Project Information
Here are a few critters I made that I'm going to be giving as little gifts.
It started with a whim; I watched a video of a guy cut out a bandsaw deer in about a minute one day at work; figured I could give it a try. I saw a few variations of the deer; the one I chose usually doesn't have leg/antler cutouts, but I added them.
I figured making one would be a quick and easy Christmas decoration I could whip up. I have plenty of scrap 2×4 sitting around.
My wife ended up liking it so much that she thought one would make a nice gift, and she asked if I could make a Kerry Blue Terrier as well (we have one, as does one of her sisters), also as a gift. Of course she like that so much she wanted me to make one as an ornament for us. Long story short I ended up making 2 reindeer and 2 terriers.
All of 'em were filed and sanded until I couldn't stand it anymore. Mostly hand sanding as the power tools were pretty limited due to the curves and tight spots.
The reindeer are made from scrap 2×4's. The finish on them is a few coats of dark walnut watco oil and some beeswax.
The Kerry blue terriers are made from some very old southern pine 2×10's that were in the basement (probably original to the house, circa 1960's). The wood is nothing like modern construction lumber, it is hard and heavy, more like maple than pine. I ebonized the pine as much as I could with iron acetate and tea. After ebonizing I finished with dark walnut watco oil and beeswax.
I love how the dogs turned out. The finish looks very complex, with a little reddish dye it would make a decent poor mans rosewood. I was able to get them super smooth. Definitely opened my eyes to southern yellow pine as a useful wood for woodworking; its pretty much a hardwood in every respect and looks great.
It started with a whim; I watched a video of a guy cut out a bandsaw deer in about a minute one day at work; figured I could give it a try. I saw a few variations of the deer; the one I chose usually doesn't have leg/antler cutouts, but I added them.
I figured making one would be a quick and easy Christmas decoration I could whip up. I have plenty of scrap 2×4 sitting around.
My wife ended up liking it so much that she thought one would make a nice gift, and she asked if I could make a Kerry Blue Terrier as well (we have one, as does one of her sisters), also as a gift. Of course she like that so much she wanted me to make one as an ornament for us. Long story short I ended up making 2 reindeer and 2 terriers.
All of 'em were filed and sanded until I couldn't stand it anymore. Mostly hand sanding as the power tools were pretty limited due to the curves and tight spots.
The reindeer are made from scrap 2×4's. The finish on them is a few coats of dark walnut watco oil and some beeswax.
The Kerry blue terriers are made from some very old southern pine 2×10's that were in the basement (probably original to the house, circa 1960's). The wood is nothing like modern construction lumber, it is hard and heavy, more like maple than pine. I ebonized the pine as much as I could with iron acetate and tea. After ebonizing I finished with dark walnut watco oil and beeswax.
I love how the dogs turned out. The finish looks very complex, with a little reddish dye it would make a decent poor mans rosewood. I was able to get them super smooth. Definitely opened my eyes to southern yellow pine as a useful wood for woodworking; its pretty much a hardwood in every respect and looks great.