With the spoon bowl carved out with my Sorby gouge, the back face of the bowl is then shaped with a regular wood chisel. I still use my Marples wood chisels from 30 years ago and they keep a good keen edge after sharpening. With good quality tools it only takes one purchase to last a lifetime and although I have bought cheaper tools in the past I have totally regretted the fact. You may save a few bucks initially but after a few uses I have been totally dismayed with the performance, so from my point of view, buy the best you can afford even if it’s one at a time. Continue reading Detailing the Da Vinci Lovespoon
Yearly Archives: 2008
Lovespoon Carving Da Vinci Style
In the previous post I had talked about and worked out all the element placement and now I’m at the stage where I have attached the sketch to the wooden blank. In this particular instance I’m going to use birch as the wood of choice as it has the elasticity to absorb the constant pressure of carving in delicate areas without cracking. I know it will not be the easiest wood to carve as it tends to have a pliable feel when carving, in contrast to that crisp feel of cutting mahogany or maple. With birch it always seems to have a little resistance before the shaving starts to curl off the carving tool regardless of how sharp the blade is. It gives the impression that the tool is dull and you’re constantly checking for sharpness.
The first task in the development of any of my Lovespoons is to drill small pilot holes in all of the tight corners. This one procedure eliminates a lot of mishaps with the bandsaw, it reduces the chance of cutting into delicate parts of the design and adds a clean finish to the corners. For this design I used a couple of different size drill bits depending on the complexity of the area. For the heart I only needed a few holes so that the fret saw could be easily maneuvered around the inside of the shape, in contrast the rose needed many small holes to define the corners and present an easy way of controlling the fret saw.
As you can see from the design I have decided to remove material from both the inside of the heart and the inside of the cross making for a light delicate theme throughout. The spoon bowl has also been extended and like I said previously, by leaving these areas open it gave me the option to revisit them as the design formulated in my mind.
With all the pilot holes drilled, the next stage is to cut out the inner shape with a fret saw, for me I use a hand fret saw. The ease with which you can transfer from one area to the next is far easier than releasing the blade on a power fret saw and trying to relock without the blade snapping more than once during the course of cutting out the shape.
I will leave the outside intact until I have cut the inner shape first and by doing this it will eliminate crushing the delicate edges of the design and provide a sturdy grip in the vise. The one drawback from hand cutting is trying to keep the blade square to the line, this would be a problem if the carving was going to be one sided but in my case I always shape the back face as well. In one sided carving you would want the hole to be square through so that you would get the full benefit of the shape whereas I can resolve any issues when I shape the back face. The best way for a square edge in this case would be to use a power fret saw.
Cutting out the material for me always starts at the top, that way I have the majority of the spoon blank secured in the vise preventing any unwanted bending. I want the blade to be cutting with every stroke without the material flexing, that way I get a reasonably clean cutout. Continue reading Lovespoon Carving Da Vinci Style
Lovespoon Design Layout
In my previous post I had outlined all the elements that I thought would have the makings of a unique Welsh Lovespoon and now that I have placed the shapes onto paper I have decided to increased some of the dimensions so that it will flow a little better. As I said before I’ve left the heart and the cross intentionally open for further refinement until it is time to start cutting out the blank. This will give me plenty of opportunity to refine the design before cutting commences. Continue reading Lovespoon Design Layout
Da Vinci Code Lovespoon
While reading the Da Vinci Code novel by Dan Brown this summer I was thoroughly intrigued by the many layers that were going on at the same time together with the various elements that came into play and being curious I decided to take the time to research the internet to see if any references could be made to any of these particular instances. I knew that this novel had caused a stir amongst the religious sectors due to speculations and misrepresentations said to be portrayed throughout this novel but the impression was enough to seek further reading.
I had a notion that I could design a unique Lovespoon around some of these elements and I started off by first visiting the Wikipedia with a reference to the Priory of Sion. It was there that I found the official emblem of the Priory of Sion which incorporated a fleur-de-lis, intricate enough to make a great focal point for the start of my Lovespoon design.
The other strong elements that had been referenced during the reading was an equal sided cross and a five petal rose that was inlaid into the rosewood box that would encase the cryptex. These two prominent elements together with a heart would make for a strong design and are quite often primary elements in most traditional Lovespoons. Continue reading Da Vinci Code Lovespoon
Our Newfoundland Goes For Gold
The annual My Dog’s Face Contest has kicked off today in the Orange County Register and we thought why not submit Murphy our thirteen month old Newfoundland puppy. This little guy at 110lbs will slobber you like no tomorrow being the lean all swimming machine that he is. Visiting the dog beach at Huntington Beach with bumper in tow, that is the small type that floats and not the item that protects your vehicle, he will crash into the surf to retrieve it for hours on end. The only time he relaxes is to take a drink or visit with some passing canine that takes his fancy, then the fun begins with a race up the beach.
