Channeling Whittlin Jim

Northwest Totem

2011-07-12T19:38:00.000-07:00

End June - Early July 2011

Time to carve: 3.5 hours
Finishing: 2 hour

...and now back to our regularly scheduled program.

Whittlin’ Jim did a few Northwestern slides and I think this design is one of the best!

Doing some research on Northwestern Totems I came across this page as a good reference TOTEM POLES OF THE GREAT NORTHWEST
Though I’m really not sure what animal it depicts, I really like the lines on this slide!

Whittlin’ Jim called for a crooked knife for this slide but I found a straight blade and lots of small cuts were call for on this slide. Carved from maple, and finely sanded, I really hated to paint this slide. The Maple would have looked great with a redwood stain but staying true to form it is painted with craft paints and given a couple of poly.

The Ladies Tea

2011-07-12T19:10:00.000-07:00

Mid June 2011

Time to carve: 1.5 hours
Finishing: 1 hour

While technically not a slide, I needed to find something for my mother-in-law to bring back to my niece (especially when I had carved a slide for her brother.) “So what are Emmy favorite things”, I asked. After thinking about it for a few minutes, she came up with the Ladies Tea. What is a Ladies Tea you ask, well I can’t begin to describe it but I found a good description on another blog The Small Town Mom

“Each year we enjoy a luncheon and tea while all of us ladies talk followed by an inspirational speaker. The speaker is usually a member of the church or closely related to a member and they never disappoint. They always find a way to make you take a step back from reality and remember what is really important!”

A tea cup it was! One of the smaller projects I have worked on, made from maple for strength, it is another design right out of my imagination. With the exception of the spoon, which was glued on after, this is made from a single piece of wood. Painted with craft paints and finished off with poly. A small eye hook was screwed into the top so it could be made into a charm on a necklace.

wolf

2011-07-12T18:47:00.000-07:00

Mid June 2011

Time to carve: 2.5 hours
Finishing: 2 hour

So recently my mother-in-law was visiting and telling me how much my Nephew was enjoying being a Cub Scout and was going to be in a Wolf Den this year. Mathew is a big fan of my slides and has mentioned to his mom how much he likes certain slides. Ah…the perfect opportunity for a new slide.

I’d like to think the design was patterned after the Eastern Timber WolfEastern Timber Wolf as I have camped a few times in the Adirondacks but I have a sneaking suspicion the design in my mind is more based out of Hollywood. Carved from maple, the basic design originally looked more like a fox until I folded the ears back a bit and moved on to the fur. A dark red fur seemed like the right choice for this and I used a method I had use with a Whittlin' Jim pattern Little Stinker. Instead of coffee grounds, I used tea from a K-cup. It was a very fine tea and all I had to do was sprinkle it on the glued surface of the slide. I added some white plastic teeth made glued in place. The eyes were round pins and the ears and mouth painted with craft paints. A couple of coats of poly finish it off.

ScoutmasterCG

2011-06-12T05:11:00.000-07:00

Early June 2011

Time to carve: 3 hours
Finishing: 3.5 hour

Ssshhhhhh....If you know or correspond with Clarke Green don't let him know this is on the way to him...I want it to be a surprise. For those of you who have never heard of Clarke Green, his Scoutmaster blog, or the Scoutmaster podcast you really need to find him on the net! The Scoutmaster's Oracle, the podcast Commissioner and really nice guy, Clarke shares his thoughts, wit, and wisdom weekly to the folks that follow him world-wide. Always happy to answer a question for Scouter, his answers are spot-on relying on his many years of Scouting experience. On his site he shares his wisdom and thoughts on Scoutmastership, gear reviews, highlights some of the best books on Scouting, program ideas, and information on high adventure areas. I never miss the weekly podcasts and tend to listen to them within hours (sometimes minutes) of them being released.(Although I never understood the penguin joke.) So for all he does for the Scouting community, I created this slide based on the icon (see the picture above) he has used for years on his website. Thanks again Clarke...

Carved from maple, this is one of the most challenging slides I have ever made since the only thing I have had to work from was a picture off the internet. When working the Whittlin' Jim patterns, there has always been front and side views along with some directions on how to make the slide but in this case had neither. I first glued a copy of the figure to the wood and headed to the band saw to rough it out. When I cut out the middle section, between the head and and hand, with the jig-saw I really put the saw to the test since I had never cut so thick a piece of wood before with this saw. Setting knife to wood, I removed lots of layers to the base level of the body while leaving the hat intact. Lots of carving with this to make it look right. Painting was another challenge since I wasn't exactly sure of the color of the neckerchief and the color of the epaulet.Lots of mixing of colors till I the right match to the picture (hope it is the same colors in real life). The hardest part of the slide was the plaid (I hope it was plaid) of the neckerchief which entailed painting the plaid, smudging the area, and using a paint wash over the neckerchief. A couple of coats of poly finish it off.

Crossed Skis

2011-06-12T03:49:00.000-07:00

Early June 2011

Time to carve: 2.5 hours
Finishing: 1 hour

This past winter I had the opportunity to be in Lake Placid during the Empire States games. The place we were staying had old skis like these mounted on their wall. Doing some research, I found a place that still teaches the traditional methods of making wooden skis.

A few of Whittlin Jim's projects have called for bending wood and the best wood he found for this was bamboo. I think there must have been more bamboo available back then because I sure had a hard time finding it locally (at a price I wanted to pay). But along came a project in our kitchen, which used some relatively cheap boxes from Bed, Bath, and Beyond, and I found my source for bamboo. The first step was to cut the bamboo to size and then sand down the pieces to the desired width. I sanded both sides to remove any protective coating before placing the wood in water to soak. A few days later the wood was soft enough to bend and I used a pair of needle-nose pliers to bend up the tips. Even as soft as the wood had become I still had a fair amount of splitting at the ends. To save the project, I applied some super glue to the ends while the bamboo was still wet. (It is my understanding that this kind of glue works better when the object being glued is wet.) I then let every thing dry overnight. Shaping the tips of the skis was easy, thanks to the glue, and there was no further splintering. I painted the skis next because I knew I couldn't after gluing on the small pieces of leather that form the toe and heel straps. The poles are toothpicks and the baskets (small round disks near the points of the poles) were cut from a plastic OJ container. The original article called for using black tape for the handles but I opted for some heat shrink tubing with some heavy black thread for wrist straps. Super glued the pieces together on a leather loop. My only regret with this slide was painting the poles yellow because on retrospect leaving them a natural color might looked better.

