Sunday Slide

End Jan 2010

Time to carve: 2 hours
Finishing:1 hour


With next week being Scout Sunday, I thought I would make something to wear especially for this occasion. Starting with a scrap of pine I glued the pattern on and fired up the scroll saw to cut out the outline. Taking my time, I carefully cut the groves that make the rays all around the slide. When I finished I pealed away the paper that was left on the slide (mostly where the cross is to go). I decided it was a good time to sand before starting the cross which turned out to be a good idea because I could not have done it after. I have some scrap black walnut that came from my father-in-law's family farm over a hundred years ago. I took another copy of the pattern (just the cross parts) and glued it to the black walnut. Off to the scroll saw again to cut out the parts, sand, and then glue to the slide. A bit of adjustment and the cross fit perfectly. Normally at this point I would use a water based Polly because it drys perfectly clear but in this case I wanted a bit of color. The oil based Polly adds just a slight golden color giving the wood depth.

Pueblo Indian Pottery

Mid Jan. 2010

Time to carve: 1.5 hours
Finishing: 2 hours




It's been a very long week at work and this is the third slide I've carved. (Late to bed and early to rise make it so you can't open your eyes-unknown.) There is really something that speaks to me with this slide...so simple yet so hard to shape it correctly. If that wasn't tough enough, then there comes the detail on the pottery. Carved from pine with lots of sanding to get it ready for painting. Finding the right color for the pot was quick, since I had a good color on hand, and the detail was done using a fine line paint pen. (Steady hands help too!) A couple of coats to Poly finish this off.

Surfboard

Plaque Slides

Mid Jan. 2010

Time to Carve: 0 hours
Finishing: 2 Hours

Really there was no carving involved in these two slides. Now normally I like to spend time carving because it relaxes me but this project was all scroll saw, sandpaper, and paint. (Well, I guess I still got some satisfaction from these slides.) The main body of the slides are made from pine and the raised Scout emblem was cut from a thin strip of poplar. Painted with craft paints and finished off with a couple of coats of poly.

Pirate Cannon

Mid Jan. 2010

Time to carve: 1.5 hours
Finishing: 1.5 hours


Another fun slide to make!. The cannon is made from a 5/8 inch dowel, as is the wheels, and the case of the cannon is from scrap poplar. The cross piece, that swivels under the brass fittings, is a 1/8 dowel glued in place from the hole drilled through the cannon. Painted with craft paints and finished off with a couple of coats of poly. The hardest part I had with this slide was trying to take a picture of the slide as it would look to another person when you are wearing it. This proved to be impossible so I have moved the slide to show the details.

Little Stinker

Mid Jan. 2010


Time to carve 1.5 hours

Finishing 2 hours

The name fits this slide in so many ways but more on that latter. The body, made from poplar, of this slide was an easy carve but the head called for a chestnut. Hmmm...fresh out of chestnuts here but I could carve a suitable replacement (and I wouldn't have to glue on the ears). Now the textured "fur" presented a bit of a problem. The pattern called for coffee grounds to be glued onto the body. But where to get coffee grounds since no one in this household drinks coffee. Well, I happened to be out with my son to an archery event and they had coffee made for the adults. Now it must have seemed like a weird request when I asked for the used coffee grounds but I left after the event with a plastic baggie full of warm grounds. Bringing them home, I spread the grounds on a few paper towels and waited for them to dry. Man the smell of coffee permeated our house for a couple of days before the ground were completely dry. Even gluing them to the slide reactivated the smell of coffee and was making us all sick of the smell. It wasn’t until I painted the slide with black spray paint (or maybe after the poly) that we finally lost the smell of the grounds.

Lincoln Log Cabin

Early Jan. 2010

Time to carve: 2 hours
Finishing 2 hours

After making the block house, I was happy to see this log cabin had notched logs like I would have expected. Pine forms the base to glue the pieces and I used simple wood glue. Made from 1/8 inch dowels there is about 4 and 1/2 feet of dowel in this slide. It has a real cedar roof (made from the ends of some cedar shims I had laying around) and the chimney was painted to simulate the stones. The window was made by painting the opening and using tooth picks for the frame. A couple of coats of Poly finish this off.

