# Free hand wood carving.



## woodspirit

I've been fascinated with some of the projects shown in this section, they're really professional. I do a bit of wood carving using green sections of log from trees I cut down in the yard. If y'all promise not to laugh at my somewhat amateur efforts I'll post a few pics later on.


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## Tortuga

Post 'em up, WS... Guarantee NONE of us can laugh....

We all got our own..*"Whoops !!! Boxes"*...chuck full of projects that didn't go quite as intended...:biggrin:


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## JS Fog

I can tell you that I just started wood working 2 weeks ago and have posted several things. Everyone has been very supportive.


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## woodspirit

Thanks for the encouragement you guys. As this is my first thread on this MB I was a tad reticent about posting pics of my efforts given the levels of professionalism on display here.

But here goes..... This first one was done from a half log from a Gum tree.










This one was from a piece of Cedar when I was trying to get kinda arty.










For those of you that are keen on fishing there's this one....










These three stacked on top of each other stand guard at the back door...










I have some others that I'll put up in few days.


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## pg542

Very very nice work Woodspirit (good handle). You have NO reason to be apprehensive about showing your stuff! Beautiful work. Welcome to 2cool and post up some more. I can assure you, the regulars on this board are some good friendly people. Keep'em comin......My "whoops"box is (good one Tortuga)......Well, let's just say my box runneth over.....


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## WildThings

Man oh Man did he set us up - Awesome Work WS


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## reeltimer

x2 nice work indeed.


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## JS Fog

I agree we were set up. That is all very very nice.


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## therealbigman

WildThings said:


> Man oh Man did he set us up - Awesome Work WS





reeltimer said:


> x2 nice work indeed.





JS Fog said:


> I agree we were set up. That is all very very nice.


Yep , Yep , and Yep,

WS ,Very cool ,and looking forward to some more of your Carvings .


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## woodspirit

LOL... Thanks for all the kind words you guys. It was never my intention to 'set' anyone up. As my little wifey says.... "You're your own worst critic." I suppose she's right, but to me it's just something to do in the shop during the winter when it's to cold, wet or miserable to do anything else outside.


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## Be Young

Great job!!


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## bill

I like them. Wood spirits on walking sticks are cool


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## woodspirit

Cheers BY, much appreciated.



> I like them. Wood spirits on walking sticks are cool


Thanks Bill. I like the wood spirit carvings as well. I tried to do one at one time, but I wasn't good enough to get it looking like I'd have liked it to be. In fact I tried more than once to do one and could never ever get it quite right.

One of my efforts at a wood spirit type was this one which is screwed on to the 2X4 holding the bird drinking water container.


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## Pasadena1944

My dad was a master wood carver and you are too....


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## RC's Mom

Pasadena1944 said:


> My dad was a master wood carver and you are too....


THIS is a huge compliment!



woodspirit said:


> Thanks for the encouragement you guys. As this is my first thread on this MB I was a tad reticent about posting pics of my efforts given the levels of professionalism on display here.
> 
> I have some others that I'll put up in few days.


You have a talent, don't be shy with these guys, they are the best and the friendliest and I bet they are all saying WOW about now. Great work!

Darlene


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## Viking48

Laugh?? I'm green with envy. Wish I had talent like that. Great work.


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## woodspirit

Pasadena1944 said:


> My dad was a master wood carver and you are too....


WOW.... That's the nicest thing anyone ever said about my work. Thank you.

Now I'm hoping this winter is really bad so I can get in to the shop and do some more.:smile:


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## woodspirit

> You have a talent, don't be shy with these guys, they are the best and the friendliest and I bet they are all saying WOW about now. Great work!
> 
> Darlene


Thanks Darlene, very nice of you to say so. I have to agree with you about the people here being the best.

So I got the confidence to post a couple more of my efforts.

This one is done from a half log of Tulip Poplar.....










This one was from a branch off of a Sweet gum....