Mexican Zapotec Mask

2011-06-11T18:01:00.000-07:00

Early Feb./End May 2011

Time to carve: 10 hour
Finishing: .5 hours

While many have heard of the Aztec and Maya civilizations, there was another civilization in South America called the Zapotecs who were also highly developed. They had developed a calendar, a system of writing, and organized bureaucratic structure. Their society also contained gifted weavers and artisans, You can read more about them at The Zepotecs

Carved from the hardest maple I have ever set a knife to, this project ranks right up there as the most difficult slide to date. Often times, I used a saw to help remove wood so I could lower areas before shaping. I spent almost as much time sharping my blades as I did carving, When I finished carving, I mixed up a special color of paint for this mask and then ended it off with a couple coats of poly. All in all the slide really turned out nice.

The Bold Knight

2011-06-11T17:08:00.000-07:00

Early Feb./Mid May 2011

Time to carve: 2 hour
Metal work: .5
Finishing: .5 hours

This slide was half done back in February when I put down my knifes for a while but when I picked it up in May all I could think of was Sir Robin.

"Brave Sir Robin ran away,
Bravely ran away, away.
When danger reared its ugly head, he bravely turned his tail and fled."

...and if you have never heard of this, I strongly recommend watching Monty Python and the Holy Grail or perhaps this clip The tale of Sir Robin

Carved from maple, the head was an easy task to fashion. The spike on the top of the helmet and the nose are carved from a wooden dowel, drilled, then glued in place. The face shield is made from a piece of aluminum dryer vent pipe I had laying abound. The real trick to this was the finishing. First came masking off the face leaving only the helmet area exposed. A couple of coats of chrome spray paint carefully applied and allowed to dry overnight. Next I removed the tape and painted the face using some craft paint. Next I was using tape again to mask the chrome helmet part from the polyurethane. (I had discovered in an earlier project this chrome paint and the polyurethane did not work well together.) Finally came the mounting of the face shield which should have meant just a couple of nails but I modified the pivot point by using a small bead between the helmet and shield.A very neat side.

Pinewood Derby Racer

2011-06-11T16:14:00.000-07:00

Mid April 2011

Time to carve: none
Finishing: Unknown

It was pleasure to be presented with this Pinewood Derby racer at a recent race during Pack 8's Pinewood derby. I love the details of the slide and marvel at it's simplicity of its construction. The slide is make from a single wooden clothes pin with the outside edges glued together. A wooden bead is used for the head and small black buttons glued on for the wheels. A pipe cleaner is glued to the back to form the loop for the neckercheif. Craft paints used to give the car it's color. Nice work guys!

When the time is right...

2011-06-11T15:24:00.000-07:00

Back in November, I began to feel like my quest was becoming a bit too automatic and I had become machine like producing the slides. I took a break for the holidays thinking I would start up again in January and find my grove again. Well, I did put out a few in January 2011 but the joy of making the slides just wasn't there...

Was anyone, outside my family, even reading my blog?

Two things this spring made me believe again. The first was a gift to me by Pack 8 in Pittsfield, MA - a neckerchief slide. You see, I have helped run the Pinewood Derby there for the past three years and as a "Thank You" they presented me this year with a Pinewood Derby racer slide. I was really touched by this act and to honor their gift, I will give it a place of honor on my blog.

The second factor was an email from a fellow encouraging me to continue because he was living out his dreams of woodcarving vicariously through me. He had also begun trying his hand at making slides because of what I was doing.

In May, during a stressful time at work, I picked up carving again as a way to relax but this time with a new outlook on my quest. I still plan to make all the Wittlin' Jim patterns but I will no longer try to crank out slides to beat a calendar date. From now on I will take my time re-creating these slides as my best works and perhaps a few of my own design.

and without further ado....

Bull Frog

2011-01-02T19:00:00.000-08:00

End Dec. 2010

Time to carve: 2.5 hours
Finishing: 1.5

A day off,a piece of really hard maple and a lot of fun to carve. I've been looking forward to carving this slide for a while because one of my favorite memories as a boy was the pond across the street from my house. Oh yeah, filled with bull frogs jumping, croaking and sunning themselves by day and the peepers by night. Once the piece was carved, the next fun part was painting it. I started with a light coat of light green, and then used darker and darker washes of green. The last coat was a wash of brown paint and all the different washes really give this some depth. The underside is painted an off white like a real frog. A couple of coats of poly finish it off.

Sioux Moccasins

2011-01-02T18:23:00.000-08:00

Mid Dec. 2010

Time to carve: 2.5 hours
Finishing: 2

With new band saw blade in place, I roughed this slide out and set forth carving. When finished and sanded, I hated to even think about painting this slide. I was so good looking in it's natural state. But once again, I wanted to stay true to the original article and began to paint. The more I painted the more interesting the slide became and when it was finished it was really something! A couple of coats of poly later and its ready to wear.

Fourth of July

2011-01-02T18:09:00.000-08:00

Mid Dec. 2010

Time to carve: ,5 hours
Finishing: 1.5

My band saw blade broke and while I was waiting for a replacement to come in, I found this slide in my pile. OK, I don't need anything fancy for this one, just a dowel, my knee (to break the dowel with), thin plywood,and a sharp knife. It didn't take much to cut out the parts and glue them together. Painted with craft paints and finished with poly,

Sky Geek from Mars

2011-01-02T17:54:00.000-08:00

Early Dec. 2010

Time to carve: 2 hours
Finishing: 1.5

"If you can't whittle this one, your just not a whittler..." wrote Whittlin Jim. Well, sure it was easy to carve but on the other hand ...

