the unfinished one in the background is wonderful.
I don't have a comment on the one you're working on except that I'll watch the progress to learn. I am always glad to see a carving from start to finish.
Thanks for starting your WIP thread.
Thor

[Micky]

The mountain man isn't finished? Sure looks finished. All I can say is WOW.

[foundwood]

Find yourself some 1/8" diameter flux-free welding rod, and bend some profile gauges. Use the gauges to act as a guide from start to finish to keep both the angles and correct dimensions between features.

I bent one to go down the centerline of the throat-chin-mouth-nose-hair profile, and then one to wrap the outide of the chin, another across the tip of the nose and around the cheeks, and finally at the brow ridge on my last mask. This way, you never get off on your angles or depths.

I can post pictures later, if you'd like...

[slivers&dust]

Thor
I might have gone overboard tool buying, especially when just learning hand or traditional carving but IMO having the right tool or the same tool as the teacher takes some of the guess work and frustration out of the equation…the way I see it anyway, plus it’s a good reason to buy more tools, right?…(insert Tim Taylor grunts here)

Micky
Thanks for the confidence building comment but it isn’t even half way done yet. Check out Mark Garacs or bygeorges Mt. Man mask they are awesome. I’m hopeing I can get there with mine someday. Maybe not this one but maybe the next…practice, practice and more practice.

Foundwood
Thanks, pictures would be nice if you have the time. Sounds like a good idea.

[Mark N. Akers]

Tony:
Great start on the mask,and the mountain man in the foreground looks great.

[Kenny_S]

I concur, the mountian man carving looks great. keep it up and will be watching the WIP on both the Mountain Man and Indian.

[Thor]

Sliver,
Did you make your own vise on that table? It looks handmade, and rather simple at that. Do you have a plan that you would be willing to share with a cheap do-it-yourselfer-due-to-low-funding?
It looks like you just have a vice holding it to the table too! I could do that.

I've come back to your images to visit the tools again, I must admit. I like the way you have them mounted on a rack on the wall too. All of mine stay rolled up in the roll sack and follow me around.

My brother has the most wonderful laminated maple work bench I've ever seen in person, and he keeps telling me I can have it after he's gone. It's tempting, but I kind of like him, and he's only 3 years older than me, so I don't consider it an option.
Rambing, but those photos get me thinking.
Thor

[slivers&dust]

Hi Thor

The tool rack is very simple. Basically a 1x4 with two rows of 5/8� –3/4� holes drilled every 3�, so you end up with a spot every 1 ½�. The back row has slots for larger tools that won’t fit through the hole.
I cut a slot with a dado blade into the horizontal board to accept the tool holder. Glued and screwed it up and that was it. Then it is just screwed into the wall.
I love to look at other shops and how they are set up. One of the reasons I started that thread “show off your shop� was to snoop around and see what s I could pick up. When I look at other peoples work I not only admire the carvings but what I can pick up from the picture, like what tools or other things that are also in the photos they share. For example look at Mark Garac’s tool rack behind his Indian head in WIP (mine is based on his and Jeff’s)

The carving arm and screw were a gift from my dad several years ago. It only had a single knuckle, or joint, so I added the middle section just the other day in order to get the piece lower…I’m kind of short. It was real simple to make. It is just laminated stock with pivot points and carriage bolts. I’ll get you better pictures and some dimensions tonight and post them in the morning.

[squbrigg]

Nice work, great bench! Love looking at other folks set ups, and get idea's from, like your racks for holding your tools.

Bob