Progress on Mantle carving

[autobodyman]

Made some progress on the mantle carving, got about 10 hours in re-carving and sanding on this so far. At the rate I'm going I figure another 30 to 50 hours and I'll have it.
http://www.PhotoShare.co.nz/PhotoShareGallery1/100503/110019/MIKE13174626.jpg
Basically I've only gotton the first 4 horses legs finished and the mane and tail on the first 2.
http://www.PhotoShare.co.nz/PhotoShareGallery1/100503/110019/MIKE13225546.jpg
Since the board is so long, I figured I'd work on the bottom of everything first then flip the board over and work on the top.
http://www.PhotoShare.co.nz/PhotoShareGallery1/100503/110019/MIKE13193476.jpg
Gets a little confusing on which legs go with which horse (the front or back horses)
http://www.PhotoShare.co.nz/PhotoShareGallery1/100503/110019/MIKE1324996.jpg
What do you think so far?

Thanks ~Mike

[5twenty]

Outstanding. It looks like a lot of work but you'll have a piece that will be a treasure for a lifetime and longer. Great work.

I gather that you would rather buy a new Dremel than to change the bit.

[Rocky]

Made some progress on the mantle carving, got about 10 hours in re-carving and sanding on this so far. At the rate I'm going I figure another 30 to 50 hours and I'll have it.
http://www.PhotoShare.co.nz/PhotoShareGallery1/100503/110019/MIKE13174626.jpg
Basically I've only gotton the first 4 horses legs finished and the mane and tail on the first 2.
http://www.PhotoShare.co.nz/PhotoShareGallery1/100503/110019/MIKE13225546.jpg
Since the board is so long, I figured I'd work on the bottom of everything first then flip the board over and work on the top.
http://www.PhotoShare.co.nz/PhotoShareGallery1/100503/110019/MIKE13193476.jpg
Gets a little confusing on which legs go with which horse (the front or back horses)
http://www.PhotoShare.co.nz/PhotoShareGallery1/100503/110019/MIKE1324996.jpg
What do you think so far?

Thanks ~Mike



So far, so good...................VERY GOOD!

[PCW]

Mike

The detail is really looking good. I thought it was good the first time I saw it but the hand carving really makes a big difference to the project.

[fwharris]

Mike,

Looks like things are progressing along very well. Noticed that it looks like you have drawn in reference lines around the carvings. Are they for keeping you in line with the detail?

[autobodyman]

Outstanding. It looks like a lot of work but you'll have a piece that will be a treasure for a lifetime and longer. Great work.
Thank you.


I gather that you would rather buy a new Dremel than to change the bit.
;-) Yea, well you know, actually I have 6 of these Black'n'decker RTX's, and a TurboCarver and I still end up changing bits more often than I'd like. Any more dremils and I would have a tangled cord mess.

Thanks ~Mike

[autobodyman]

Mike,

Looks like things are progressing along very well. Noticed that it looks like you have drawn in reference lines around the carvings. Are they for keeping you in line with the detail?

Thanks. The details are very shallow and I could only see them with the light at a certain angle, so I drew the lines so I could see them better while I am re-carving stuff deeper.

Thank you. ~Mike

[autobodyman]

Mike

The detail is really looking good. I thought it was good the first time I saw it but the hand carving really makes a big difference to the project.

Thank you. The details are good but they were shallow right out of the carvewright (the pattern I used ). Where it's going to be over my fireplace probably won't have light coming down directly from above so I felt the deeper the carving the better. Also the machine is great but it can't undercut and it wouldn't match any of the other carvings I've done in my house ;-)

I'd like to scan this back into the CarveWright when I get it completed, I am wondering though if it would fit on the 8 meg card? I'm thinking in best mode it would give me an error I have gotton before on some large scans, "To much data".

Thanks ~Mike

[fishcarver]

Hi Mike, the stage looks awsome!!! where did you get the pattern?
carvings always look better under cut! cant wait to see it hanging up
Stacey

[Old Salt]

LOOKS GREAT!

This work aways is worth the time, whats a few more hrs in the total out come.

The old saying first class work just take a little longer.