Carved from maple with the teeth carved separately and glued on later. The antenna were cut from 1/8 dowel and the ends are wooden beads. All the parts were painted with craft paints before gluing them together. Now when it came to finishing the slide, I set it up to spray it with poly but it slipped from holder breaking off one of the antenna. AAarrragghhh! Now what I thought! Drill it out and redo the antenna or try to glue back together. I had nothing to lose by gluing it and could always go the other route if it didn't look right. Glued, sanded and repainted in place, the slide was ready to finish again. Two coats of poly and a new respect for the fragile nature of the slide.

Minitaure Knot Board

2010-11-25T15:13:00.000-08:00

Mid Nov. 2010

Time to carve: 0 hours
Other work: 1.5 hours
Finishing: .5

Some times I look at a slide and I not so sure I am going to like it when it is done. This is one of thus slides but I was so wrong because this is really a great slide! I started with a thin round from a craft store. Next I found some old computer wire to form the knots and set forth tying them. This took me back to my days as a Tenderfoot in short order I had a bunch of knots ready for mounting. I painted the round white and when it was dry, I super glued the knots on the round. Using a labeler, I labeled each knot and then finished it with a couple of coats of poly.

OA Slide (2)

2010-11-25T14:48:00.000-08:00

Mid Nov. 2010

Time to carve: 1 hour
Finishing: .5 hours

The second Order of the Arrow slide I've done and it is my understanding that members of the Los Angeles OA made these back when Whittlin Jim published this slide. Made of maple, I roughed this out on the bandsaw and set to work on the slide. When I finish carving and sanding it, I painted the slide with craft paint. As usual I finished it off with a couple of coats of poly. I like the simplicity and elegance of this slide! I wonder if the LA lodge members still make this slide?

Copper arrowhead

2010-11-25T14:30:00.000-08:00

Early Nov. 2010

Time to carve: 0 hours
Metal work: 1.5 hours
Finishing: .5

I was in one of my favorite hardware stores one day and noticed they carried small sheets of heavier gauged copper than what I had at home. Remembering this slide, I got the copper and proceeded to cut out the patten. Just in case, I thought, I cut out two just in case I ruined the first one. Getting out a ball-peen hammer and set forth beating the heck out of the copper blanks. Once I got them hammered out, I turned the blanks and hammered the other side against a piece of wood. This cupped the metal into the shape needed for the slide. Hmmm...I thought both blanks turned out pretty good! A bit of sanding on the edges to smooth them. Now, I cut some more copper to form the backs of the slides and soldered the backs onto the slide using a small torch. An interesting effect from the torch, it discolored the copper arrowhead. This is really a good thing because after a slight buffing with fine steel wool the raised area where now shiny and the recessed areas still had the discoloring which really gives it some depth. Now I've got two really good looking slides.

Sittin' Pretty

2010-11-25T14:10:00.000-08:00

Early Nov. 2010

Time to carve:2 hours
Finishing: 1 hour

Multiply pieces to carve with this slide. The first is the piece of cheese which not only has two neckerchief holes on top merging into one hole one the bottom, but also a hole within a hole in which the head of the mouse is mounted. The head is tricky since it has small details and it needed to be strong enough to carry those small details. Maple fit the bill here. The eyes are the heads of pins and the whiskers are made from paint brush bristles. Both were set in place by drilling small holes to hold the eyes and whiskers then gluing them in place. The tail is a piece of gray leather also glued in place. Painted with craft paints and finished off with a couple coats of poly.

Tom tom

2010-11-25T09:53:00.000-08:00

Late October 2010

Time to carve: 0 Hours
Finishing: 2 Hours

The ring is made from a 2 1/4 PVC cap, I had hanging around my workshop, I cut the end off and sanded the edges. The top is made from some thin white leather cut in an X pattern with the center big enough to cover the ring. The arms of the X are thin so they can be tied behind the ring. The leather is soaked in water before attaching it to the ring and while still wet, I took thread and needle to sew up the sides which cinches up the leather. The designs were painted using paint pens and the whole slide was coated with a couple of coats of poly.

Compass

2010-11-25T09:21:00.000-08:00

Mid October 2010

Time to carve: 0 hours
Finishing: 2 hours

When I look at the original pattern last spring I thought, hey I seen that kind of brass compass this should be easy to make. The funny part is I looked and looked for one of those and could not find one no matter where I looked. Oddly enough, I was packing my backpack for a hike on the AT and discovered a compass I found at summer camp. The compass was tossed in the wood by someone because it would not turn on it's base. Not wanting to leave it there, I put it in my pack to throw it away later. Now I had an idea, I broke the compass away from the base and cut a piece leather for the slide. Next I needed to fasten the compass to the leather. I could have just glued it to the hole in the leather but I wondered if I could make it so it would turn. I needed to find something strong enough to whole the compass in place but thin enough so I could use it with the leather. Cutting some plastic from an empty orange juice container, the plastic worked like a charm since it was pliable enough to fit over the flange in the back of the compass. I also decided to sew the plastic to the leather for more support. Now I have a workable compass slide.

Korea

2010-11-25T08:56:00.000-08:00

Sept. - Oct. 2010

Time to carve: 12 hours
Finishing: .5 hours

Sometimes there is a slide that just "kicks your butt" while your trying to make it. Well this is one of those slides. I roughed out the cylinder back in September then spent the next month trying to figure out how to carve this pattern. Night after night erasing the pencil marks and redrawing the weaving pattern only to becoming confused when it was time to put knife to wood. Finally one night the pattern made sense and I began to carve. I can tell you first hand if you try this slide, take your time, have a sharp knife, and concentrate when carving. Finished with shellac it stands out as a favorite in my collection. But why is it named Korea? According to Whttlin Jim, "that's where it came from".

