Roof support log carving

[autobodyman]

Carved some raccoons, this weekend, into one of the support posts I put up a few years back.








I've got about 10 hours in this so far, a bit more cleanup yet then some staining.

What do you think of it?
Thanks ~Mike

[aaronc]

like it, gonna be paint or stain ??,........or niether?

[leavyc]

Oh my gosh!!!! That is just too cute, makes me wish I had a support post to carve. Great job, they are wonderful!! How many more posts do you have to carve? Love to see them all.

[BrandantR]

You do fine work Mike. Your little coons are fantastic.

[Thor]

Excellent to see carvings incorporated into structures. Great carving too. Thanks for showing it to us.
Christina

[Robson Valley]

Good medicine for logs.

[Tom Ellis]

Great carving, Looks really good with the light shadows.

Tom

[autobodyman]

Thanks for all the kind replies, I really appreciate it.

I decided to go ahead and try staining it. This is really my first attempt at stain painting.

I put some ebony oil based stain on the eyes yesterday afternoon. This afternoon I put some pre-stain conditioner on the coons, waited about 15 minutes, ebony on the noses, black walnut around the eyes, golden oak farther around the eyes, inside the ears and on the tops of the heads. Let that dry about an hour while I mowed the lawn, more pre-stain conditioner on the areas of the face I wanted to stay a bit lighter then brushed the entire thing with some Superdeck Natural (semi-transparent cedar) what I use on all my outside wood (decks, retaining walls etc...)







About the only thing I'm bummed about is not getting the color of the epoxy correct. I didn't have any pine colored epoxy so the first batch I mixed half oak and half maple (darker colored line) second batch I mixed half oak and half white epoxy, neither is very close. Guess I need to get some pine colored stuff before I do the other post (maybe next year). I'm thinking a rabbit at the bottom of the post and an owl in the middle of the log.

By the way if you want to see more of my carving progress pics on these coons:
http://www.MikesPhotos.Woodwork2011.photoshare.co.nz
towards the bottom of the page.

Any way, what do you think of the finished coons?

Thanks ~Mike

[fly fisher]

Im still trying to pick my jaw up from off the floor . All your work is just out of this word....Thanks Mike for allowing us to see such an innovative work of art.

[leavyc]

Excellent!!! You did a great job with them.