Beginner stuff

[Claude]

Ok - Now I understand a bit better where you're coming from...

A plaque with initials for each of the girls might be nice. Here's one I made for my wife about 40 years ago out of a piece of old pallet, using a chisel I made from a broken screwdriver...


You could make a couple of jack-o-lanterns for the girls, since Halloween is coming soon. Just take a 1.5 by 1.5 by 1.5 inch piece of wood (or 2 x 2 x 2, or ...), and round off all the corners until it begins to look like a pumpkin. Put the vertical grooves in, draw and then carve a face on it - keep it simple: triangular eyes and nose, and just a couple of teeth. Use a small piece of dowel glued in for a stem. The girls should have fun painting their very own pumpkin. This photo is one I made into a small bottlestopper, but it can easily be done without adding the cork...


If you feel a bit more confident, look up Gene Messer's videos (youtube Whittler0507) on carving a 5 minute wizard. (takes me a minimum of 20 minutes....) These are about 1 inch by 1 inch by 5 inches. Screw a small eye screw into the top and it makes a great tree ornament. Can be painted to be a Santa or an Elf, or a wizard...


How about a couple of snowmen for the girls. Start with a stick, round off the corners, shape like a snowman. Can be with or without a hat. Drill a couple of small holes, and glue in a couple of twigs from a tree. Have the girls help you find "snowman arm" twigs.


Frankly, the burr you may find most useful right at the start for the Dremel is the 1/2 inch sanding drum. I've had a Dremel for years, but don't use it much for my main carving - partly because it makes a lot of dust, which is bad for my asthma, and partly because a knife is so much easier for me to control for fine details. Buy or make yourself a strop for your knife, and work at getting the knife really sharp. I made my own strop from a piece of scrap suede leather, a piece of shelving, and a little contact cement. Glued the leather on, rough side up, and rubbed a bit of the compound onto it. Drag the knife blade back and forth on the strop, always away from the cutting edge. I usually go with several strokes in on direction, then turn the knife over and do several strokes for the other side.

When the strop begins to turn black, that's good. Means it's doing it's job. The black is microscopic bits of metal that have been removed from the blade by the compound.

How to tell if your knife is really sharp? Easy! Turn on a lamp and hold your head next to the bulb. Hold the knife blade flat below the lamp so the light reflects directly off the flat of the blade into your eyes. Slowly rotate the knife until the cutting edge is directly up. At this point, if you see any reflection from the knife edge at all, it isn't sharp. If you see no reflection, then it's sharp. Why? Because chips, dings, rolled over edges, etc. on the knife edge will reflect light, but a really sharp edge won't. Take one of your dull kitchen knives and try this...

BTW, lots of small simple projects on my web site that I have carved. Feel free to copy any of them.

Claude

[Rooster]

Claude! A pallet and a screwdriver made into a chisel? Is your second name McGyver? That's pretty impressive man. The carvings are cool too

[Dwhitt1981]

I love the snowman idea. I was thinking of doing a whole x-mas scene for my wife to put up. And I agree I think we have found the TRUE McGyver (lol). Is that one of those " kids don;t try this at home " thing lol. Or in the South we call it " Hold my beer and watch this" ...
That a GREAT plaque even before I saw what was used to make it.

[Patrick]

Claude, those are great pieces. BTW, thanks very much for your explaination about how to check the knife for "sharp". Thats a keeper for sure.

Pat

P.S. Dwitt... you've come to the right place to get you started. Great talent here in all the carving disciplines. Good folks.

[Dwhitt1981]

I think I will give a friend a call for the leather. They have a shoe shop and do a ton of boot repairs. So I should be able to get some. What type compound do I use?

[susieq]

You didn't say whether or not your dad's Dremel has a flexible shaft on it or not. If not, you will find it very clumsy and awkward to work with..... I say this because I'd hate for your first attempt at power carving to be a bad experience for you and have you walk away from it.

The flexshaft allows you to hang the motor unit up just high enough so that the shaft doesn't have too much curve in it at the level your work area is. You hold the handpiece/bit and have a lot more control over what you are doing. A foot pedal is nice too, so that you can work hands free.....

[Dwhitt1981]

It doesn"t have it but I have used one before and will be getting one soon.Will the flex shaft work on a older model dremel? Can you get a foot pedal for a dremel?

[Rooster]

Sorry, I forgot to reply to you earlier. No, I don't have the flex shaft either but it seems that it is worth getting. I will be on the look out for it now. To be honest my neighbour has gotten more use out of it so far than I have. He's very happy that I bought it. lol.

Susie, you describe perfectly how I got on with my first attempt. And, yeah, I kinda have walked away from it. I feel the need to apologise to it and go figure out what it can do.

Well maybe not after a couple of glasses of wine. Tomorrow.
I'll report back with my findings,
Rooster

[susieq]

I am not sure if the newer style shaft fits on the older Dremel models but I have both types out in my shop. It's late now but tomorrow, I will check it out and let you know. On the older setup, when you got the shaft attachment, a special nut came with it. You took the collet nut off the end of the motor unit and put the special nut for the shaft attachment onto the motor unit so you could put the shaft on. On the newer models, I think the shaft comes all ready to screw onto the business end of the motor unit....but I haven't used the new one yet so will have to check it out.

I have 3 of the older units plus extra old style shafts for them in case one breaks. My husband looks for them at yard sales because I use them. He found the new unit at a sale also...pretty much unused. People get them for Christmas gifts and stick them in a drawer in the garage until they finally put them out for a yard sale.

I will have a look at the two units tomorrow and see if the new shaft will fit the old unit.

[Dwhitt1981]

Cool Thanks