Your,s show the many hrs it takes! 8)

[autobodyman]

Hi Mike, the stage looks awsome!!! where did you get the pattern?
carvings always look better under cut! cant wait to see it hanging up
Stacey

Stacey,
The patterns all came from the CarveWright pattern depot, I just combined them.
Thanks ~Mike

Quote:
Originally Posted by supershingler
could you share the depth and heights of the patterns that you used.

i went in the pattern store and found some for my project but i cant seem to get the depth that you accomplished.

also if the patten is additive or subtractive ot normal. i havent learned all of this stuff yet

any help appreciated

kendall

I can give links to the ones I used, I just searched carvewright pattern depot, searchs like Western, Trees, Mountain etc..
The mountain range one I laid out 4 times for the background, it requires some hand carving or sanding as it's not really designed right to be a repeated pattern. I just overlapped them a bit and set the depth to .75. I started with a carve region (rectangle) 8" x 54" set to a depth of .75. Then added the others on top stretched them to the size I wanted and adjusted their depths till it looked right to me. I laid out the board size in Designer at 12" x 54" x 1.5" but the actual board with the runners screwed on was 12" x 72" x 1.5" (runners were 1.5" x 2" carve board was 8" x 1.5") told it not to stay under rollers and to center, not to size board.

I can list the carve depths I used (I'd post the mpc file but I don't know if that embeds the copywrighted patterns? I don't want to get into any infringements.)

Mountain Range 1:
http://store.carvewright.com//search...=search&page=1
Depth .75 height 100 Merge styles all set to normal. Clip carving inclusive on the 2 outside ones, not the two inside ones.

Fir Trees 2:
http://store.carvewright.com//produc...0&cat=0&page=1
Depth .25 height 200
I used clip carving Inclusive for all the patterns that overlapped the carve region. (right click each pattern, choose clip carving, Inclusive)

Stage Coach:
http://store.carvewright.com/product...4&cat=0&page=4
Depth .35 height 125
I actually got this pattern quite a while ago from another place(cost more too $50 instead of carvewrights $30) and I edited the pattern to be deeper in the wheels and threw the windows so the mountain carving would show threw, in pattern editor. I imagine you could do some carve regions in designer or just recarve them deeper if you wanted.

Cowboy 2:
http://store.carvewright.com/product...9&cat=0&page=1
depth .45 height 125

Oak Tree:
http://store.carvewright.com/product...4&cat=0&page=1
small oak on left Depth .55 height 100, larger oak Depth .25 height 100

There was a pricklypear cactus too, but I don't remember where I got that one, I assume you'd want it to be a little different anyway, maybe use sorrel cactus instead of trees. Also when your done choose Edit, select all and set bit optimization to best.

Hope this helps. I'm new at this too, so your mileage may vary, this is only the 3rd carving I've done with the machine and the other two carvings were just rosettes I hand carved and scanned and then had it carve more out for me. I've had the machine almost 3 year but previously only scanned my "hand" carvings. Don't know if it matters I am using Designer version 1.126.

~Mike

[autobodyman]

LOOKS GREAT!

This work aways is worth the time, whats a few more hrs in the total out come.

The old saying first class work just take a little longer.

Your,s show the many hrs it takes! 8)

Yep, kind of how I figure it. A few extra hours for something I will be looking at the rest of my life doesn't seem like to much effort when you look at it that way.

Thank you. ~Mike

[fishcarver]

Hi mike, the undercutting and carving looks great as does all of your carvings!
heres a pic. of the stage couch i did a few years ago
Stacey

[autobodyman]

Hi mike, the undercutting and carving looks great as does all of your carvings!
heres a pic. of the stage couch i did a few years ago
Stacey
That looks really excellent but that stage coach looks a little different, 2 guys on the coach and the angle on the rear wheels is a little different, I like it. Where did you get the pattern?

The grass in front looks better than my mountain background with the floating horse legs.

That looks a lot like one I found on the net years ago before I got the CarveWright and I saved the picture so I could hand carve one similiar to it.
http://www.PhotoShare.co.nz/PhotoShareGallery1/100503/110019/Coach-Close-Up-700pixwhole6910_M.jpg
Since I had gotton the carvewright and found a similiar pattern I thought I'd go that way to save some hand carving time.

Thanks ~Mike

[fishcarver]

if you look close , its the logo for wells fargo, the pattern is a friend's of mine,
he owns lone peak carvings, the pic you have is a cnc rough out he bought from
LPC and finished the rough out on walnut (his name is joe cummings)
pretty wild i think! i would like do do another one some day. they are pretty cool
Stacey

[liquidguitars]

What do you think so far?

Amazing simply wonderful!

LG

[RayTrek]

Have to say that you work is inspiring to me and your projects are priceless.
Thanks very much for sharing your progress in detail with us.
Ray

[autobodyman]

Got a little bit more done, this chain I added is taking a bit of time, spent about 2 hours on it.
http://www.PhotoShare.co.nz/PhotoShareGallery1/100503/110019/Stage009996.jpg
Started on the last set of horses legs.
http://www.PhotoShare.co.nz/PhotoShareGallery1/100503/110019/Stage015718.jpg
Legs on the last set of horses are just roughed, still need to be sanded.
http://www.PhotoShare.co.nz/PhotoShareGallery1/100503/110019/Stage024524.jpg
I sanded the chain some, from the looks of this picture needs more. Strange didn't look that bad even with my 3x glasses.
http://www.PhotoShare.co.nz/PhotoShareGallery1/100503/110019/Stage034569.jpg
The back chain is really kind of hard to carve, can't hardly get any tools in there.

