[debra]

Glad I came upon this site. Started carving in July of this year and have been blindly feeling my way through. Here are a few of my first attemps! [font="Comic Sans MS I'm hooked and thoroughly enjoy carving. Not sure what to do when the snow flies as the family is not going to let me carve in the house. They seem to thing it has a bit of an odor. Anyways hello to all![/font]



My first attempt at engraving!

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[Billy]

Welcome, Debra.

I think you've made a great start. Welcome to the forum. I'm sure you'll be very happy with the support from the members.

Billy.

[Janel]

Hi Debra,

Welcome to The Carving Path, glad you found the forum! Is the material bone that you are working with? Does anyone have a hint for Debra for how to deal with the family complaint so that she will be able to work in the winter?

Janel

[Billy]

I work from my garage which proposes 2 problems. Dust and smell. Dust I can contain to a degree with an adequate vacuum system, but smell is a different story. Because I'm in the garage the smell isn't a great prob as it rarely seems to make it into the house. My only advice would be to avoid a great deal of electric sanding. That's your main smell – the burning of the bone. Use your coping saws, files and gravers to get rid of the bone.

I hope this is of some help.

[debra]

Billy, on Aug 16 2009, 07:11 PM, said:

I work from my garage which proposes 2 problems. Dust and smell. Dust I can contain to a degree with an adequate vacuum system, but smell is a different story. Because I'm in the garage the smell isn't a great prob as it rarely seems to make it into the house. My only advice would be to avoid a great deal of electric sanding. That's your main smell – the burning of the bone. Use your coping saws, files and gravers to get rid of the bone.

I hope this is of some help.

Thanks, I don't really notice the smell, but I do a lot of hand sanding and that makes for such fine dust collecting on me. Hoping to get a outside warm shack for the winter or a section of the garage blocked off and heated or my hands willjust not work

[Janel]

Debra, use the SEARCH function using the More Options feature and look for "dust collectors" or "dust extraction" posts. There have been many posts and photos of such setups in the work bench topics, such as

work benches

There are more posts in other topics as well.

Many of us use some sort of fan or vacuum driven filtration unit to suck and filter the dusts away from our faces and lungs. It is a matter of health and not smell mediation. It is always strongly advised to invest or create this collector/filter early in your tool acquisition when starting out with carving. The sanding dusts can be quite unhealthy to be breathing.

I do hope that you will succeed in creating a space for your carving explorations!

Janel

[fox]

Welcome Debra!
Very nice, your first pieces, I like very much the combination of the Koru and the fish tail!
I have the same problem with working space, I'm working at the kitchen table and have to put away always
the tools after working. But since I am the one who's cleaning the house, nobody is allowed to tell me not to
work in the house
Have a nice day,
Dorothea

[debra]

Janel, on Aug 16 2009, 08:41 PM, said:

Debra, use the SEARCH function using the More Options feature and look for "dust collectors" or "dust extraction" posts. There have been many posts and photos of such setups in the work bench topics, such as

work benches

There are more posts in other topics as well.

Many of us use some sort of fan or vacuum driven filtration unit to suck and filter the dusts away from our faces and lungs. It is a matter of health and not smell mediation. It is always strongly advised to invest or create this collector/filter early in your tool acquisition when starting out with carving. The sanding dusts can be quite unhealthy to be breathing.

I do hope that you will succeed in creating a space for your carving explorations!

Janel

Thank you for your info. I definately have a lot to learn and am happy to have found this forum!
Debra

[debra]

fox, on Aug 17 2009, 04:40 AM, said:

Welcome Debra!
Very nice, your first pieces, I like very much the combination of the Koru and the fish tail!
I have the same problem with working space, I'm working at the kitchen table and have to put away always
the tools after working. But since I am the one who's cleaning the house, nobody is allowed to tell me not to
work in the house
Have a nice day,
Dorothea

Thank you Dorothea, After searching around on this forum, I see I have a long way to go. I definately have to find my own space as I too am always having to put things away, pain! Sometimes I just want to spend a few minutes sanding etc.
Cheers,
Debra

[debra]

Janel, on Aug 16 2009, 06:52 PM, said:

Hi Debra,

Welcome to The Carving Path, glad you found the forum! Is the material bone that you are working with? Does anyone have a hint for Debra for how to deal with the family complaint so that she will be able to work in the winter?