A What's It

2010-11-25T08:37:00.000-08:00

Late August 2010

Time to carve: 1.5 hours
Finishing: .5 hours

An interesting slide because it raises an eyebrow when people see it but also scratching their heads when they see what it can do. Carved from maple and the dot attached with fishing line. I finished it off with shellac.

The science behind this is the slide, despite the weight of the belt, transfers the center of gravity to the tip of the slide. By focusing this to the tip, I can balance the belt on my finger.

...flag, totem, and Wood Badge

2010-10-08T20:02:00.000-07:00

Sept. 2010

Time to carve: 3 hours
Finishing: 1.5 hours

Now if you follow my inconstant posts, you might have wondered where have I been? Well the answer is that I've been busy with Wood Badge. In fact I write this on the eve before my second weekend. Yeah, I should be getting some sleep. Anyway I wanted to post these projects before going because there is a good chance I won't see them again. Without further ado...

"I use to be a bear and a good old bear to..." So sitting around with my patrol we where trying to think of how to leave our mark on the service patrol emblem. I saw an unusual stick on the ground, picked it up and started to carve. In no time flat there was a Bear tooth (colored with permanent marker) hanging from the shovel. (Setting the bar high on the first day.) I took the same stick home and carved four more teeth for our patrol flag. What you don't see (because I have that side down) is each bear tooth has our name painted on it. I still am not sure what kind of wood it was but they should look great hanging from our flag!

The second project will don the program patrol emblem and is based on our totem drawn on the first day we were a patrol, Made from maple, it was a piece I messed up on with the Monkey slide but worked well for this slide. The ears are made of leather and the fish was carved separately and glued on. Painted with craft paints and sealed with a few coats of poly.

and now its "Back to Gilwell, happy land, I'm going to work my ticket when I can"

EDIT: I'm pleased to say, the bear totem slide is now on it's way to N2-66-11-1 August 26-28th 2011 at Camp Tadma. Good luck with the course Mark and thanks for bringing the spirit of the Bear Patrol and NE-II-192 with you.

One year later

2010-08-30T18:36:00.000-07:00

A year ago...

I was the new scout master of our troop
I had just come back from Outdoor Leader Essentials training
and I had found a passion of carving neckerchief slides

Some reflections as I go forward...

So far, cow horns are more difficult to find than I thought
Butterball does not include neck bones with its frozen turkeys
As much as I tried, finding a armadillo tail in New England still eludes me and I understand they may carry leprosy.
I still trying to learn to bend wood. (But can't wait to try out the new steamer I made.)
I'm always on the lookout for items for the slides.

Going forward...

I going to Wood Badge training (which I wanted to do for years)
I look forward to this year with the troop
and I still carry the passion to carve towards my goal

Life Preserver

2010-08-29T20:56:00.000-07:00

Late August 2010

Time to carve: 0 hours
Finishing: .25 hours

While not an Whittlin Jim pattern, I wanted to make this "Slide of the Month" for a Scout who earned his BSA Life Guard award this summer at camp. The ring is a pre-painted white curtain rod ring I found at Home Depot. The rope is nylon cord and the red is duct tape. This slide takes literately 15 minutes to make and by far is the easiest to date.

EDIT: As it turns out, there was a Whittlin Jim column also on this slide.

Boiled Lobster

2010-08-29T20:46:00.000-07:00

End August 2010

Time to carve: 2.5 hours
Finishing: 1 hours

One thing you notice when vacationing in Plymouth, MA, the gift stores have lots of lobster kick-knacks. So it was only fitting the next pattern in my pack was a lobster. Carved from Oak (because it was the only wood I had that was large enough)this slide took a sharp knife and a lot of patience. The antenna were made from a boom bristles and the eyes a couple of black plastic headed pins. Painted with craft paint and finished with poly.

Jaguar

2010-08-29T20:31:00.000-07:00

Mid August 2010

Time to carve: 3.5 hours
Finishing: 1.5 hours

Turning to basswood this time (because the piece I had was the right size)I struggled to try to get this slide to look right. As a result it is about half the size of the block I started with. Once I had it shaped to my satisfaction, I began to paint the slide. I wasn't happy with the orange color I painted it so I gave it a over coat with a linen colored paint. With the orange showing through the linen I got the color I was going for. When all the painting was done, I made the teeth from some scrape white plastic and super glued them in place. It is finished with a couple of coats of poly.

Water Buffalo II

2010-08-29T20:19:00.000-07:00

Mid August 2010

Time to carve: 1.5 hours
Finishing: 2 hours

Another case of more than one pattern for slide. The Water Buffalo finds its way to my carving knife again but with a slightly different twist on the horns. Made of maple it was easy to carve but the finish to me makes it stand out. Mistaking this slide with another, I initially stained this slide. Realizing the error, I sprayed the slide with a couple of coats of flat black paint. Interestingly enough, the paint cracked and gave the slide an old look so I decided to finish it off as is with a couple of coats of poly.

Ox Yoke

2010-08-29T20:06:00.000-07:00

Early August 2010

Time to carve: .5 hours
Metal work: 1 hour
Finishing: 2 hours

It's funny to me that I always seem to have a couple of slides in the works at the same time and this is no exception. While carving the Hungry Bear, I came across this pattern and thought I would cut it out. A short while later I had the bow yoke made so all I had to do was make ox bow from some metal stock. Well bending the metal wasn't going well until I made a bending jig using a small piece of pipe, some wood screws, and a block of wood. The wood is stained and the metal pieces painted with some black "hammered" paint. Finished off with a coupled of coats of poly.

