Showing posts with label woodcarving. Show all posts
Showing posts with label woodcarving. Show all posts

Tuesday, December 5, 2017

CRKT Minimalist Wharncliffe

I was thinking of a whittling knife that can be an EDC at the same time when I remember this CRKT Minimalist Wharncliffe I bought about 6 years ago. Its blade shape is like most straight blade carving knives although much wider. It performs well as a roughing knife but needs to be sharpened and honed more to do detail job.


I was able to rough out a bird without much difficulty.


It comes with a kydex sheath and a belt clip.

That's all folks! Thanks for reading.

Sunday, November 26, 2017

Twig Santa

With Christmas just around the corner, I decided to whittle a Santa Claus.


This Santa is about 4 inches tall and 1 inch in diameter whittled from a twig I found during my early morning walk in the park.

Advanced Merry Christmas to everyone!

That's all folks! Thanks for reading.

Sunday, July 10, 2016

Tagak

Tagak is a Tagalog word for heron. It is a large fish-eating wading bird with long legs, a long S-shaped neck, and a long pointed bill. In my childhood town of San Jose, I often see them in swampy area usually perched at the back of carabaos that wallow in the muddy water. We have a saying in Tagalog when we want to describe the impossible "Pag puti ng uwak, pag itim ng tagak". Roughly translated it means, "When the crow turns white, when the heron turns black".


Would you believe a carving like this sells for $20+ at Etsy?

That's all folks! Thanks for reading.

Thursday, May 5, 2016

Gift for Mother

My mother has a place of her own. After living for a long time with my eldest brother, she finally moved out which made her sad. To cheer her up I made her a wooden birdie to decorate her shelf in the living room.


This birdie was whittled from a Weeping Willow using Mora 120.

That's all folks! Thanks for reading.

Friday, April 22, 2016

Which Comes First?

Which comes first, the chicken or the egg? One of the trick question I've been pondering about and seems to have no logical answer. Until modern science comes to the rescue:

"Prior to the first true chicken, there were non-chickens. The DNA changes came about in cells housed in the egg. So the egg came first. In July 2010, British scientists, using a supercomputer, claimed to have come up with the final and definitive answer."


There it is guys, the egg comes first.

That's all folks! Thanks for reading.

Tuesday, April 12, 2016

Bison

A couple of years ago we went on a long road trip to North Dakota. I was awed by the vast empty spaces of the Great Plains that stretched as far as the eye can see. The Badlands that are exposed surfaces of stone and clay that erosion has shaped into striking formations was a sight to behold and the Red River Valley which is the remnant lake bed of the ancient Lake Agassiz were a few of the most famous spots we visited. It was also there that I fist saw a bison.

The American bison and the European bison (wisent) are the largest terrestrial animals in North America and Europe. Bison are good swimmers and can cross rivers over half a mile (800 meters) wide. They are nomadic grazers and travel in herds. The bulls leave the herds of females at two or three years of age, and join a male herd, which are generally smaller than female herds.


Here is my rendition of a bison done in basswood.

That's all folks! Thanks for reading.

Friday, February 12, 2016

Schrade 18OT Resurrected

A friend gave me an old Schrade with a broken blade tip. It's a small knife but it has a liner lock which make it ideal for whittling small wood figures.


Right now it has 4 3/4" OAL length and is 2 3/4" closed.


After 10 minutes with a bastard file. Originally, it has a 2" blade now the blade length is 1 3/4".

And after 5 minutes with a carpenter's sharpening stone. It is sharp at this stage and would be sharp enough if this is just a utility knife but it is not quite sharp enough for wood work. It has to undergo honing with a finer grit stone and leather stropped. The knife must be cleaned too as you can see it is rusty.

You can buy a knife like this at Amazon (Old Timer 18OT Mighty Mite 2 3/4") for $13.25 and free shipping. But the new ones are made in China. It is not that I have issue with China made knives but this one is a vintage knife and made in the USA.

That's all folks! Thanks for reading.

Sunday, December 20, 2015

Tadpoles

I remember my younger days in my hometown back in the Philippines when I was still in elementary. Our house is about half a kilometer away from the school and I used to walk that distance with my friends. Walking to school was never a tiresome task as adventure of some sort is always waiting along the way. Fruits are in abundance such as guava, cashew, duhat, camachile, siniguelas whatever is in season and the owner would not mind you taking some as long as you ask for permission first. Of course sometimes we don't ask permission and we would scamper as fast as we can when the owner comes out shouting invectives at us.

On our way home in the afternoon, my friends and I would stop by the town plaza and catch grasshoppers in the grassy area of the plaza or play at the monument of Rizal or Bonifacio. Come to think of it, all plazas I have been to always have a Rizal and Bonifacio monument.