And this one, if memory serves was also done from a Sweet gum log. Wifey calls this one.... The scarey looking dude. LOL.










I don't always do heads and have tried my hand at other things. I'll get around to taking a few pics and post them.


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## WildThings

Hey WS how big are those carvings? Like "scarey looking dude"

WT


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## Slip

Dang, I like them. Very nice work.


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## Slim-N-None

Well if they are free, ill take a couple to put on the entertainment center.:wink: If I had a quarter of the skill most of the guys on here have, I would be spending time posting pics and not wondering how in the world yall do what yall do... Very impressive work.


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## woodspirit

WildThings said:


> Hey WS how big are those carvings? Like "scarey looking dude"
> 
> WT


The scarey dude is approx 21 inches in height same as the other one with the hat on. The smaller one with what looks like a bell on it's head is about 16 inches high. So they're quite big and in most cases quite heavy too.


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## woodspirit

Slim-N-None said:


> Well if they are free, ill take a couple to put on the entertainment center.:wink: If I had a quarter of the skill most of the guys on here have, I would be spending time posting pics and not wondering how in the world yall do what yall do... Very impressive work.


LOL.... Sorry S-N-N no freebies here.:smile: Gotta agree with your comment about the skills shown here, there's some wonderful looking stuff produced by the guys in this section.

Cheers Slip Knot... I likes them as well.


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## woodspirit

Well.... Taking the hint from S-N-N about posting pics here's another of my efforts, but first a little story.

I was doing a little project around the house and was left with a piece of 1/2 inch ply that lay around the shop for a while. One day I looked at it and wondered what I might do with it when a little light popped in my brain.

This is the result....



















The effect was gotten by cutting out a central shape from a template I made then adding ever decreasing sizes of pads of ply gluedwith construction adhesive to both sides until a rough shape was got. Then using a rough rasp the shaping took place. The stand was made using the same ply. I think the layers of ply add a different dimension to the finish.


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## Reel Time

Slim-N-None said:


> Well if they are free, ill take a couple to put on the entertainment center.:wink: If I had a quarter of the skill most of the guys on here have, I would be spending time posting pics and not wondering how in the world yall do what yall do... Very impressive work.


I think he meant *free-hand *carving not *free hand* carving. LOL!
I thought the same thing at first!

To the OP, I think you have great talent. Please keep posting more pics.


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## Slim-N-None

Reel Time said:


> I think he meant *free-hand *carving not *free hand* carving. LOL!
> I thought the same thing at first!


Guess I shoulda put a lol or j/k instead of the :wink:. haha.:rotfl:


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## lady linda

All very nice. Thanks for posting the great pictures.


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## woodspirit

Slim-N-None said:


> Guess I shoulda put a lol or j/k instead of the :wink:. haha.:rotfl:


Well DUH!!! I can't believe I missed that.sad3sm:smile:


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## woodspirit

lady linda said:


> All very nice. Thanks for posting the great pictures.


Thank you Lady L, and you're welcome.

Following on from the plywood fish in the pic above I decided to try something in plywood again. I couldn't think of anything, but the wifey came up with an idea that I thought was interesting if only for the working out and cutting of the angles involved.

So this eight sided doo dad came in to being.....










This is what it's designed to be used for....










Yep.... A toilet roll holder.

Did ya guess from the pics that I took the shots in the bathroom? :smile:


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## Slip

Yep, I figured it out on first photo on TP holder. Great idea!


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## JS Fog

WOW! Multi-talented, and it all looks great.


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## woodspirit

JS Fog said:


> WOW! Multi-talented, and it all looks great.


Thank you Mr Fog. I love playing about with wood, but I guess you might have worked that out already huh? There's something about disappearing in to the shop for hours on end and appearing again with something that I've made myself with my own hands that appeals to me.

Little wifey rolls her eyes and looks to the heavens when I come indoors with my next latest 'creation' cos she keeps them all on display and has to keep making room for the latest addition. She's very good at it though.