I hope just adding to this post was the proper thing to do? I didn't think starting another thread for this little amount was the way to go.

What do you think?
Thanks ~Mike

[PCW]

Mike

It is really coming to life. The 3D detail is a amazing. I collect hard carved items and really do appreciate the talent and time it takes to create these works of art. Keep us posted.

[forqnc]

Mike I do not think you will offend anyone by adding to this thread and keeping us updated with progress. :cool:
I wish I had one tenth of your patience and talent

[DocWheeler]

Mike,

I have said it before, but again, your work is outstanding.

[autobodyman]

Mike,

I have said it before, but again, your work is outstanding.

Thanks, if I was really good I would seperate the links in the chains so they could actually move freely. I don't think I have any bits small enough to do that without cutting threw the chain though.

Thanks ~Mike

[DocWheeler]

Mike,

Since you brought it up:), and since it would not have been proper to ask otherwise - how much "repair" work goes into something that size for you?

I know, a gentleman wouldn't have asked that kind of question.

[fishcarver]

hey mike, looking good!!! do you have a powercrafter? 1/16 bits/
if not you can get them at treeline here in utah. you can get a 1/16 collet
that will fit in a dremel then you can get into the chain betterstacey

[autobodyman]

hey mike, looking good!!! do you have a powercrafter? 1/16 bits/
if not you can get them at treeline here in utah. you can get a 1/16 collet
that will fit in a dremel then you can get into the chain betterstacey

I have a TurboCarver that takes 1/16" bit however they are not long enough to reach, the bits are only about ½" long. I do have collects for my RTX's in 1/8" 3/32" and 1/16" but like I said it's hard to find long bits in the tiny sizes, at least I haven't found any.

Thanks ~Mike

[earlyrider]

Stacy-
Have you seen the latest air turbine that Treeline has? I don't remember the name of it, but you don't need oil for it. When he demonstrated it for me at the carving show in Draper (or wherever), it made no sound until the bit was touching something. Stealth carving? It cut as well as the other turbo's. Have to be careful to shut the air off when finished.
For those who have never tried one, you can add fine detail to your carvings almost as easily as drawing with a pencil. Try it, you'll like it!8)
Ron

[fishcarver]

Hi Ron, i think its the new NSK, i seen it at treeline but they didnt have one set up to test, its should be a good one , but i dont know about no oil, just wonder how long the turbin will last? hopfuly the next time im but there they will have one set up.
Stacey

[earlyrider]

For the price, it better last a long time!
Ron

[autobodyman]

Mike,

Since you brought it up:), and since it would not have been proper to ask otherwise - how much "repair" work goes into something that size for you?

I know, a gentleman wouldn't have asked that kind of question.

I guess I must be dense, I don't guess I understand the question. Could you clarify?

Thanks ~Mike

[autobodyman]

while I was struggling to undercarve into the stage coach.
I should have done this differently.

I think I should have had it carve this, then run it threw my drum sander
to flatten the top of the carving, had the machine carve another one
of these without the background ¾" thick, flattened the top of that one,
carve the inside of the coach on the first one and the back side of the
second carving, glued that on and carved the back horses, then have the
machine carve a third one, carved both sides of the top horses and the back
inside of the stage coach, glued that on top and finished the top of the carving.
That way I could have had all kinds of details on the inside of the
stagecoach, seats, door handles etc...

I've got to much time into this one so I probably won't do all that, but it's
something I might consider on future projects. Here are a few more pictures
after another 8 or so hours of undercarving/recarving.

Hope it's okay to post such large pictures? If not let me know
and I will shrink them down.
http://www.PhotoShare.co.nz/PhotoShareGallery1/100503/110019/Stage01209.jpg

http://www.PhotoShare.co.nz/PhotoShareGallery1/100503/110019/Stage059859.jpg

http://www.PhotoShare.co.nz/PhotoShareGallery1/100503/110019/Stage06191.jpg

http://www.PhotoShare.co.nz/PhotoShareGallery1/100503/110019/Stage039112.jpg
Undercutting threw the window holes has been challenging and sanding inside
there is not going to be lots of fun. Still quite a way to go yet.
What do you think so far?

Thanks ~Mike

[James RS]

I still think it's a awesome job

[mifflinlake]

This is very nice, can't wait to see the finished piece.

John

[TIMCOSBY]

is the turbo carver worth the $ or is a dremel just as good?