Hungry Bear

2010-08-29T19:46:00.000-07:00

Early August 2010

Time to carve: 5 hours
Finishing: 2 hours

This was a tricky slide to carve! Carved from maple for it's strength (and because I have a good supply, hollowing out the different areas necessary was hard to do. I roughed out as much as I dare do with the band saw but I had to depend on a sharp knife to pull this off. When I finally finished carving, I did not thing the neckerchief would fit through the tiny arm holes. After trying it out, before painting it, I began to see why it was designed like this. The slide "hugs" the neckerchief giving the appearance of the bear peaking out. Kewl! Painted with craft paints, following the article's instructions, and finished off with poly.

Hungry Bass

2010-08-29T19:28:00.000-07:00

Early August 2010

Time to carve: 4 hours
Finishing: 2.5 hours

What an unusual slide! I started this slide a couple of times because I just could not get the opening in the mouth quite right. Each time I had to adjust the fish pattern to be larger than I was expecting. The hard part was getting the hole large enough to accept the neckerchief and deep enough to cut out the gills so it would meet the hole in the mouth. Once this was accomplished shaping

the rest of the fish was really easy. I really hated to go much father since the maple fish body looked so good but I still had to add the fins on the back and bottom of the fish. The original pattern called for leather so I found some stiff leather and cut the fins out. I notched the wood and glued the fins in place using some super glue. Painting according to the directions and finishing it with a couple of coats of Poly.

Steer skull

2010-07-25T18:36:00.000-07:00

Mid July 2010

Time to carve: 3.5 hours
Finishing: 2 hours

Started this one at summer camp too...but just barely. Carved from maple it is one of the more unusual slides
I've made. I had trouble visualizing this but as I carved I seemed to find my way. (The closest I have been to a long horn steer skull is the on the screen at the movies.) The eye and horn sockets had to be shaped at a different angle than I am use to seeing. But I digress...the slide was painted with craft paints and when dry, given a black wash to bring out the cracks in the skull. The horns were made from some scrap plastic trim I had laying around.They were rounded and heated to form the bends, and then glued into place. A couple of coats of poly finish it off.

Monkey

2010-07-22T19:08:00.000-07:00

Mid July 2010

Time to carve: 3.5 hours

Finishing: 1.5 hour

Well it's during the third camp of the month, (and the only one I'm staying at) I'm carving the Monkey slide. Now the thing that is really funny is while I packed my carving stuff, I forgot to bring any finished slides for a neckerchief. So I've got two choices, go without a neckerchief during flag ceremony or wear an unfinished slide. I went with the unfinished slide but what was really interesting was the response of scouts from other troops as they watched the slide develop. By week's end, I kept getting asked "Is that the same slide?", and "How did you make that?". But probably the most surprising to most (especially those taking First Aid MB) no cuts and no blood was shed making this slide. Painted using craft paints and sealed using a couple of coats of poly, the final step was gluing on the eyebrows and ear fuzz. While it doesn't show up well in the photo, they both are made from some feather fuzz and super glued to the slide.

Padlock

2010-07-22T18:45:00.000-07:00

Early July 2010

Time to carve: 2 hours

Finishing: 1 hour

July is a busy month, so much going on between Scout camps and other camps. I started this slide while waiting for the closing ceremony of NYLT at Rotary Scout Camp. Made from maple, it didn't take long to flesh this one out as I waited for my scouts to arrive in there patrols. A bit of sanding and I was ready for a key. Oddly enough, I had a key

that came as swag with a old text based computer game. (Yeah, I've been around computers for a long time.) I made the keyhole slot and fitted the key. Painting the lock with some chrome spray paint, it took a couple of coats with light sanding in between to give it a smooth brilliance. When dry, I glued the key in place. Wearing the slide is easy because the neckerchief is brought through the hasp.

A Rugged Scotsman

2010-06-30T17:47:00.000-07:00

Late June 2010

Time to carve: 6.5 hours
Finishing: 1.5 hour

Aye, I been looking forward to carving this one. Carved from maple it is a mix of a chip and finished carving. Though roughed out on the band saw, there was quite a bit of carving involved with this slide. (Lots of sharping too.) I finished this up with craft paints and a couple of coats of poly. When it was done, I almost felt like I should have been carving this under moonlight - the "Lantern". Loch Sloidh

Flashlight

2010-06-30T16:55:00.000-07:00

Late June 2010

Time to carve: 0 hours
Leather work: 1 hour
Finishing: .5 hour

I have had this slide in the back of my mind for a while now but couldn't seem

to find the right flashlight. Then when helping my daughter clean her room, I came upon a little flashlight that would be just right. My daughter didn't want it anymore (because it didn't work) so I set forth fixing it. A bunch of hearing aid batteries and some fine sand paper latter I had a working flashlight.
Next came the the leather part of the slide and I began by laying it out on paper first. Once I had worked out, I cut it out,punched out holes for the flashlight and around the outside edge for lacing. Somehow plastic lacing, or gimp, just didn't look right so I decided to use a natural string instead.

Paul Bunyan's Hollow Tooth

2010-06-26T05:19:00.000-07:00

Late June 2010

Time to carve: 3.5 hours
Finishing: 1 hour

OK, I got tp to admit this one is a bit weird. I mean the thought of wearing a tooth around one's neck. Made from Maple, roughed it out on the band saw and began the process of shaping the tooth. Lots of carving, lots of sharping the knife as sat and chipped away. Man... maple is hard! The odd part, when I started sanding, was I was having a hard time deciding what to sand smooth and what to leave a little rough. In the end I smoothed the part above the gum and left the roots somewhat rough (like a real tooth). Two coats of white craft paints and waited for it to completely dry before giving the roots a dark brown wash. A couple of coats of poly finish it off.