Painted Turtle

Early Jan. 2010

Time to carve:1.5 hours
Finishing: 2 hours

An interesting slide to do because it is the underside of the painted turtle and not the top that is being displayed. In fact, I was asked by my wife why I was doing the underside and my son was quick to answer the question. (He sees a couple of painted turtles at the museum he works in every week.) What I found fascinating while researching how I should paint the side I discovered that the only certainty is that no two painted turtles have the same pattern. Painted with craft paints and finished with a couple of coats of poly.

Gaff the Sailor

Early Jan. 2010


Time to Carve: 2 hours

Finishing: 1.5 hours


Faces, oh how I hate to do faces! Carved from poplar, I struggled with this one as I tried to get the face looking like the pattern. When I finished the carving I discovered that I messed up the cap and the mouth. Well I left the mouth the way it is and I packed the cap with plastic wood. Twenty-four hours latter I was cutting and sanding the rock hard putty to my liking. I wasn't sure how this would look until I painted the slide and after painting I can't tell where the wood ended and the plastic wood started. I also wanted to give this sailor a deep weather tan like he had been at sea for many months in the South Pacific. A couple of coats of Poly finish this off.

Tepee

Mid Dec. 2009, Early Jan. 2010


Time to carve: 1.5

Finishing: 2.5


I must admit that I really didn't like this slide when I started it and that is why I let it sit for several weeks before I finished the slide. Carved from pine with glued toothpicks forming the poles of the tepee, I gave it a base coat of white paint and let it dry. When I came back to it the next day, I was really unimpressed. I set it aside disappointed in the slide and went on to another slide. Early in January, I had a couple of slides ready for painting and decided to finish this one off if for nothing else but to say I finished the slide. Once I started painting the details, I began to see the beauty of this slide.

Giant Titanus Beetle

Early Jan. 2010

Time to carve: 2.5 hours
Finishing: 1.5

By far the largest slide in my collection measuring in at 6 inches from pincher to bottom (longer if you include the antennas). This slide has had mixed reactions. My son thinks this is "kwel" while my wife and daughter had the same reaction...

EEEEWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!

Carved from poplar, the body was quite simple but the neck, head, and pinchers took some time to do. The antennas are made from plastic broom bristles which keeps them quite flexible. The legs are made from a coat hanger and form the loops for the neckerchief. The dents in the wings were made using a nail punch just pressed into the wood lightly. The slide was finished using gloss black spray paint.

Speckled (rainbow) Trout

Early Jan. 2010

Time to carve: 3 hours
Finishing: 2 hours

This is a one piece slide. Now what I mean by this is the loop is carved into the slide from the same piece of maple as used for the fish. I used maple for it's strength and tight grain for the finished slide. Carving this slide took some time since it is smaller that most of slides I have been doing lately and because of the detail. When it came to finishing this slide I went out to Google looking for a picture of a Speckled Trout. After seeing what it looked like, I struck on another idea. What if I painted it to look like a Rainbow Trout instead?  It is painted with craft paints and finished with a couple of coats of Poly.  It is too bad that I forgot a fin or two while making the slide but I still think it still came out nice in the end.

Bacon & Eggs

Early Jan. 2010

Time to carve: 2 hours
Finishing: 2 hours

There is something about this slide (mmmmmm....Bacon)
that I truly love. Carved from pine,  it took a couple of tries to get the eggs and bacon right as I began to cut away the wood from the pan. One slip and you didn't have enough wood to form the things in the pan. Once I had the pan all carved out the egg yoke took form and on a lower level the egg white and bacon. All that while still trying to keep from nicking the top layer or edge of the pan. (Yikes!) Lots of sanding on this one too! A steady hand was required in painting the detail because there is not much room between the sides of the pan, eggs, and bacon. I used craft paints and a couple of coats of poly to finish it off.

Copper Foil

Jan 2010

Time to carve:0 hours
Metal Work: 1.5 hours
Finishing: 1.5 hours

Thin copper on a scrap piece of pine. The design is something call a Scout Knott which I printed out and glued to the copper. Taking a small blunt nail and tracing the design by taping the nail into the copper foil denting the metal. Once I finished the design I removed the paper. To darken the background I used a black craft paint wash, let it dry, then polished the copper with a paper towel. A couple of coats of poly and a ring glued to the back finish this slide off.