The year since we got him has passed in a flash with all sorts of peculiar happenings that we have never experienced before, like the time that his puppy teeth had to be knocked out with a hammer at the vets because they were so strong that the adult teeth were forming crooked. He was gnawing the wooden chair rails, he was gnawing the chair legs, he would shred dried queen palm fronds in minutes, we had large leg bones that he would splinter during his teething to try and relieve the pain and pressure and still they would not budge. In the vets own words, “I have never experienced this in all my years as a vet” but once out the adult teeth straightened up nicely and also saved our chairs. Continue reading Our Newfoundland Goes For Gold
The Beauty of Daffodils
I had been thinking of various designs for my next Welsh Lovespoon and what elements are held dearly to any person of Welsh decent. The Daffodil is the national flower of Wales and I had recently purchased a length of Basswood so this would give the ideal tones for the flowers that would adorn my next carving. I had decided to imaging a carving that had a staff with the spoon bowl at one end and a heart at the other. The daffodils would be placed along the staff and held on with a continual rope. The imagining of the design was the easy part but how would I carve this vision. Continue reading The Beauty of Daffodils
A Work Bench Saves Time
I’ve been contemplating a work bench of some description for a very long time but as everything goes, it always gets put aside or I just make do with the Workmate. Now I’m sure I’m not the only person who lags behind in this department, the project is always more important to get done regardless of the inconveniences at the time and of course it does get done but it could be easier.
In the past, I have always struggled to support the timber and when I’m in the process of planing any lumber I have to use the Workmate that I have. The construction of my particular model has been streamlined over the years for quick production compared to the original model that I had when I was living in England. The original was a cast aluminum frame if I remember correctly, compared to the stamped sheet metal that today offers, obviously a sign of the times with trying to turn a profit. The fixings are nylon and eventually get stripped from the worm gear from the constant tightening until the top is no longer held down, making clamping a hit and miss affair. This reduction in clamping capabilities adds more frustration to the job at hand, so now that I have a little spare lumber from the Jungle Fort project I can utilize this material for the base construction reducing the overall cost of the bench but first I have to decide what size the top will it be. Continue reading A Work Bench Saves Time
Jungle Fort, Annual Maintenance and Final Images
We have just started a new month, April, which is closing in on the anniversary of the start of the Jungle Fort project and as you all know it was only a couple of months ago that I actually completed the whole structure. During that period of time my children have grown to love all the activities that it has to offer, from the dressing up of the fort structure during the Christmas period with tinsel and garlands, to this Easter, with the hiding of Easter eggs.
The endless options that it has to offer far outweighs the amount of time that it took for me to construct, mind you little hands had a lot to play with the construction as well.
Helping with the ratcheting of the bolts, placement of the climbing wall rocks, bringing nails and screws to the construction site, it all brings back those memories that will last a lifetime. So now that it is finished, what’s next?
With any large construction project it is important to ensure that all bolts are kept tight and during the course of the construction the timbers have shrunk and expanded with the bolts loosening up to where they need to be cinched tight again. I had noticed that the swings had been slipping when in full flight with the tell-tale signs of wear around the hangers. I remember when I had tighted these bolts up initially and how difficult it was to wind them in to the full depth, probably because of the moisture content of the timber but now that it had dried out fully it was far easier to lock up tight again. Continue reading Jungle Fort, Annual Maintenance and Final Images
Home Made Cabinet Scraper
Way back in October of 2006 I wrote about the heavy Santa Ana winds felling one of the Californian Pepper trees at my place of work and how I would take a section of that timber and air dry it to use at a later date for a small project. Since then it has been drying for a period of fourteen months and I have split a section of that limb to be used in producing a cabinet scraper. This cabinet scraper design is from an article produced by Fine Woodworking and I thought it would be a small enough project to see how the grain of the timber would carve and how it would look when waxed and also it wouldn’t be too much of a loss if it didn’t pan out at the end of the day.
I had noticed during the drying process that the end of the log had started to split and by that time it was too late to think about coating the end to stop the quick evaporation. What I should have done in the first place was to coat both ends of the sawn log with some spare latex paint to even out the evaporation and this may have reduced the amount of cracking. I would estimate that the cracks had penetrated a full one inch into the log at this time. The project that I wanted to do called for a piece eleven inches long by three inches by two and a half inches which would be marginal with what I had to work with. With the hardness of the timber unknown to me I had decided to use a base made from one inch thick figured oak that had been lying around and I knew this material would give a base that would be hard and durable. Continue reading Home Made Cabinet Scraper
A Linking of Hearts
I’ve started up the Lovespoon carving again and I’m surprised how relaxing it is just to sit down during the lunch break and whittle away at a chunk of wood. The design that I stumbled upon was during the Valentine day week when I was thinking about what to get for my wife. I had a piece of mahogany that was six inches by two inches by one and a half inches and thought I would design a Lovespoon with two hearts staged one on top of the other. As the design evolved I thought I would split the hearts and carve the spoon bowl inside the heart shape and have the two halves joined together with a link. Continue reading A Linking of Hearts