Peyote Beading

2010-06-23T09:56:00.000-07:00

Late June 2010

Time to carve: 0 hours
Beading: 4 hours
Finishing: 0 hour

Looking ahead to the next few patterns, I saw the Peyote Beading slide and wondered

what design to make. Also on my mind was the Wood Badge class I will be taking in the fall. Hmmm...just maybe I could combine the two....
I set out with graph paper and colored pencils in had to sketch out the McClaren Tarten. After a couple of tries I had the pattern and when out to get some beads. The colors turned out to be a bit tricky since I was really limited to the beads on hand at the store. As a result I have two different dark green beads that are close enough to work. Next I built a beading loom and, while it is not what was called for in the orginal article, it is the method I know. Moving forward I found my eyes are not what they use to be and I had to break out my "cheaters" while stringing the beads. I compleated the base of the work in one evening (see second pic)and sewed the ends together the next morning forming the slide. I really like this one and who knows maybe I make some "unoffical" shoulder loops using the same pattern.

OUCH!

2010-06-19T15:47:00.000-07:00

Mid June 2010

Time to carve: 1.5 hours
Finishing: 1.5 hour

A funny cartoon kind of slide that was easy to make. Carved from maple, there is really nothing really hard about this slide. The arrow is a bamboo food skewer that is passed through a hole drilled in the head and glued in place. The feathers are made from some plastic from a gift card. The original slide pattern called for skunk hair to be glued to the head. Hmmmm...fresh out of skunk hair around here (and no real ambition to get some). Off to the craft store to find some fake fur and it seems the smallest amount you can buy is 1/8 of a yard of the material. I only needed 2 inch strip 1/4 inch wide to be glued to the head for some pretty good looking hair. (I have enough left over to make 200 or more of these slides.)

GOB

2010-06-19T15:03:00.000-07:00

Mid June 2010

Time to carve: 5 hours
Finishing: 1.5 hour

GOB? What's a GOB? As it turns out, according to an online dictionary, it is slang for a sailor. (go figure) Another sailor pattern from Whittlin Jim and I set off on this slide with a big piece of maple. What struck me about this one was the size of the nose. Now I not very good with faces as a rule because the nose never looks right to me. This one was no exception I guess because it seems out of proportion to the rest of the face but that is what the pattern called for.

Gooney Bird

2010-06-19T14:49:00.000-07:00

Early June 2010

Time to carve: 1.5 hours
Finishing: 2 hour

...and now for something completely different. An easy project with feathers. Yeah, I got to admit I had my doubts on this one but I kind of like how it turned out. Getting a wooden ball from a local craft store, I cut in in half and then cut a small angle in the top ball for the feathers. The head was carved from some scrap maple and the hardest part was fitting it to the body. Now I guess I could have flattened the body where the head would go but I decided to hollow out the head to match the curvature of the body. Whittlin Jim called for some split pea eyes but I opted for some made from a small dowel and glued to the head. I had some feathers around from a different project, when I was a WEBELO's leader, which I cut to size and super glued to the body. Painted with some craft paints and finished with a couple of coats of poly

Easter Island Stone Face

2010-06-09T17:25:00.000-07:00

Early June 2010

Time to carve: 6.5 hours
Finishing: 1 hour

Whittlin Jim wrote how he had read "AKU-AKU,The Secert of Easter Island" while in Hawaii and was inspired. Hmmm...I thought...this the second Easter Island Stone head pattern he had done. I read on. "When I picked up a piece of Milo driftwood", Milo driftwood, where am I going to find Milo driftwood around here? Then I noticed a little note stating that Milo wood is about the same color as walnut. Hey, now that I've got (thanks to my father-in-law family farm). This would be the first project in several weeks since having a wart removed from my thumb. Carved from (really really hard) black walnut over a couple days, I spent almost as much time sharping the knife as I did carving. A lot of sanding with this and a couple of coats of poly finish it off.

N.W. Coast Totem

2010-05-19T19:20:00.000-07:00

Mid May 2010

Time to carve: 4 hours
Finishing: 1.5 hour

When I was looking for a piece of wood for this slide, I knew it had to be a hardwood but try as I might, I didn't have a thick enough piece. Thinking about I decided, since it would be painted, I could glue a couple of pieces of maple together and with a good tight joint the side would look like one solid piece. I could rough this out a little on the band saw but most of this was carved by hand. I really have to say that this too a lot more time than I expected and necessitated many breaks to sharpen my blades. When it was done and sanded, I painted it with craft paint finishing it up with a couple of coats of poly.

Busy Beaver

2010-05-19T16:18:00.000-07:00

Mid May 2010

Time to carve: 1.5 hours
Finishing: 1.5 hour

With the deadline for the deposit for a Wood Badge class I am going to take, I had an idea for my next slide. Now I don't know just which patrol I will be in but this slide might my critter. Carved from a solid piece of maple, this surprised me as being much easier to carve than I expected. I roughed it out with the band saw and set out with a sharp knife to round the surfaces. The hardest part of this slide was carving the head and "chewed" part of the log. Painted with craft paints, making the log look like a birch log took some time. Finished off with a couple coats of poly before adding the leather loops. Nice!

Arrowhead

2010-05-19T15:48:00.000-07:00

Early 2010

Time to carve: 0 hours
Metal work: 2 hours
Finishing: 0 hours

Also while in Mystic, I picked up a couple of arrowheads at a gift shop with a few different slides. I been waiting to make this slide for awhile now and the arrowhead was the last missing piece. Using some leftover brass from earlier projects, the base of the slide was cut then hammered with a ball peen hammer to give the finished look. The holder, for the arrowhead, is also made of brass and took some time to custom fit. The slide loop,arrow head holder, and base were all connected together with a steel pop rivet. After all the brass was secured, the arrowhead was set in place and the holder tabs bent to hold the arrowhead.

Apple Core

2010-05-19T03:22:00.000-07:00

Early May 2010

Time to carve: 1.5 hours
Finishing: 1.5 hour

...meanwhile. This slide was carved from a 1 1/2 inch poplar dowel. The center is made using a "chip" method while the top and bottom is finished. Painted with craft paints then the seeds and stem (from a real apple) are glued in place.A couple of coats of poly finish it off.

