Ed Twilbeck

Looks like our first Tropical Storm is coming our way. For those of us who live here it's just a nother storm,,, good time to carve. i have some in the works, will let you know.

Welcome Lyle,good to see another wood person here. This is a good site to see a lot of great ideas on art and wood carving.

Yes you are right walnut is sometimes to carve and will hide details in the grain. Many years ago I built furniture and made boxes, walnut book matched always came out great. Did a box with a walnut top and carved a dragon in the top. Back then I would work to make my boxes a pleasure to touch, well the top with the Dragon did not want to come out and shine, so I finished the box with the super smooth silky feel and the dragon was very dull finish but the contrast came out unusually good. I was pleased and the lady that purchased it was very excited about it and loved the story of how the box got its different look. Thes 2 pieces are from a walnut crotch area and were for knife handle blanks ,, which finished out smother and silky, to nice for a knife to be used, it went to a friends collection. i think I will be doing leaves ,,, as the wood talks to me ,, when I carve it.

This is left overs from 4 or 5 years ,,walnut to pretty to throw away, thinking of doing a new Cicada, or a leaf ,pendant ,, or combine the 2 ...Any one got any IDEAS , will consider all suggestions.

The cord is adjusted useing a Chinese sliding knot cord comes out of the stem end of the leaf.

Thank you Janel , the Cicada and Leaf was planned to be a pendant , I wanted something different.

Andrew I use a chamois wheel on a foredom, it has about 5 layers of chamois, each one is cut so it works into the cuts and around all of the carvings, I spin it on the wax and then spin it on what I am waxing, it heats up enough to bring a good shine to what I am working on. Check out the pics.

Base ,Purple Heart. The finish is min wax wood sheen with just a little stain mix, then a wax with carnauba. A small Boxwood cicada on a leaf, table top sculpture or a necklace, to wear.

Very nice , it is always good to get some fun. Mice are always difficult to carve ,,cause the move so fast and won't sit long to be a good model. Thanks for sharing.

A while back somebody asked about favorite carving tools here is some of mine. The box of chisels are from the early 80s they come without handles, one handle and change the blade ,,they are Warren carving tools , in fact all showing here are from Warren Cutlery and Carving ,,,, I turned the handles from walnut they were the first set of chisels I have , use them regularly ,,, the knives are also Warren made the one in the pic with the carving is an LK5 blade this is the 2nd one ,, this one I use a lot and is one of the best knives I have ,,,, they can come with a handle and you change the blade or to the chisel ,,, I like to make my own handles. The rest of the knives all have Warren Blades. On top of the box is the handles you can get from the company I don't like them due to the weight of the Brass to hold the blades. Any question or comments all are welcome.

Another welcome back ,, your work is excellent and very pleasing to the eye, will be watching for more beautiful art . Thanks for sharing.

Welcome Peter, there are a lot of very. Good information on this forum , there are some good leads to Netsuke carving. Will be looking to see some of your art.

Very nice well done out of Deer antler,,,thanks for sharing.

Very nice well done . David I agree with you about the simplicity of the carving. Looks good, thanks for sharing.

Some past talk about power chisels for roughing out your carving. I have 2 types one is a motor with the chisel attached it is made by Auto Mach ,, the other is a flexible shaft made by Wee Cheer ,,that attached to a rotary tool , Dremel. Janel said about hands being tired with carving. The Auto Mach has some weight with it and does get warm holding it. The Flexable shaft made by We cheer is lighter and easy to work,, but does not have as much power as the Auto Mach. The flexible tool was very satisfactory with its power and flexibility , carving ligustrum and Boxwood. The chisels made by Flexcut work in both,, but with the Auto Mach you need a brass spacer. I have attached some pics. Will answer any questions , and I like them both, they both have good and not so good qualities.