More roughing-out on the trout

I took off most of the wood on the sides of the fish. I've made the tail curve out slightly to the fish's left. If you're wondering why the dorsal fin on the top is not centred, it's because my piece of basswood is narrower than the original trout I am copying, so I'm effectively leaving off part of the right side of it's body. I plan to mount that side of the carving onto a board of some kind, so the missing "slice" isn't so important.

Tools used on the trout

I finished the outer profile of the trout. Here are the main tools I used to rough it out so far: Warren knife, Mike Shipley knife, Allen Goodman knife, Helvie knife, large chizel, try-square, pencil, rasp, coping saw, Flexcut carving jack, Kirschen (Two Cherries) gouge, Pfeil (Swiss Made) V-tool, leather strop and Flexcut stropping compound.

The Trout - First Step

My step-father asked me to carve him a trout. Mind you that was last year, but better late than never. I bought a trout from a fish supplier and I traced the outline onto paper. Then I used carbon paper to transfer the outline onto a block of basswood. I don't have a band-saw, but I used a Mike Shipley knife, an Allen Goodman knife, a Flexcut carving jack, a small gouge, a flat chizel, a large rasp and a coping saw to bring the wood down to the outline so far. I have been doing spot-checks with a try-square to see if there are any large bumps or slants that need to be corrected. In this picture you can see at the bottom that I'm not quite there yet. My wife has been very patient so far about the wood-chips that are still found around the sitting room the next morning after each bit of carving.

Egg-cup

I whittled this egg-cup together from some scrap basswood over a couple of evenings while watching TV. (My wife Frances had custody of the remote control of course.) I used a couple of knives and a Flexcut carving jack. It's finished off with a few coats of sanding sealer (shellac and alcohol), which actually took me longer than the carving itself. The egg is real and was kindly given to me by Colm, a colleague at work who keeps chickens at home.

Duck Completed

Here are some photos of the duck before I sent it to my stepsister for Christmas 2010.

Duck in Progress

Working on a duck for my stepsister. It's going reeeeally slowly. It's an old piece of lime wood from the same block as the coffee spoon. Tools used: Knives, gouges, you name it.

Coffee Spoon

Whittled away at a piece of waste lime wood with a knife and a small gouge with a curved shaft. The wood was already turning a nice colour with age. Finished it with shellac sanding sealer and some floor wax.

Barn Owl

I have many projects on the go, but now I have finally finished something. This is a stylised barn owl that we did in carving classes in 2009 and I finally got around to finishing it off last week. The design is based on the article Barnstormer in issue 98 of Wood Carving magazine (the English one, not WCI). My model is made of basswood. I had originally coated it in diluted satin quick-drying varnish, but I reckon that made it look too grey, so I have now finished it off with 3 coats of shellac sanding sealer. That gives it a warmer colour.

My First Carving

I started carving in September 2008 by taking up wood carving classes in the evenings in the local Crescent College Comprehensive school. Our teacher, Barry, started most of us on a crucifix. Still haven't finished it, but here is some of the detail. It's carved from lime wood using gouges. When it came to the face, I needed something pretty small, so I took a tiny screwdriver and ground down the tip into a gouge-like bevel. That let me chip away by tiny cuts and scrapes.

Ball in a Cage

I carved this with a knife from pine wood. I got a little help from a small flat chisel when I was tackling the end grain on the ball. I varnished with diluted satin varnish to hold the end grain and fibres in place, then I sanded, progressing from 80 to 360, to make it feel nice and smooth.