Comfort Birds

[kjarvis]

These whimsical little palm sized carved birds idea is taking off. The Comfort Birds carving chapter in Utah has only met twice and already has 10 carver volunteers who are meeting twice a month to carve and finish the birds and sent them flying to people in life stress. For info email kurt Jarvis at kurtnjudy@yahoo.com

[Mottles]

Thank you, for your announcement, it's very rewarding to hear of others carving and sharing the Comfort Birds with others in need.

[kjarvis]

Had our 3rd meeting today and already 12 in the group and we finished 7 today and they have taken flight across the country. We have another 12 that were carved and sanded today, will be stained and polyurethanes the next couple of days and will be ready for flight. Just amazing. Frank Foust started all this and Woodcarving Ilustrated by having the article.

[Mottles]

This past Saturday 01/14/2011 I made a presentation to our Prescott Wood Bee Carvers to carve these Comfort Birds as a club project. Everyone was very receptive and it looks like we will be handing out Comfort Birds too. Those of us who have bandsaws will be cuting blanks for those members who don't have one. No club member should be left out of the project that wants to participate.

Our club is active in the community and enjoy sharing our carvings and demonstrating wood carving. We come across folks who need a little TLC and these little Comfort Birds will be well received.

I too, would like to Thank Frank Foust for sharing his skills with us and to WCI magazine for publishing this article. Excellent

I just finished my first Butter Nut Comfort Bird and have the first coat of poly applied. This one is mine as it's not as good as I would like it to be. Each one should get better. tee hee

Keep up the good work Kurt

[kjarvis]

Kathy, send me your email and I'll put you on our semi monthly newsletter w photos. Kurtnjudy@yahoo.com

I found butternut was not as easy to work with as basswood. Butternut seems to split off when carving. Also, I make a deep stop cut on either side of the back of the neck and pull put wedges. This helps making the head shaping easier for me. I also got some 1" flower arranging "frogs" from Mkchael's Crafts to hold the bird while the polyurethane is drying. I also found a small Dremel rotary tool with the sanding drum really saves some time on sanding.

[kjarvis]

Here it is Feb 1st and our church woodcarving group is going strong making and giving Comfort Birds to people in life stress. We have already finished and sent out almost 20 and we have another 2 dozen in process. We are having a woodcarving exhibit and demo at our church on Feb 19. this has been loads of fun and very meaningful to those receiving them.

[Mottles]

If you have a powercarver give it a try on Butternut...that is what I used to carve my first comfort bird.
How about showing us some pictures of your church woodcarving group carving their birds.

Thank you, for the 'frog' tip...but how do you keep from getting little pin hole's in the bottom of the comfort bird from the poly?

[kjarvis]

We've some butternut just with a knife and it worked fine. A little more grain than basswood and has a tendency to splinter a little. Once polyurethaned it is beautiful. Also did one in basswood then stained it in ebony Minwax water based stain in a tube. At this point it looks awful. Don't be discouraged. After it dried I lightly sanded it amd the stained reduced and it had an antiqued look then polyurethane and .... Wow!

[kjarvis]

Kathy, how do you attach photos?

[kjarvis]

Kathy,

The frogs hold the bird while it is drying and the small nails hardly leave a mark. What is there is very easy sanded down with the final 400 grit light sand after the final polyurethane and wax buff. I have found the small barrel sander with the Dremel works excellent.j