Locomotive

Early to Mid Dec 2009

Time to carve: 5 hours
Finishing: 2.5

After a couple of easy slides I tackled this on and

boy was this a challenge. Now you would normally look at a project like this one and say 'that doesn't look that hard' well it is a lot more time consuming than it looks. This is made in pieces, and as such is made from pine and poplar, then glued together. I also added my own touch to this work on the wheels and in it's finish. As a child I often heard about the railroad that use to run near my parents house. To my surprise recently, I also learned another branch ran to Ogdensburgh, NY where I spent a couple of years with a former employer. It also ran yet another branch to Bellows Falls VT, which I have visited an office of my current employer many times. I seen HO railroad sets locally with this railroad featured. So naturally I decided to paint my locomotive like the trains of the Rutland Railroad

Hide Frame

Early Dec. 2009

Time to carve: .5 Hours
Finishing: 1 hour

Well even less carving with this one (just notching the dowels) but the interesting part of this slide was stretching the piece of leather on the frame. After making the frame and cutting the leather to look like an animal hide, the sewing took time and patience. Starting with a long piece of waxed cord and a glovers needle (it came in kit of specialty needles), I worked my way around the leather pulling the cord tight only after I had finished sewing. The decoration was created using paint pens. A couple coats poly finish it off.

Jenny Wren House

Late Nov. 2009

Time to Carve: 1 hour
Finishing: 1 hour

Really an easy slide to carve and paint. (There is really not much more to say on this one.)

Pedro-His Mark

Late Nov. 2009

Time to carve: 2 hours
Finishing: 1 hour

Funny story about this slide. I carved it out of pine and gave it a couple of coats of gloss black paint. But when I went to attach the "coat hanger" slide back into the holes I drilled in the back of the slide, I kept trying to fill the hole with crazy glue but every time I when to put the wire into the hole the glue was gone. It took a few times before I realized the holes I drilled in the back of the slide met up with the nail holes on the horse shoe. The glue was running out the front of the slide and down my shirt . Always learning.

Jolly Roger

Late Nov. 2009

Time to Carve: 2 hours
Finishing: 2 Hours

Yo, ho, hum and a bottle of...well in my case a bottle of Diet Coke. (I really should drink Coke before bed.) Carved in pine with a 1/4 inch dowel glued to the flag. The top of the dowel is a wooden bead drilled to fit the dowel. Painted with craft paint and coated with poly.

Pueblo Indian Drum

End Nov. 2009

Time to Carve: 1 hour
Leather work: 1.5 hours
Finishing: 1.5 hours

The base of the slide is pine with a 3/4 in hole drilled through it and painted white. The leather drum top and bottom is made from some thin leather sewed with some waxed thread. The detailed painting was done once the drum top and bottom were added. Holes were cut through the top and bottom to match the hole in the slide body. A couple of coats of poly finish the slide. The long and short of it... I don't like this slide. It really has nothing to do with the pattern but on how mine turned out. I should have made the drum larger, the leather on the drum skins should have been thinner, and I really should have taken more time painting the fine detail on this one.

Axe in Sheath

End Nov. 2009

Time to carve: 1.5 hours
Leather work 1 hour
Finishing 1 hour

While it was an easy task to carve a quick axe the task of making a small leather sheath for the axe was something quite different. After trying to hide the stitches, which didn't work, I gave up and let the stitches show. In the long run I think it added something to the slide.

Scout Law Book

A book? How would that look?

End Nov. 2009

Time to carve: 2 hours
Finishing: 2.5 hours

Well, I carved this one out of poplar and when I was finished I hated to paint this one because it looked so good. On the other hand to be true to the spirit of the instructions, I went forward the instructions. The only thing I did differently was the pages of the book which I printed out instead of hand painting the words. One thing I noticed is the gold paint I used leached into the paper but you don't notice it unless you are looking closely.

The Pretzel

Early Dec. 2009

Time to carve: 2 hours
Finishing: 2.5 hours

An interesting project combining some tricky carving with a different kind of finish. The mutable levels integrate to form the knot of the pretzel. The slide has a yellow base coat, brown wash, and a coat of poly. While the poly was still wet, I sprinkled on sea salt. When the slide was dry I coated it again with two coats of poly to seal the salt to the slide.

