Table top

Extremely impressive work Roger!

-- Growing older but not up!

Your work is very nice. I can’t imagine the numbers of hours you have put into your craft to get this good.

Spectacular, Roger!

-- Charlie M. "Woodworking - patience = firewood"

Rog – this is exquisite.
The details are so FINE (in both sense of the word). Magnificent.

-- ~ Debbie, Canada (http://www.execulink.com/~yohan)

Very nice Roger, I think it’s more impressive as a wall hanging anyhow.

You sure have a great eye for design, & the carving skills along with it.

-- -** You are never to old to set another goal or to dream a new dream ****************** Dick, & Barb Cain, Hibbing, MN. http://www.woodcarvingillustrated.com/gallery/member.php?uid=3627&protype=1

Wow. There is a lot of detail there. Are you going to finish it as a table after the show or are you hoping to sell it? Very nice piece of art.

-- Brian, Lebanon PA, If you aren’t having fun doing it, find something else to do.

Amazing detail. I look forward to viewing the finished piece.

-- My favorite piece is my last one, my best piece is my next one.

WOW, Beautifull!!!

-- Dennis Zongker

Hi Roger;

This is absolutely incredible. You are truly a MASTER!

Lee

-- by Lee A. Jesberger http://www.prowoodworkingtips.com http://www.ezee-feed.com

Well done Roger, beautiful. I would hang it on the wall, it’s a piece of art. Would’nt get mared up that way either

-- Mike. mwurm13@yahoo.com

Dang! You LJ’s are just too much; I can’t even get out of my studio my heads that big now. Thank you for all the nice comments. I must have done something right with this design.

At this point I will leave it as a wall hanging and try and sell it at the carving show. If anyone is interested in buying it let me know, its first come first served. Keep in mind I have two categories of carvings. My every day ones which are top quality and then I have the show pieces which are as close to perfection as I can get. This is a show piece.

I have probably around 36-40 carving hours and another 20-25 hours of designing and drawing it on the wood. I’m not the quickest when it comes to getting a design right. Thanks again everyone!

-- " All Things At First Appear Difficult"

Roger Glad to see you around. I see you have been busy. Fantastic design and execution.

-- What happens in the workshop stays in the workshop. No wait that doesn't sound right. Karson Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com †

Beautiful as always!

-- http://www.woodsongsfurniture.com

Incredible design! You must have very sturdy hands (no caffeine rush) and incredible patience! I hope to try creating some furniture soon, but my technique will not be as intricate. Please keep us posted on your progress.

-- "They who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night." ~ Edgar Allan Poe

Very nice chip carving! A lot of work has gone into this piece. I’m sure you have sore fingers from pressing on the knife. Great work

-- ~ Inspiring those who inspire me ~

Wow, Incredible great workmanship.

Woody.

-- Woody, UK

Wow this is so beautiful. What incredible work you do. And yes please share the pics of the update. Personally I like the wall hanging idea better. But that’s just me. LOL
PEACE!!!

-- Allison, Northeastern Ca. Remember, Amateurs built the Ark. Professionals built the Titanic!

as a table top it would look like a lace tablecloth

-- ~ Debbie, Canada (http://www.execulink.com/~yohan)

Dang Roger! Truly dumbfoundingly incredibly awesome. Wow!

-- Carl Rast, Pelion, SC

Roger, magnificent once again. Can I ask? how did you get the background on the internal borders? A full size picture of the completed project would also be great.
Colin

-- Colin, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. "Every craftsman was once an amateur"

Absolutely beautiful. I’d be afraid to set anything on a table top like that.

-- Working at Woodworking www.VillageLaneFurniture.com

Colin, in both borders I stippled them. I used a center punch and made somewhere around 110,000 taps with it and it took around 6 hours to do. I can tell you this much I sure didn’t do this all at once.

Russel, if I were to use this as a table top I would lay a piece of glass on it for protection.

-- " All Things At First Appear Difficult"

Magnificent obsession! This is glorious. Good luck at the show.

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

Yippy! Finally finished with this one. I have a hard time telling if the piece what I am working on will be a pleasing to the eye but from what all you LJ’s are telling me this one worked. Thank you very much for such kind remarks! I just hope the judges at the Dayton carving show like it. These are the last of the pictures unless someone needs more.

