broke the 100-hour mark and a new carve "ferret friends of Tucson"

[lawrence]

Well.. to make a long story short, the other day my kids' old kindergarten teacher (who teaches my oldest's odyssey of the mind) emailed and put me onto a freecycle lead for some "exotic wood"- with price of FREE. Needless to say, I was dubious but made the call. I was very pleasantly surprised to meet a lovely elderly woman named Carol who gave me some wood that she knew was better than the burnpile destination it had reached. (her father was in the forestry service in the early 20th century and she and I had a lovely discussion of different woods, their uses, and forestation/deforestation of the great plains). She let me at the wood pile with instructions to "leave the junk doug fir and pine but take the good stuff" I loaded my truck with the dirt and pack rat poo covered timbers and thanked her profusely for what I suspected lay beneath the silvery facade. She just laughed and said that the menfolk had laughed when she said a woodworker would want it... but she was right...
Before, (don't let it fool you... she knew EXACTLY what she was talking about)
http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u313/ldr_klr/DSCF00041024x768.jpg
After a little planing... mesquite, walnut (including an 8/4 x 50 x 11 piece), teak (yes... TEAK...), maple, cherry, lots of mahogany with VERY tight grain, and lots of ash, hickory, and oak. Many of these (which became visable after a brushing) were marked with the species and size as though fresh from a lumberyard.  Others were obviously home sawmill made--but gorgeous nonetheless.
http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u313/ldr_klr/P11001441024x768.jpg
http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u313/ldr_klr/DSCF00101024x768.jpg

At any rate, I digress.... she was a lovely lady and her hobby is ferrets. As a thank you, I made her this sign today out of one of the pieces of wood. (Mesquite)... oh yeah... and during the carve I FINALLY surpassed the 100 hour mark on my machine-- WHOO HOO!!
http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u313/ldr_klr/DSCF00021024x768.jpg
more coming
Lawrence

[lawrence]

So anyway, this is what I came up with as a thank you. The Ferret pattern is from a picture and is soon to be for sale at the pattern super store
http://www.patternsuperstore.com/

one of the things I want to do with my patterns are to not put them up for sale until I've actually done a carve with the pattern. I don't know if this really makes a difference or not as most of the patterns out there are of a very high quality, but I think it may set me apart from some of the other pattern makers and may entice someone to buy mine. At any rate...

before finish-
http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u313/ldr_klr/Carvewright/ferret%20friends%20of%20tucson/P11001601024x768.jpg
http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u313/ldr_klr/Carvewright/ferret%20friends%20of%20tucson/P11001511024x768.jpg

after finish
http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u313/ldr_klr/Carvewright/ferret%20friends%20of%20tucson/P11001681024x768.jpg

and here is a side view so you can see how 2.5d the pattern turned out-- I'm really quite pleased with it.
http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u313/ldr_klr/Carvewright/ferret%20friends%20of%20tucson/P11001711024x768.jpg

Anyway, thanks for looking folks, and as always, critiques to improve on will be gratefully accepted...

Lawrence

[dcalvin4]

Lawrence
you are one luck dog and you better go play the lottery
denny

[Kenm810]

Great Story Lawrence, and Nicely Carved Sign!
A Big Thanks for Sharing both with us.

[Capt Bruce]

A Super find Lawrence and super carving pattern you made. Well done Sir, and a +1 on the lottery ticket idea.

[easybuilt]

Very nice find Lawrence and great job on the carving. I enjoyed reading.