Diversion (Wood Spirit)

2010-05-18T20:28:00.000-07:00

Early May 2010

Time to carve:2.5 hours
Finishing:.5

Another slight diversion but a very useful one. While in Mystic, I picked up a book on carving Wood Spirits and with a request from my wife decided to give it a try. Using the rest of the birch stick I picked up for the Axe in Block, I carved this one night while following the directions in the book. The birch was rather soft and I came close to ruining it a few times. When it was done I decided to stain it with some minwax stain. It really changes the character of the piece but also made it hard to photograph (sorry). As it turned out, my wife decided not to use it for her project and came up with a good idea instead so now I have a nice totem for scouting.

Shark!

2010-05-18T20:13:00.000-07:00

April 1, 2010

Time to carve: 4 hours
Finishing:4 hours

An extremely hard slide to carve since it has intricate materials that have traveled between here in Mass to Florida so many times...

Sorry a late April fool's joke on my sister-in-law. You see for years my wife and my sister-in-law have traded this shark pin back and forth for years. You never knew where it would show up as the last one to have it hides it somewhere at others house. It has taken on several variations. For example, we place some 50+ stickers hidden all over her house, while she and her husband were out, and would not tell her where the pin was till they found all the stickers. We, on the other hand, have 52 "shark pin" playing cards. So Chris where will the pin show up this time...

...and now back to the quest

Wormy Apple

2010-05-02T15:18:00.000-07:00

Mid April 2010 (End Jan. 2010)

Time to carve: 3 hours
Finishing: 1.5 hour

OK, so why the two different months? Well back when I was starting the Pueblo Indian Pottery, I started to create this from memory. My memory failed me in this case because when I took a look at the pattern I had craved it incorrectly. I threw this one into a bin of scrap wood. When I came to the Wormy Apple pattern it suddenly occurred to me I had this half down if I used this scrapped project. I threw it into a pack with my knife and went off to Mystic, CT with my family. The main part of the apple was carved and when we got back I started on the worm. The worm was make from a piece of white plastic with the segments cut into the plastic. Painted with craft paints and then the two pieces glued together for finishing with a couple of coats of poly.

Axe in Block

2010-05-02T14:21:00.000-07:00

Late April 2010

Time to carve: 1.5 hours
Finishing: 1.5 hour

I thought about this slide ever since deciding to take Wood Badge training. The hardest part was finding the right "log" for the slide. I wanted a birch "log" but to cut a live branch I would need to wait it to dry out. Finding a branch on the ground in the woods proved to be a waste of time since anything on the ground, after falling off a tree, was too far decayed. What to do? Well a couple of years ago there was a ice storm north of here and quite a few trees came down in the woods and along the roads. Recently I was driving to one of our plants and I noticed how many birches were cut up lying on the side of the road. I stopped on the side of the road, in one such spot and fowund what I was looking for ... a seasoned piece of birch. The handle was made from a leftover piece of cherry and the axe head from "plumber's putty". This putty is amazing stuff! I am guessing it is an epoxy and dries has hard as a rock in roughly 5 minutes. During that harding time you and shape it any way you want and after it is hard it is sandable. A small V cut in the birch, some glue to fashion the axe to the birch, some craft paint on the head and this is ready for some poly. I can't wait to wear this on the first day of Wood Badge training!

O.A. Slide

2010-05-02T13:29:00.000-07:00

Late April 2010

Time to carve: .5 hours
Other work: 1
Finishing: 1.5 hour

Made from some very thin birch plywood, the OA and the arrow were cut out and sanded. The W's were made from brass, basically cut out using tin snips, and filed to a finish. I painted the wood using craft paints and coated it with a couple of coats of poly. Something odd happened with the finish and the brass discolored in the corners probably because it was a water based and most likey I will remove it from the brass and try an oil based poly on the brass.

Pedro's Lucky Shoe

2010-05-02T13:10:00.000-07:00

Late April 2010

Time to carve: 1 hours
Finishing: 1.5 hour

Next in my list was Pedro's Lucky shoe was the next slide in line and after doing the Pedro - His Mark slide it was an easy one to visualize. Made of Maple, this project took very little time after roughing it out on the band saw. Wought iron was a natural for the color of the slide and a couple of coats of poly finish.

Sailors Rosette

2010-05-02T12:18:00.000-07:00

Mid April 2010

Time to carve: 0 hours
Other work: 1
Finishing: 1 hour

After spending some time in Mystic CT and seeing one of the largest Sailor's Rosette I had ever seen, I was reminded of a Whittlin Jim slide pattern. Now while the photo doesn't do it Justice, this really looks great! I made the weaving frame using some scrape pine and some brad nails. Leftover cotton clothes line forms the rosette. I needed to study the weaving pattern but quickly got the hang of it and once removed from the form, it was an easy task to tighten the rosette to the final knot. To form the loop, I tied the loose ends together with some thread. Finishing took a couple of coats of shellac.

Hits and misses

2010-04-23T13:35:00.000-07:00

Kudos to halfeagle.com one of the coolest list of Scouter blogs I have ever seen. Also a great blog called Scoutmaster with good information and podcasts that I am looking forward to listening to when I get home. (On vacation right now and have a slide I am going to make based on a large one I saw here but more on that in another post.) I would recommend these sites to all scouts and scouters.

Misses? "Where did your site go?" asked my sister-in-law today me today. Huh? For some reason my site was removed for a time today but hopefully will stay up and I haven't broken a "terms of service" rule.