Motor Boat

Mid Nov. 2009


Time to carve: 2.5 hours
Finishing: 1.5 hours

A motor boat? Hmmmm...this looks intresting. The boat itself is carved from pine and the motor is made from poplar.

Rocket Side

Mid Nov. 2009


Time to carve: 2 hours
Finishing: 2 hours

Somewhere in the back of my mind there is a special place for thoes B-movies I watched as a child. For all of you too young to have seen these make sure to rent "When Worlds Collide", "Plan 9 from Outer Space", or "Abbott and Costello Go To Mars". Well, this retro slide reminds me of thoes movies. Made from a excess  poplar cut off from a walking stick I made sometime last summer.  The center of the rocket is drilled out and the back is cut out to allow access to the center.  The fins were made seperately and then glued to the body of the rocket. The finish is chrome spray paint.

Pick and Shovel

Mid Nov. 2009

Time to carve: 2 hours
Finishing: 1.5 hours

So simple and yet what a great looking slide! The pick is two pieces (handle and head) and the shovel is one piece. The loop is braided mason cord. I painted the piece with craft paint and coated with poly.

Crosscut Saw

Mid Nov. 2009

Time to Carve: .5 hours
Metal work: 1.5
Finishing: 2 hours

One of the things I enjoy about making these slides is the many different methods used to create wonderful projects. This is one of those projects that I am just amazed with the simple methods used to make what looks like a complex slide. The log was simple... just a branch that fell off a maple tree in my hard. Drilled a 3/4 hole for the neckerchief and saw halfway through the log. The saw was made from some tin and the teeth were filed with a triangle shaped file then every other tooth was cut with a hacksaw. The handles were made using 1/8 dowels cut with a slit to accommodate the tin.

Solomon Isle Carving

Mid Nov. 2009
Time to Carve: 3 hours
Finishing: 2.5 hours


Another carving in basswood with unsual angles and places to hollow out. Painted with a textured (black stone) spray paint and then hand painted details with a small paint brush.

Punctures, Cuts, and other avoidable injuries

Mid Nov.

I doubt there is anyone who is carved who hasn't at some point cut themselves. Now by this time I have had my share including one very bad cut a while ago. With this in mind I got an early birthday from my family... a Kevlar whittling glove. It is made so when you slip with your knife the glove stops you from getting cut (and yes it works).

The second time I used the the glove I had a big slip and the glove saved me from a major injury. The downside was now I had a big hole in the left index finger. I have sewed it up for now but I should order another glove.

Fire Drill

Early Nov. 2009

Time to Carve: .5 hours
Finishing: 2 hours

Not much to carve here but an interesting slide just the same. The bow was a live branch from a maple tree that I stripped of the bark and bent ahead of time. The background is made of some heavy leather with the parts glued on to it. A leather loop is also glued to the back.

Old Oil Lamp

Early Nov. 2009

Time to Carve: 2.5 hours
Finishing: 1.5 hours

Carved from basswood the Old Oil Lamp kept me busy trying not to break the lamp handles. The filler cap was added after the lamp was carved and is nothing more than a round tooth pick glued into a hole I drilled. As I look at the picture on the screen I have released I forgot to add a handle at the top of the lamp which I will do in the near future. The handle will be made from a small gage wire formed into a loop and set into holes drilled into the top of the lamp.

Totem Pole

End Oct. 2009

Time to Carve: 1.5 hours
Finishing: 2 hours

I was using a large dowel for something else and had some left over. What can I do with this ... Totem Pole! Carving the basic shape of the heads didn't take much time but cutting the mouths now that is another story. If you compare mine to the pattern you will notice that the second from the top looks a little different. That is because I made a mistake and decided to keep it. It is painted as close as I could to the original directions and a couple of coats of poly finish it off. All and all it looks pretty good.