[earlyrider]

Both tools have their place- I'd use the dremel or a flexshaft for roughing/hogging out material, then use the turbo on the fine detail such as veining feathers or surfacing scales. I recommend using pyrography also. There maybe some overlap in the application and desired effect, but to have all of them available for your projects increases your skill level and quality of your work.
The turbos have a great assortment of bits, but I tend to stay with the diamond points and balls. With the diamond, engraving glass, or extracting dinosaur skull bones from hard sandstone (granted, not everyone on the forum needs to do this) becomes easy. They also work beautifully on wood.
Ron

[autobodyman]

is the turbo carver worth the $ or is a dremel just as good?

The Dremil's with the 1/16" adaptor can take the same bits as the turbo carver, however for the fine detail the turbo carver is quite a bit easier to control.

I actually got the turbo carver when I was working on my gunstock, I was having a difficult time getting the basket weave squared up with the dremils. I have had to replace the hand piece on the turbo carver once, one of the bearings went out. It is nice for the fine work. I mostly use it with the smallest available carbide ball tip.
~Mike
http://www.PhotoShare.co.nz/PhotoShareGallery1/100503/107003/close6226.jpg

http://www.PhotoShare.co.nz/PhotoShareGallery1/100503/107003/ButtStained4319.jpg

[autobodyman]

Got another couple days carving on this. Just lack undercutting the trees on the right and a bunch of sanding.
http://www.PhotoShare.co.nz/PhotoShareGallery1/100503/110019/Stage078713.jpg

http://www.PhotoShare.co.nz/PhotoShareGallery1/100503/110019/Stage056284.jpg

http://www.PhotoShare.co.nz/PhotoShareGallery1/100503/110019/Stage084333.jpg

Does it look any different than when I started, or am I just spinning
my wheels?

Thanks ~Mike

[badger]

Does it look any different than when I started, or am I just spinning
my wheels?

Thanks ~Mike


Thats just crazy Mike, I can see the wax build up in the last cowboys ear. And the eagle on the door ,where did that come from.

Truley amazing work, yup your spinning your wheels and leaving alot of us in your dust.


Ive got to look at this when the wife is out making an errand or Ill never hear the end of it......."Why dont you make me one of those".


I think I see the next Customer spotlight coming up here.

[chebytrk]

With all this great detail I can now see that the Stagecoach driver must have it on "cruise" cause that guy can't see nuthin' with his hat down over his eyes! ha Also that gun stock is truly amazing. That's what I hope the CW can do for me one day. That would be the ultimate!
My wife and I just came back last week from Virginia City, NV and took a stagecoach ride. Pulled by 4 horses and the driver took us fast! It was alot of fun.

[www.go3d.us]

Wow! That really added lots of details.
HT

[fwharris]

Wow! That really added lots of details.
HT

Mike,

You sure are not spinning any wheels that I can see!! A total transformation from what it started out as.

Great pictures and documentation of the whole project!!

[autobodyman]

With all this great detail I can now see that the Stagecoach driver must have it on "cruise" cause that guy can't see nuthin' with his hat down over his eyes! ha Also that gun stock is truly amazing. That's what I hope the CW can do for me one day. That would be the ultimate!
My wife and I just came back last week from Virginia City, NV and took a stagecoach ride. Pulled by 4 horses and the driver took us fast! It was alot of fun.

Thanks. Yea the head got a little small for the hat, but I think I may add a pocket on his coat with a bottle of whisky sticking out of the pocket (the sun must be hurting his drunkin eyes ;-) )

On the gunstock, I just scanned it. Having some issues with the size changing from what it says the dimensions are on the card as to the design software, also seems to change when I lower the depth (the scan was over 1" deep) and I'm not sure how I am going to get the scan from the other side to line up correctly. Apparently I needed to scan the second side differently because it came out turned the wrong way, when I flip it everything looks good except the "remington" logo is mirrored. Going to have to play with that some more. Either rescan it flipped (ugg, 14 hour scan) or see if I can flip the logo in Corel Photo and put it back on the stock pattern.
http://www.PhotoShare.co.nz/PhotoShareGallery1/100503/110019/Gunstock9116.jpg

http://www.PhotoShare.co.nz/PhotoShareGallery1/100503/110019/Gunstock25468.jpg
I'd post the mpw/ptn file but it exceeds the max size for the forum. I think the other issue would be the inletting would probably have to be done by hand (I think that would suck) as it to tall (deep) to have the machine scan or carve for the gun's guts.

If I can figure this out, I'd like to get a scan of the gunstock I carved for my son, his is a model 700 Remington (still made, I think the 600 has been discontinued).
http://www.PhotoShare.co.nz/PhotoShareGallery1/100503/110019/GunstockZach12737.jpg
Thanks ~Mike