Carving Practise

bonsaial1

I have been working too much and not enjoying the summer due to the excessive heat wave we have had lately. Since the heat wave we have had a few weeks in the high 90's and that is fine by me.

I decided to forgo mowing the lawn Sunday and practise a little carving. I had a piece of very old redwood. This piece of redwood is about 75 years old. It is from the Toluemne Saw Mill that ran during the turn of the century. This was part of a cache of wood that I recieved from my wifes uncle who worked in the mill during his teens. He is 88 years old now. The board measures 2" thick, 14" wide and 8' long.

I started by cutting off a 20" long portion. I decided that I would carve a bonsai table from a piece of redwood. Not only was the redwood old and rare, have a little sentimental value, but it is the perfect wood for displaying a tree from California on.

I set about carving out the bottom of the wood with a chain saw attachment on my 90 degree grinder. This is a wicked tool and removes wood super fast. It will also remove human flesh just as fast. I dished out the bottom about 1" deep, or half the thickness. I left some meat around the edges for the carving. I had no idea at this point what I was doing, and was starting to wonder if I had just wasted a beautiful piece of wood.

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I took a black marker and started tracing out a carving line around the edge. I left the wood aboit 3/8 thick around the carving area and would take the edge down after I had seen what the profile would look like.

I decided that the profile was pretty good and started to remove more wood from the upper portion. When I was satisfied with the top I began taking of all the wood from the bottom right up to the edge of the carving, making it paper thin.

At this point I was feeling like I might actually have something here. I took of more wood thinning the edges. When I was satisfied with the roughed out piece, I set about sanding it out. This was no small feat. I used sanding flaps, orbital sanders, belt sanders, drills with disks and wire brushes, any thing to help get the wood smooth in all those curves.

Then the elbow grease. Hand sanding!

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no.... really!

bonsaial1

More hand sanding! Sanding dust everywhere! Redwood dust, terrible for the lungs too!

Finally I was done.This project has only two coats of oil on the table. It will recieve more as time permits. I took this picture with a Urban yamadori pyracantha. This tree will under go a major carving in the winter also. Thats what the practise is for!

All comments appreciated, Regards, Al

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__________________
I been kidding the last seven years.
no.... really!

Bonsai Barry

You did justice to that venerable piece of timber. Looking forward to seeing what you can do to the firethorn.

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Bonsai Barry

"Our talent lies in our choices."

jeremy_norbury

Beautiful Al.

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I told you I was ill. Spike Milligan's Gravestone

David Yedwab

So, let's make this a little interesting. Al, great craftsmanship! Or is it art? Does a very skilled craftsman with a creative streak qualify as an artist or a craftsman? Should there even be a distinction? Have we been all arguing about something very obvious -- a skilled craftsman is an artist -- that's why they are called artisans.

Now, maybe no more "is it art or craft" arguements? What do you think?

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BrianBay9

David..... AAAAAAAGGGGggggggggghhhhhhhhh!!!!!
(sorry...just kidding - gorgeous stand Al)

lol
Brian

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There's a difference between taking your art seriously, and taking yourself too seriously.

JohnQuinn

The final result is great!
"Finally I was done..." sounds like an understatement! May I ask how many hours were invested before you reached that point?

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Carl_Bergstrom

What a beautiful stand, Al. I like it very much.

Definitely art, like it or not.

-Carl

(But why did you let Will Heath take the photograph? Yours are usually in focus...)