Janel

I am using beef and buffalo bone as well as antler.

[Phil White]

Welcome, Debra

I hope you find lots of inspiration here. Good to see you!

Phil

[dante lopez]

hi ,hope this help you out ,what work for my was first ,to use tungsten carbide beats, look for the different grits there are thick ,medium ,fine ,cutting grit that reduce the dost and some smell ,for the sanding prose's use fine tungsten carbide beat that will be like 220 sand paper then you use sand paper , ONE THING be carful whit your longs ,always cover your nose use a fan ,(if possible)or in the jewelry field there are some dost boxes for the gold very helpful made of acrylic or use some wood box whit inner light you can make your self ,mostly of my working tool I made my self is !fun! star by making a drawing of how you will need your box ,then you can go whit a carpenter ,is a idea ,hope this help you in some how

[debra]

dante lopez, on Aug 17 2009, 06:39 PM, said:

hi ,hope this help you out ,what work for my was first ,to use tungsten carbide beats, look for the different grits there are thick ,medium ,fine ,cutting grit that reduce the dost and some smell ,for the sanding prose's use fine tungsten carbide beat that will be like 220 sand paper then you use sand paper , ONE THING be carful whit your longs ,always cover your nose use a fan ,(if possible)or in the jewelry field there are some dost boxes for the gold very helpful made of acrylic or use some wood box whit inner light you can make your self ,mostly of my working tool I made my self is !fun! star by making a drawing of how you will need your box ,then you can go whit a carpenter ,is a idea ,hope this help you in some how

Thanks dante,
I didn't realize how bad the dust was for lungs. I am hoping to go to the city in the next week and will definately look for the tungsten bits and figure out some sort of a dust box or vacume.
Have a great day
Debra

[Brent Duty]

debra, on Aug 19 2009, 12:29 PM, said:

Thanks dante,
I didn't realize how bad the dust was for lungs. I am hoping to go to the city in the next week and will definately look for the tungsten bits and figure out some sort of a dust box or vacume.
Have a great day
Debra

Invest in a good mask and eye protection. I use a vapor mask to make sure I'm safe, but a vacuum for everyone else is probably needed if you're indoors. Carbide bits are worth the extra money.
Always remember which way the rotary turns and point it away from your hand. I use a glove, but it's not to replace good cutting practices. I usually try and place the piece either in a vise or if I do use my hand I place the piece down so if it decides to take a ride, it does so into some wood and not the underside of my hand. I hope this helped some.

Brent

[debra]

Brent Duty, on Aug 20 2009, 08:26 PM, said:

Invest in a good mask and eye protection. I use a vapor mask to make sure I'm safe, but a vacuum for everyone else is probably needed if you're indoors. Carbide bits are worth the extra money.
Always remember which way the rotary turns and point it away from your hand. I use a glove, but it's not to replace good cutting practices. I usually try and place the piece either in a vise or if I do use my hand I place the piece down so if it decides to take a ride, it does so into some wood and not the underside of my hand. I hope this helped some.

Brent

Thanks for the advise Brent, Already I have zinged off a few fingernails so am learning the hard way. I really appreciate the help
Debra

[debra]

Brent Duty, on Aug 20 2009, 08:26 PM, said:

Invest in a good mask and eye protection. I use a vapor mask to make sure I'm safe, but a vacuum for everyone else is probably needed if you're indoors. Carbide bits are worth the extra money.
Always remember which way the rotary turns and point it away from your hand. I use a glove, but it's not to replace good cutting practices. I usually try and place the piece either in a vise or if I do use my hand I place the piece down so if it decides to take a ride, it does so into some wood and not the underside of my hand. I hope this helped some.

Brent

Thanks for the advise Brent, Already I have zinged off a few fingernails so am learning the hard way. I really appreciate the help
Debra