Hand Grenade

End Oct. 2009

Time to Carve: 2.5 hours
Finishing: 2 hours

I was a little torn on making this one. On one hand this looks too much like a hand grenade (at a quick glance) for comfort. On the other hand ... it is really a good looking slide. I guess I won't wear this one anywhere were anyone would get nervous about it.  The body of the grenade is made out of pine and the gruves were made using a round file. The top and the handle were made of poplar for strength. The very bottom was also made out of poplar too (because I had a piece that was the right size). All the parts were glued together using wood glue and painted using craft paint. It is finished using a couple of coats of poly.

Blood Hound

End Oct. 2009


Time to Carve: 1 hours
Finishing: 2 hours

Basswood was my choice for this one and it proved once again to be a good one for carving the details. Unfortunately, it was not a good choice for the loop and the back broke while I was carving the slide. No matter, since the main part of the slide was fine, and all it took was adding a different loop to the back. Finished with a couple of coats of  shellac.

Block house

End Oct. 2009


Time to Carve: 1 hours
Gluing: 4 hours
Finishing: .5 hours

I liked making the block house because it was a change from what I have been doing so far. Behind the "logs" you see on the slide is a piece of pine that forms the base of the slide. Now normally I would have notched each log in a log cabin style but I wanted to stay true to the the original pattern. Strange as it seems there is a little bit more than 5 feet of 1/8 inch dowel in this slide. Each log was cut and glued in place beginning with the front of the block house then when the front was dry moving to the sides and roof. The windows were colored in with a ultra fine line black permanent marker. and the slide was finished off with poly.

African Masai Shield

End Oct. 2009


Time to Carve: 1 hours
Finishing: 2.5 hours

A two part slide, the African Masai Shield was easy to make and challenging to paint. The shield was made with a scrap piece of basswood and the spear is some left over 1/8th wooden dowel with a brass point. The painting took some time since I was practicing on paper first to get each part of the detail right before trying it on the carving. Finished with some poly on each part of the slide

Pack Frame

Mid Oct. 2009

Time to Carve: 1 hours
Finishing: 3 hours

I saw this pattern in the packet I have and thought 'Wow I remember my old scout book had directions on how to build pack frames'. This would be a great addition to my slides. Construction was quite simple, once the wooden parts were measured and cut, and rubber bands helped hold the parts together. The pack itself was make from an old teeshirt and the ax was a quick carve. While the pattern didn't call for it, I got out that old scout handbook to tie the diamond hitch to hold the pack, ax and frame together. (This is what you used if you had one of those pack frames in real life.) The loop is a piece of leather attached to the frame using some heavy thread.

Peachstone Monkey

Mid Oct. 2009


Time to Carve: 10 hours
Finishing: 2 hours

The Peachstone Monkey was one of the hardest slides I had made to date. I started to make this slide using a hardwood "egg" found at Michaels. This proved to be disastrous and almost made me give up on this slide. Deciding to give it one more try, I turned again to basswood. Having to hollow out the inside of the slide from so many different angles proved to be slow going. When finished with carving and sanding, it was schellaced.

Flying Mallard

Mid Oct. 2009


Time to Carve: 3 hours
Finishing: 2 hours

Back to poplar, after my experience with the Carved Eagle, for the Flying Mallard side. The body and wing are made with two different pieces of wood and the grain runs differently for each to take advantage of the strength. The leg is a third piece of polar glued in place behind the wing. Painted with craft paints and finished with poly.

This slide looks a lot harder than it truly is and is one of my favorite slides.

Carved Eagle

Mid Oct. 2009


Time to Carve: 3 hours
Finishing: 2.5 hours

Carved Eagle was my next project and I decided to try something new. I enlarged the drawing in the pattern so it would be the size of the slide. Cutting out the drawing, gluing it to a block of pine, and using a scroll saw to rough out the outline pattern. Next I used the drawing to slowly carve the shield, head, and  feathers using still glued on pattern by cutting away the paper as I went. Painting the slide turned out to be a challenge because the feet were the last thing I painted and I broke off both feet while handling the carving. On retrospect, I would have used a different harder wood if I had to do it all over again. Finished with poly.