Even the weather fails to dampen our spirit. During rainy days, we would play at the puddles that formed on the road splashing water at each other with our feet. Other times we would play with the tadpoles. There are lots of them in puddles during the rainy season. They look like a moving solid black mass when the puddles are drying up. Meron pa kayang butete sa mga probinsiya?

That's all folks! Thanks for reading.

Thursday, November 19, 2015

Kylo Ren

The latest request from my grandson is to make him a Kylo Ren wood figure. Being a doting grandfather that I am, I grabbed my whittling knife and a piece of basswood and went to work. And here's the result.




My grandson enjoyed playing with Kylo Ren. I had a lot of fun making it.

That's all folks! Thanks for reading.

Sunday, March 1, 2015

Don't Cut Yourself

Accidents are bound to happen especially when you don't take precautions. The knife (Schrade 34OT) slipped and cut the side of my thumb. I was whittling at around 3:00 am and maybe I was sleepy. You need 100% concentration when doing this thing.


My first whittling cut.


Lesson learned the hard way. Always wear your carving gloves.

That's all folks! Thanks for reading.

Fish

Twice I bought my grandson a fish for his small aquarium and both of them died. So I thought I just made him a wooden fish. He liked it very much.


I used a piece of basswood for this one.

That's all folks! Thanks for reading.

Wednesday, February 18, 2015

Snowman

Every winter for the past 4 years I made my grandson a snowman in the backyard. This winter I am not able to make him one since my wife and I have move out and just rent an apartment nearby my daughter's house. Instead, I made my grandson a wooden snowman which I hope he will like just the same.


This snowman is made from a tree branch. I used an x-acto knife to carve this figure.

That's all folks! Thanks for reading.

Saturday, February 7, 2015

Wood Chain

Wooden chains are one of the fun and simple trick project of old timer whittling and are also called whimsies. I thought it was an easy project, much easier than the ball in a cage but it is not, at least for me. It took me 6 hours to finish this simple 3 link wood chain. There should have been 4 links but I broke one link when I forced to free it due to lack of patience.


3 link wooden chain and Schrade 108OT.

That's all folks! Thanks for reading.

Thursday, January 29, 2015

Ball in Cage - Getting Complicated

This is my second Ball in Cage whittling or carving, whatever you may call it. It's a little bit harder that a 1 ball in a cage but I know I can do even a 3 ball in cage. That I gonna surely do soon.


I used a 1" x 4" block of pinewood and a small Schrade Old Timer Stockman knife.

That's all folks! Thanks for reading.

Thursday, January 8, 2015

Ball in a Cage

I have been wanting to do this whittling classic by Dr. Terry M. Tier but never gotten around it maybe because of my inherent laziness or lack of strong motivationt or both, but when I happen to find an suitable wood material at Home Depot, I decided to give it a go.


I used a 1" x 1" x 4" white pine square dowel and a Rough Rider 3 bladed pocket knife.


All the blades of the pocket knife are profiled and honed for woodcarving or whittling.


Almost there. This whittling project will test your knife skills and patience.


Done. The ball is not as round as I want it to be but for a first try, I think I did alright.


Try it, just use a pocket knife. No cheating!

That's all folks! Thanks for reading.

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Kid's Stuff - Part II

My daughter saw the spikketrollets and ask me to make bigger ones.


Luckily, I still have a bigger branch left over from rehandling my saw.


I made 2 spikketrollets, a father and a mother.




Here they are, a family.

That's all folks! Thanks for reading.

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Kid's Stuff

I got this project from www.spikk.no and its a good woodcarving practice for children. Children who want to do this must seek guidance from adults on the proper use of knives. Use protection like gloves and always be very careful.

This is all about making a spikketrollets or simply troll. I've got lots of them. I enjoy making them and I hope you will too.


Materials and Tools:
1. tree branch - must be fresh else it will not be easy to whittle and the bark might separate from the wood in the process of making the troll.
2. knife
3. sharpie - for drawing the eyes and mouth.
4. oil-based paint or watercolor
5. brush


First, make the hat. The hat is just like Santa Claus' except that it is standing and not floppy. It just like sharpening a pencil.


Then make the face. The face is flat and is made by removing the bark and a little wood. Remove also the bark at the back and at the sides of the face. Using a saw, cut the troll to the desired height.


Paint the hat with oil-based paint or water color.


Draw the eyes and mouth using a pentel pen or sharpie.


The 2 new member of my spikketrollets collection.


My other spikketrollets. Happy woodcarving everybody!

P.S.
You can hang them on your Christmas Tree.

That's all folks! Thanks for reading.