Darrell,I think it turned out great. Nicely done.Joe

Sent from my iPhone

On Jul 8, 2012, at 9:31 AM, Darrell & Kathy <larchmont@s...> wrote:

> Galoots,
>> I've been on vacation the past week. No oldtool acquisitions,
>> although
> I did hit a good flea market, and I did paw through some piles of
> tools, and seriously considered yet another brace, but excessive rust
> and a nudge from Kathy kept me from making a fool of myself in public
> by purchasing one brace too many. She did not, of course, keep me from
> making a fool of myself in all those other little ways I have ;^)
>> Arrived at the cottage to find that the small amount of so-
>> called lawn
> we maintain (more like domesticated weeds than actual lawn) was almost
> a metre high. I hauled out my scythe to mow down the tall grass and
> weeds around the property. Yes, we are way ahead of everyone else :^)
>> Apart from a bit of yard work and general maintenance (sanding,
>> painting,
> and staining) the only galoot-type fun I had was some carving. The
> Hydro crew cut down a fair sized cedar (10 inch diameter) last fall,
> and I had saved some bits of the trunk for what I hoped to be a Haida-
> style mask carving.
>> I took a piece about a foot long and split it in half, debarked, then
>> roughly
> hollowed out the back with a big gouge. I let this dry in the wood
> shed over winter and pulled it out last week. No checks or cracks had
> developed, so I planed the outer face to a reasonably clean surface to
> start carving. I've got a book with some mask and totem pole patterns
> and pictures, so I used one of those as my guide.
>> Before I left for vacation I selected some carving chisels and
>> honed them
> well. Or so I thought. They cut very clean and smooth cross-grain on
> some soft white pine I had in the shop. Then I tried applying them to
> this piece of cedar. OMG as the kids say in text-speak. I managed to
> find TWO tools t hat would cut this mush-wood without tearing it to
> shreds. One chip carving knife, and one shallow sweep (#3) 1/2 inch
> Henry Taylor gouge. I think I will stick to basswood and white pine
> for carving from now on. This cedar is awful stuff.
>> I spent a couple of hours to get this far. And I don't fancy doing
>> any more
> to it besides painting it in traditional colours. Not sure yet about
> the final shape, but Kathy thinks I should clean up the outside groove
> and cut to that line to end up with just the face. Sounds good to me.
>> http://galootcentral.com/components/cpgalbums/userpics/10074/100_466-
>> 4.JPG --> Darrell LaRue
> Oakville ON Wood Hoarder, Blade Sharpener, and Occasional Tool User
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