Archery

Mid Oct. 2009

Time to Carve: 3 hours
Metal work: .5 hours
Finishing: 2 hours



My is really into Archery and I wanted to make him a slide about this great hobby. I was also asked by our committee chair if I would consider making a slide for a prize at the Scout meeting. Knowing the Scout who was getting the award was also a fan of archery I decided to make three of these slides. I started out getting a couple of wooden "rounds" at Michaels (a chain art supply store). The arrows were make using some shish kabob skewers and a fine saw made by x-acto to cut the slots for the feathers. The arrow heads were made from brass (yeah I still had some) crazy glued to the skewer then cut to shape with a pair of scissors. The feathers were made from some scrap reflective material. The quill was make from leather scrap and the arrows in the quill have no arrow heads. Now the bow was a challenge! I started making the bow with pine but it was too soft and broke while I was making it. Next I tried poplar but it too proved to soft and broke while carving. I had a piece of maple around but I never had tried carving with it because I thought it would be too hard. Well I the maple turned the trick but I really needed to keep my knife sharp while carving the bow. The bow string was made from some waxed thread I had around the house. Both my son and the other scout really liked the slide.

Eastern Island Stone Face

Early in Oct. 2009

Time to Carve: 2 hours
Finishing: 4 hours

I'm tired of brass and trying to think of what to carve next. While in my son's room one morning, I notice some plastic Easter Island Heads he has on a shelf and I remember a pattern for a similar slide.

Carved from pine and painted with flat grey spray paint then sprinkled with sand while the paint was still wet. When it was dry I sprayed it again with paint. Quick and easy.

Cider Keg

Early Oct. 2009
Time to Carve: 1 hours
Metal work: 1.5 hours
Finishing: 1.5 hours

OK I admit it ... I saved some bits of brass from the other projects. Back to the patterns I go to find another project that uses brass and there it is ... The Cider Keg. A really easy project to carve (at least the barrel) and the brass work wasn't bad. Now the spicket was a bit of a challenge as I carved down some dowel pieces. Hand drilled the holes, using an old x-acto knife and a small drill.

Make This Sundial

Late in Sept. 2009

Time to Carve: 0 hours
Metal work: 1.5 hours
Finishing: 1 hours
Coming off a personal victory with the Brass Pipe Tomahawk, I decided to try another brass project (since I still had some brass left). The Make This Sundial project looked like just the ticket. A scrap piece of wood for the back  and attached the brass to the wood. I laid a enlarged copy of the pattern on the brass and traced the lines using a ball point pen pressing down hard as I went. The center piece was cut to the right angle for my area and glued in place.

This will indeed tell time (as well as any sundial will) but my only regret is I  cant seem to find the right combination to darken the lines.

Brass Pipe Tomahawk

Late in Sept. 2009
Time to Carve: 1 hours
Metal work: 1.5 hours
Finishing: 4 hours

Gun (knife) shy but healed up, I decided to try something with a little less carving. I got to say the Brass Pipe Tomahawk pattern really caught my eye. The wooded part was made from a scrap piece of wood (pine I think) from an earlier project and the brass was spare from the Derringer project. The pipe part was made from a brass screw with the head cut off. The leather came from an old glove and the red floss from my wife's sewing kit. The tricky part of this was the soldering of the seam along with the wire loop. I used a set of needle nose vice grips to keep the seam closed while did the soldering. Shellac on the wood. This is one of my favorite slides.

Ball in cage with Links

Mid Sept. 2009
Time to Carve: 6 hours?
Finishing: 48 hours
No Stitches

Ever do something you knew the second you did it you had made a mistake? Boy this came through loud and clear with this project. After a really rough day at work I began this project using a piece of pine. Well 1/2 way through it I broke the carving. Start again...had the same thing happen with basswood...well how about poplar? Poplar is a hardwood but is soft enough for a beginner like me to carve. I had never done any links before but had done a box and ball before. To make a long story short (too late I know), I finished the links and was making the last cut to free the ball when all of a sudden...the blade is in the tip of my index finger. All I could think about was "Man this is going to hurt!". Quick grabbed a paper towel, wrapped it around my finger, and made my way to the kitchen to get the first aid kit. I did not want to alert my family and worry them so I proceeded to get myself bandaged up. Throb, throb, throb went the finger all night long. (Damn I should have know better.) Early the next morning the pulsing feeling had stopped and I changed the dressing. For the next couple of nights I finished the carving with four fingers and one held out of the way. Finished with stain and poly. Wearing the slide got lots of good comments on this slide from my older scouts.