Carve along for a walking stick

[madcrow]

I thought i would post some pics of the process for carving a walking stick.  I can't show you every cut I make, because the would be a thousand pics or so and very time consuming.  First off is the tools.  I have a couple of knives that I use and I guess an enhanced set of Flex Cut carving tools.  I learned the hard way, leave the cheap sets from the flea market alone.  I have spent a lot of time working on them.  They are cheap and wont hold an edge.  The tools I have are sharpened to around 15 degrees and stay honed.  This is one of those hobbies where a dull tool will send you to ER if you're not care.  Not pictured is my cut proof kevlar glove.  It is awkward to use at first, but it will save your hands.



The wood you use is totally up to you, but the harder the wood, the harder it will be to carve.  Mostly I work with Sourwood, Maple, and Poplar.  Green wood can be carved, but you need to be quick and seal it as soon as you get dome, or it will crack.  For the most part, all of mine is dry.  This stick will be a mountain man, so I find the center of the face and mark it, then just rough sketch the face and hat.  This is just to see how big I want it, and to work around knots in the wood.



The first cuts are with a small gouge around the nose and across the eyes.  These will go deeper a little later.



If you don't go deep enough, the nose will look flat.



I will post more this evening, it's time to go to work now.

[Fred Arnold]

I'll be watching this one closely.

[Knoll]

This'll be another fun read.  Thanks for taking time to share!

[Adam]

Oh yeah!  This is going to be cool!  Thanks for doing a carve along.

[madcrow]

You're welcome.  I forgot to mention the deep cuts above the head and below the beard.  These are to make the whole face stand out more.    Next I use a knife to remove some of the wood from the cheek areas and then go deeper with the eyes and around the nose.  I use a couple different sizes of gouges to remove the wood, a wider one for the eyes and a narrow deeper cutting one for the nose area, that way there will be some cheek left to work with.  One other thing, I usually leave the beards longer and free flowing, but I cut this one short to do something a bit different.

[madcrow]

i forgot to take a pic, but on the last step I use a small gouge to remove wood on the sides of the eyes, to leave a rounded hump where the eyeballs will be.  Then I use the v gouge to shape the eyelids, and one of the knives to rough in the nose.  Once these two things are done, the hard part is over.  I also use a wide gouge in the temple area and below the cheek bones to give the face some shape.

[madcrow]

OK, it is time to work on the hat some.  The possibilities are endless, but for this one I want a matted wool look instead of the usual fur hat.  Where the bill will be, I make a stop cut at the top and bottom.  That it just a cut straight into the wood, which will stop the cuts in the very near future from going any further into the wood.



Here is a side shot, I have started cutting in from the bottom line, toward the top line at probably a 40 degree angle.  This will give the bill some slant.

[madcrow]

Most of these cuts are done with a regular knife.  Once the bill starts taking shape, the little spot where the eyebrows are needs to be trimmed and the top of the hat needs to be rounded some so that it don't look like a block head.  I also redraw the feather and do a stop cut around it.

[madcrow]

One other thing you can do to add some detail is to trim out the nostrils some.  You don't have to dig for gold to get the effect of a hole, just take a little out.



Then I work on his shirt detail a bit more and add some fringe.



The trick with the fringe is to give it some shape, if you try to cut it in flat, it looks, well, flat.

[Stoker]

Very cool.. Thanks for sharing.. Be following closely
Thanks Leroy

[PEARL DRUMS]

You make it look so easy.

[Knoll]

You make it look so easy.

:thumbsup:

[madcrow]

Thanks guys.  Now I start whittling down the bottom edge of the beard to get rid of the block head look.  It is closer to being done than you think.  Once it is whittled down, I used a small gouge to take out some deep, smooth flowing spots in the beard.  It don't take many.  Once that is done, I hone the v tool and start cutting in the hair.  On larger pieces I can get really creative on this part, but on this short beard, i just put a little wave in it.





Now for the matted wool hat.  Any type of hat from the era will work, but I like this type.  for this, I left my normal carving tool alone and broke out the dremel and a round cutting burr.  I have a couple of veiners that would work, but they are tiny and dull easily, and I didn't want to spend a bunch of time honing them.  I did use one of the small veiners to cut in the pupils to give the eyes a bit of life.

[madcrow]

DEEEEE DAAAAAA.  A little clean up and some shiny stuff and it is done.  I give the face and hat a very light sanding, just to soften the edges.  Usually with 180 grit, you want it smooth, but you don't want to sand away all of your work.  With the tru oil, I use a cheap small paint brush to get in all the tight spots wrinkles, and around the eyes.  The rest of the stick is rubbed on by hand, many light layers so it doesn't run.

[Aaron H]

very cool