If y'all aren't to fed up with seeing my pics I have a few more bits I can photograph to add to the thread.


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## FINNFOWLER

Very nice work!


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## Tortuga

woodspirit said:


> .
> 
> If y'all aren't to fed up with seeing my pics I have a few more bits I can photograph to add to the thread.


Please do, Woody.. We are all enjoying them.. I know what you mean about 'disappearing' into the shop...:rotfl:


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## gator409

man you do wonderful work. i have been in Branson Mo. working at silver dollar city, you could stand with any of the wood carers there. fact i picked up a carving set and wood to take back tomorrow. going to make a wood chain around the chuckwagon. my first attempt at carving. one day hope to do as well as you


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## woodspirit

Cheers Mr Gator. I like the idea of doing a wood chain, good luck with it. Pics of the project as it moves along would a treat to see. Are the links going to be moveable and what wood have you chosen to use for the project? 

Some day I'll get me a set of wood carving chisels as at the moment everything I carve is done with a set of Stanley bevel edge wood chisels from 1/4" to 1 and 1/2", those along with a set of 'el cheapo' wood picks and a craft knife seems to cover most of my needs right now. Although I think the right set of tools might allow me to do my work quicker and easier.

Having said that, there's lots of equipment I'd like to have. Take for instance the toilet roll holder I made.... I don't have a bench saw to cut the strips and angles and had to make and set up a jig to ennable me to use my hand saw to get what I needed. I don't have a lathe either so the lid and base of it were hand cut and shaped. the only thing I didn't make by hand on it was the knob on top which is a cut down mushroom shaped doo dad I got in a pack from somewhere.


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## woodspirit

Tortuga said:


> Please do, Woody.. We are all enjoying them.. I know what you mean about 'disappearing' into the shop...:rotfl:


Yeah... It's all about peace and quiet for the mind, never mind how much hammering and banging you're doing in there.:wink:


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## woodspirit

OK... I got out of the recliner and went outside to get this pic of another one I did. It's set up as a side table in a sitting area in the yard. It was painted over with a gasoline and oil mix about two years ago and from the look of it needs doing again.:headknock










The top of it is a square (2ft X 2ft) concrete slab which I cut with a diamond blade to make in to an octagonal shape to help hold it down in rough weather.


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## Tortuga

Truly a man who "thinks outside of the box"....:cheers:

"Gasoline and Oil" ???? Hmmmm ???.. I've used a couple of dozen finishes on wood in my days on this rock..but I never woulda thunk that one up...:rotfl:


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## woodspirit

Tortuga;
"Gasoline and Oil" ???? Hmmmm ???.. I've used a couple of dozen finishes on wood in my days on this rock..but I never woulda thunk that one up...:rotfl:[/QUOTE said:


> Yeah... The poor man's 'Creosote.'
> 
> I keep some of the old dirty black oil from vehicle oil changes and mix it 50/50 with gas in small quantities to paint over external lumber. It stinks to high heaven when first applied and has the capacity to slightly 'burn' the leaves of tender plants close to the fumes, but it soaks in deep and works great at keeping termites and other wood boring bugs out of the lumber.
> 
> That table has stood in that position for nearly two years now without a sign of bug damage anywhere on it at all. If I want to keep it that way it's about time for another coat.


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## woodspirit

I thought I'd throw this one in just... Well just because. LOL.

Last year I think it was I was watching one of those home makeover shows on the TV when the presenter/designer started to talk about how much he liked organic eclectic ornaments. I recall thinking... what the heck does that mean?

He pulled out a lump of polished wood, set it on a table and oohed and aahed over it. I turned to wifey and told her I think i'm gonna do something organic and eclectic.

"Go for it" she said, cos she's very supportive ya know.. This was the result....










Ta Daaa... A shaped and polished lump of wood which by the presenters definition would actually be organic and eclectic.. but, I know it was a rough old Cedar log when it started out.


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## DA REEL DADDY

Wow, those are real nice!


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