-- " All Things At First Appear Difficult"

ooh Roger. This is even more wonderful than I first imagined.
Absolutely stunning. the “double triangles” (or whatever you call the design) in the last picture. extraordinary.

((bowing in your presence))

-- ~ Debbie, Canada (http://www.execulink.com/~yohan)

As good a carving as I have ever seen beautiful .I have a question to ask might seem silly though though I have some nice woodworking chisels I got from my sons over the years do they come ready to use or do they need further sharpenning.I ask because I tried and it seems to be reluctant to cut.I have sabols dvd and he makes it look easy maybe I am using the wrong wood but they just skate across the wood what am I doing wrong???I know how to sharpen them thats not the problem what do you think??Alistair

-- excuse my typing as I have a form of parkinsons disease

Any carving tools that I get I will go ahead and resharpen them to my standards. It sounds like there might be too much back bevel on the tools. Just a thought.

-- " All Things At First Appear Difficult"

Hi Roger;

Thanks for the heads up on your having finished this one.

Again, only a MASTER could have put both the amazing design ability and outstanding talent together in such a piece.

This is absolutely the finest quality carving I have ever seen, bar none.

The lines are so clean and crisp, not to mention the uniformity you have achieved, it’s just remarkable in every aspect!

My hats off to you Roger.

Lee

-- by Lee A. Jesberger http://www.prowoodworkingtips.com http://www.ezee-feed.com

Hi Roger, the crispness of your carving and your clean edges are just perfect. You mentioned in your reply to Scotsman that you sharpen your knives to your own standard.

I too sharpen my own knives but I don’t think that I get the same razor edge that you do.

I know that you have your Dayton carving show to prepare for and that you are busy just now. ( I shall be checking the Dayton show website to see how you get on)

However, I did wonder if I could prevail on you to produce a blog of your sharpening techniques, and also give a demonstration of how you do the double triangles, because although I have tried I’m not making a great job with my attempts. Particularly the inside triangle.

Good luck with the show, I am sure you will do really well.

many thanks once again

Colin

-- Colin, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. "Every craftsman was once an amateur"

Colin, what brand of chip carving knife do you use? The kind of knife can change how it is sharpened.

When making the bouble cut triangles I use a modified stab knife to help out, though I can make them with the chip knife I found it to be eaiser with my other one. You can see by the picture that my modified knife is sharpened like a chip knife and there is no flat end on it.

-- " All Things At First Appear Difficult"

Hello Roger, thanks for your prompt reply, I use two different makes of knives, one set made by Moor, although I find them a bit clumsy for small curves and dont use them much now, these knives have a small 10 degree bevel as described n Wayne Barton books.

My more favoured knives I use just now are by John Dunkle( as described in your booklet Ornament Patterns for Chip carvers ), these knives don’t have a bevel on the edge, they seem to be sharp to my eye and also by running my finger over the edge, however they still tear soft short grain instead of cutting crisply. Any advice on improving the cutting edge would be welcome, could it be that the basswood I am using is too soft?

For sharpening, I use a ceramic stone moving the knife forward and backward without lifting the knife off the stone, this is followed by using a leather strop with a cutting compound on the rougher side, finishing with a smooth leather finish for the final polish.

I can see how your modified stab knife works now, I shall have a go at shaping a similar one for myself, many thanks again for your time and advice which is greatly appreciated.

Colin

-- Colin, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. "Every craftsman was once an amateur"

For those that have followed this project and are interested at the Dayton woodcarving show, which is the third largest show in the world, there were 366 carvings entered in the competition and I was lucky enough to receive the Third Best of Show award. Thanks LJ’s for that little push to turn out quality pieces of art.

-- " All Things At First Appear Difficult"

Congratulations Roger, I have been checking the Dayton Carving show web site for the results but there not up yet. Third place is a great achievement at this show.

Colin

-- Colin, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. "Every craftsman was once an amateur"

Roger, this piece is amazing! You’ve got WAY more patience than I could ever have to make a piece like this.

-- Respect your shop tools and they will respect you - Ric