[Lightningbolt]

I'm often inspired by the imagination and talents of the kids in my woodshop class and last week was no exception! Back in the '90's I acquired a chainsaw carving of a standing bear and used it to draw up a smaller pattern for the kids to use in carving their own hand-sized bear. For nearly 10 years it has been a very popular project and they have been displayed on stands, in cages, climbing trees... you name it!

However it wasn't until last week that one of my students decided to find a way to mount his bear on the top of a walking stick. Daquian spent his first 90 minute period carving out the bear, then a second period mounting it onto the walking stick by grinding a hefty drywall screw. The final product wasn't perfect but considering the artist was a 13 year old who had never carved anything in his life, then I'd say it looks pretty darn good! He sure was proud of himself!

Daquian was such an inspiration I told him that I was gonna have to make one for myself so I thought that I'd share my experience with y'all in this WIP-(WORK IN PROGRESS)

Pictures:

1. One of the finished bears on a stand.
2. Daquian's standing bear walking stick.

[Lightningbolt]

Since I already had a 4" X 10" piece of basswood I quartered it then cut each piece in half giving me 8 bear blanks about 5" tall. They are just the perfect size to put in the cargo pockets of my pants so I often find myself carving on them just about everywhere. I sketched on a rough pattern then cut off all of the waste wood that the band saw could get to.

After a first stage "rough" carving I then used a 4" long piece of 3/8" all thread to attach it to the top of my walking stick which is a 58" piece of mountain birch, although the field guide labels it black birch or cherry birch. Before screwing it on tightly I spread on a little yellow wood glue just to be sure. As I was screwing on the bear I realized that not only was 3/8" all-thread a bit over kill, I believe that 4" was also a bit too long but it's on there good!

Not sure exactly what I'm gonna do now other than doing the detail carving on the bear and a finish, but maybe I'll add something to the stick too since I have much more time to work on my stick than Daquian had to work on his.

[Ashbys]

He did an excellent job for no more time than that !

Ash

[Mottles]

Dave thank you for sharing Daquian's standing bear walking stick. First thought that come to my mind is the old saying "Where there is a will, there is a way." I'm very impressed with Daquian's bear please tell him what a good job he did for me.
Thank you for doing the work in progress seeing how others do go about their project very interesting. I love the standing bear and walking stick please update when finished.
Kathy

[Old_Gord]

Nice project Lighteningbolt, good on Daquian, he did well and showed some thought in converting it to a stick topper.
I take it that the picture of the standing bear in the first message is the chainsawed bear you got in the 90's, wouldn't mind seeing a profile of that if possible..
The "other magazine" had a similar project in it last year, but no band sawed blank was used, the head formation was laid out similar to how a chainsawer might do a bear's head, quite simple really but the whole thing was carved by a knife, some gouge work too.
Since it came out I have seen the standing bear used for all sorts of things, one carver told me he was using it to make a chess set, don't what he was using for all the chess men though.

.

OG

[electricbill]

Lightningbolt....
just checked your profile...i sometimes do...to see how people are... you've got quite the homepage!! the envy of alot of people!! i wish i did HALF the stuff you did when i graduated!!
bill

[Colin_Partridge]

I am impressed with Daquian's bear tell him he did a wonderful job and commend him on his woodcarving abilites. What a great idea I am going to have to try one of those. Thank you so much for including the pattern that you carved from it will be a great project for other members on here to follow. That is what I love about this message board the sharing. Look forward to seeing the finished product.
Colin

[squbrigg]

Great idea Dave....getting the young folks into carving. Great way to begin a life's journey. Daquian show great promise as a carver, great job on his bear and great idea mounting him on a walking staff. I hope he is encouraged to continue carving on his own. Show him this site, and all the neat things he can learn to create.. He may grow up to become a greater carver than us all!!!

Bob

[Ron Davidson]

What a great job Daquain did in such a short period of time. I say give that boy a bigger peice of wood and more time and see what happens. Its great to see young people want to work with their hands. It must be the great teacher. Ron

[Lightningbolt]

Thanks to all and I will tell Daquian how much everyone enjoyed his bear but I can assure you that his smile stretched from sea to shining sea upon completion!

I've attached a few more updated pictures of my progress:

1. This picture shows the bear yesterday afternoon when I had completed all of the carving. I used a small u-gouge and one of my micro u-gouges to create the fur. Normally I have always just used my woodburner to do the fur which does a great job but I just wanted to try something different this time and was quite pleased. I then woodburned the nose, mouth, and claws of the bear. I used one of my small eye punches for, you guessed it... the eyes.
2. Front view of the bear showing the finished look so far. I used a few layers of acrylic paint for the finish and the same method that I usually use on the hair of my woodspirit walking sticks which I've grown to like. First, I put on a thinned down coat of yellow ochre on the entire surface then dried it under the light bulb. I then sprayed on a coat of clear Krylon acrylic sealer and dried. Applied a watered down coat of burnt umber- dried- applied the sealer- then applied a bit stronger coat of burnt umber which I'd dab with a clean cloth until everything felt just right. Sometimes I'll work burnt sienna into the mix up for a reddish look but I've yet to see a red bear so I didn't on this project! Finally I put on a final seal of polyurethane.
3. Side/rear view.
4. Distance shot for a better overall perspective.

My next step will probably be to take a piece of 220 sandpaper and/or some steel wool to give the bear a good wipe down thus exposing some of the raw wood again. Depending on how this turns out I may or may not add another burnt umber wash before the second coat of polyurethane. Sometimes I'll do this step before the first coat of polyurethane. Mix n' match, look n' process, sample n' experiment, and hopefully in the end I'll have something that is nice... even if I can't remember just exactly how I got there!!

After you've carved one or two this really is a fairly simple project and one that I will be using as Christmas gifts this year and adding to my "for sale" stock. Not a very complicated project at all since, for gosh sakes, if a 13 year old can do it then I'd say that it's a pretty good project for all skill levels.

Old_Gord: The picture of the bear in the first post is actually only one of the 5" tall bears that I use for a model example in my woodshop. I have the original chainsawed bear on display in the dining hall of our camp but I'll be glad to take a few different profiled photos of it tomorrow when I'm back at work and I'll post them here early next week. That just might be a good addition and give folks a little more perspective about just where this very popular woodshop carving project originated from.

As far as that goes I'd say that just about all of the chainsawed projects could easily be scaled down for smaller carving AND probably a first good step for anyone who might have an interest in stepping up to chainsaw carving. Although I haven't yet done so, I'm sure that I could do a reasonably acceptable job of carving this bear with a chainsaw after having done so many of the little un's.

Well, that's all for now unless someone can think of something I missed. I'll probably do some kind of complimentary carving or woodburning on the walking stick part so I'll eventually show the final product when completed.