Carving tips! #1: What a carving looks like before, & after applying the finish!

Quite a difference Dick. A very neat carving, you used the stain to bring out the depth of the of the carving. In fact it jumps off the wood plaque. Pretty cool. mike

-- Mike. Profisher50@yahoo.com

Dick…..... FANTASTIC CARVING ! I love it. You are absolutely right about the finish. I have lost many awards because my finish was glossy…. then I went to semi-gloss. I used that for many years. Some of the carvings in my gallery has semi-gloss and some have matte finish. As a carver you can tell for looking at them which are which. Another main reason I went to matte is when finishing with semi-gloss any place I had some of the end grain showing, the finish would have more of a matte look. When finishing with matte now I get the same results all over the carving. .... You have to watch, the only TRUE matte look I have found is the brand name DEFT OR DEFT-THANE. I have tried Olympic, Hellmans, and the Acrylic ones and they all seem to be somewhere between semi-gloss and matte. I have found nothing but Deft to be true Matte finish. It is hard for me to find though, so when I do find it I buy 3 or 4 cans at a time. (I use the spray). Some carvings look better with the semi-gloss…...(like my life-size canada geese)., and a few others. (You will know what to use when you get to making that decision). You probably already know all this stuff though.
Have you ever visited the Dover Museum in Dover Ohio? Ernest Warther carved the evolution of the train as well as the Mill where he worked for many years when he was younger. Everything is animated. None of it ever has to be oiled as he used a special wood from Africa or someplace like that, that has it’s own oily substance within itself. The mill is set up on a mirror so the public can see all the gears that were also carved for the animation.
Sorry to take so much of your time…. but I think this is worth while information.

DAVE

-- Dave Leitem,Butler,Pa.,http://dlcarver.etsy.com

Mike, Thank you Buddy.

Thanks Dave, You don’t have to be sorry, it must have taken you longer to type, than myself to read.

Besides there are other LJs that can learn something too, besides myself.

Good information for all, so they won’t have to learn the hard way, like we did.

Thanks for the info about other places to see.

My favorite carver is Fred Cogelow, from Minnesota. A short video.

-- Dick Cain, Hibbing, MN. http://www.woodcarvingillustrated.com/gallery/member.php?uid=3627&protype=1

Great job Dick. The stain and lighting make all the difference in the world for pictures.
I bet it looks great in person.

-- Gary, East TX -- The longest journey begins with a single step.

Thanks Dick. I would love to do that one day but I don’t have your carving skills. Excellent work.

-- Grumpy - "Always look on the bright side of life"- Monty Python

Quite a carving there, Dick. good work

-- Thos. Angle, Owyhee Design, Oregon

Dick that’s a great carving. Interesting about the difference between matte and gloss finishes. Learned something new.

Thanks

-- Betsy - There is no strength where there is no struggle

Dick,

Thanks for the blog. I would never in my wildest dreams attempt to carve but I do enjoy seeing this talent expressed by those to whom it been given. The explanation about the staining and finishing helped me understand the process. It is nice to learn something new.

This post represents the true spirit of what LJs is about.

Thanks.

-- With God's help all things are possible- even woodworking. Woodworking is not just a hobby, it is an (expletive deleted) expensive hobby.

Thanks Martin for widgets, I would have =mised this and it is really creative art at it’s best!

Thanks Dick for prodding my brain.
A work of art.

Bob

-- A mind, like a home, is furnished by its owner

That is one nice carving. Also a great blog. The use of finish and light source is very well documented.

-- Brian's Table Top Toys http://home.mountaincable.net/~bgraham/

I sure wish my boss would fire me so I could spend the time in the shop instead of moving paper around :)

How long did it take to carve? It seems that in most projects the finishing is as important as the work itself. I am sure that is not news to most of you, but it is something I am learning as I read more here.

Thanks for posting

-- "so much to learn and so little time"..

Thanks for all the fine comments.

Now I’ll have to do some thinking about what to add to this series, to keep it going.

Just ask me any question, & I’ll try come up with an answer with whatever little knowledge that I have.

-- Dick Cain, Hibbing, MN. http://www.woodcarvingillustrated.com/gallery/member.php?uid=3627&protype=1

Dick, your talent is overflowing in this carving. Do u carve with something in front of you (like a photo or picture) or it is just immagination. Your experiments on staining will give lots of dividend in your future carvings. Waiting for your additions.
Sharad

-- patanjali

great tips.

nice use of the widget.

-- "Functional WoodArt" by Debbie, Canada (http://www.execulink.com/~yohan)

Sharad!

The copying machine is a great invention. You can scale a picture to fit any size piece of wood.

-- Dick Cain, Hibbing, MN. http://www.woodcarvingillustrated.com/gallery/member.php?uid=3627&protype=1

thank you for sharing your talents and tips on finishing

-- Dusty56@comcast.net

Thanks again for sage words of advice, Dick. It’s always better to capitalize on the words of a mentor than to have to flog around learning things the hard way (although those lessons have greater “sticking power”). That is one fine relief carving. Way harder than carving in the round.

-- "Bordnerizing" perfectly good lumber for over a decade.

Thanks Douglas, & also Dusty56!

I’ve always thought that carving in the round was harder, because you have to remove more would, but I guess

getting the proper perspective is a bit harder in relief carving.

-- Dick Cain, Hibbing, MN. http://www.woodcarvingillustrated.com/gallery/member.php?uid=3627&protype=1

terrific posting Dick, carving is spectacular ,,,

-- a legend in my own mind ...

Thank you Dan!

-- Dick Cain, Hibbing, MN. http://www.woodcarvingillustrated.com/gallery/member.php?uid=3627&protype=1

Dick, you have achieved something that a lot of relief carvers don’t, DEPTH!! You have given just the right carving in the right areas and used the light to its utmost. This is a great carving!!! Thanks for sharing!

-- " All Things At First Appear Difficult"

Impressive

-- http://www.furnituremann.ca/

Thank you Roger.

Coming from you is great compliment, you made my day.

Thank you Roman.

-- Dick Cain, Hibbing, MN. http://www.woodcarvingillustrated.com/gallery/member.php?uid=3627&protype=1