Diving Eagle

2010-04-16T09:52:00.000-07:00

Early to Mid April 2010
Time to carve: 4 hours
Finishing: 1 hour

At 7 1/2 inches this is the largest slide I have carved to date. (Actually the Giant Titanus Beetle is larger but that is just because of the antennas.) Carved from maple (yeah, I am on a maple kick)for its strength, this slide took quite a while to carve. I roughed it out on the bandsaw but even with this advantage, there was a lot of wood that had to be removed by hand before I could begin shaping the slide. Going forward, the wings needed to take on an elongated oval shape and

my knife didn't perform this task very well. The best way I found was to use sandpaper to shape the way I wanted. The feet had to be carefully carved as not to break off any of the parts. When finally finished carving and sanding I set forth painting this piece. I made one change from the original pattern when it came to the color scheme. The beak and the feet were suppose to be a cream color but when I painted them that color it just didn't look right. My wife has been following a live web cam of the birth of several Bald Eagles so I asked her what color they should be and went with it. (She's so smart.) A couple of coats of poly finish it off.

I like this slide so much, I going to save this till our next eagle ceremony and wear it then.

Hungry Frog

2010-04-16T03:43:00.000-07:00

Late Late March - Early April 2010

Time to carve: 4 hours
Finishing: 1 hour

I like slides, sometimes, that don't require a loop to be attached to the back of it. The neckerchief simply passes through the body of the slide. Why? Well these slides tend to be a bit more tricky to carve and the Hungry Frog is a good example of this. Made from maple, for strength, the hole in the center is not straight through but take a curve following the curve of the back of the frog.

I hated to paint this one once it was sanded because it was such a great looking natural wood slide but it would be hard to see what it was at a distance. Painted with craft paints and coated with a couple of coats of poly

Artist's Palette

2010-04-15T20:15:00.000-07:00

End March 2010

Time to carve: .5 hours
Finishing: 1 hour

One of the easiest slides I have made thus far! I had some thin pile wood scrap around
(from another project) and a quick trip around with a jig saw did the trick. Drill the hole and then elongate it with knife to accept the brush. I ended up having to do some carving on the brush too to make it all fit together correctly. Some dabs of color and a couple of coats of poly to finish it off.

Bugle

2010-04-15T20:01:00.000-07:00

End March 2010

Time to carve: 2.5 hours
Finishing: 1.5 hour

Delicate does not begin to describe this project. I had to pick wood that would not crack or break while I carved out the fine details of this slide. I decided on maple because of it's strength (and because I had just bought a big bag of the stuff). I roughed out the outline of the bugle and then drilled several holes in the middle to make roughing out the inside easier.

Without access to a real bugle, I had no idea how the tubes ran. I began to cut but quickly discovered that I had transposed the drawing. Yikes! Now what? I put down the piece for a couple of days trying to decide if I should start over. The solution came to me while I was in the shower one morning. Why not reverse the drawing on the computer screen then print it out. Once I had this, the pipes were easy to follow and as a result my slide is a mirror image of what the original drawings were. Lots of sanding on this one! Finished with gold spray paint I could have stopped there but the resulting slide just didn't look right. (Too shiny) I wondered what would happen if I sprayed it with the water based poly I usually use. Would the poly react the paint somehow? The result gave the bugle a weathered look...Sweet!

Blacksmith's Anvil

2010-03-30T19:13:00.000-07:00

End March 2010

Time to carve: 2.5 hours
Finishing: 1.5 hour

It's funny, when I go looking for wood it always seems to be in the strangest places. A couple of weeks ago, I was in Vermont on business at one of our sites and stopped into a local hardware store. It is an odd mix of a regular hardware store and kind of a department store rolled into one. I always am amazed when I go there because there is always something I don't expect and this was no exception. I was looking in the handy craft section at some wood they had for carving. Small bags of balsa, basswood, and one of assorted hardwoods. The biggest problem I had was with the price because it seem a lot to pay when I could only find one or two pieces in each bag that would be worth carving as a slide. (The rest of the pieces in the bag were too small or thin.) On the way out of the store, there were large 40 pound bags of firewood for wood stoves. It caught my eye because it was all planed pieces about 1 to 2 inches thick and various lengths/widths. The best part...it was all kinds of hardwood for $6.95!

Right off the top of this bag I found a great piece of maple to make this slide with. I did a bit of sawing with the bandsaw to rough it out and a really sharp knife to shape it. The hammer was made out of some scrap I had cut off and glued on after the whole thing was painted with craft paints. A couple of coats of poly finish it off. There is something that was very pleasing making this slide. Perhaps it was the pleasing lines of the anvil or maybe it was knowing I got a great deal.

Just Call Him Sorrowful

2010-03-30T18:49:00.000-07:00

Mid March 2010

Time to carve: 1.5 hours
Finishing: 1.5 hour

I wasn't too sure about this one... it seemed too easy. Well I started to make this slide out of pine but it didn't work out so well because the wood kept giving me raw edges in certain spots. The second one was carved out of bass wood and it was a beautiful day. I don't mean just because the project came together, but a really nice day outside with temps in the 70's. After a long cold winter, a day like this one shouldn't be wasted. No...not a sick day or impromptu vacation day, just a lunch hour sitting in the sun and carving. Anyway, the head was carved and the ears were glued on after painting with craft paints. A couple of coats of poly finished it off.

Riding Quirt

2010-03-14T14:52:00.000-07:00

Mid March 2010

Time to carve: 0 hours
Leather work: 2 hours
Finishing: 0 hour

And now for something completely different...no carving or woodwork. The only thing necessary to do with the wooden dowel was to cut it to size and glue the leather to it. Having a pattern I make out of paper and a good bag of leather scrap from Micheals this slide came together very quickly one Saturday morning. But unlike most of my other slides... No coats of poly.

Walrus

2010-03-14T14:41:00.000-07:00

Late Feb. 2010

Time to carve: 3 hours
Other work: 1.5
Finishing: 1.5 hour

This slide has special significant for our family. While looking for some wood for "the herd", I contacted my mother-in-law to see if my father-in-law had any cherry. While he did not have any, there was lots of other good hard woods there including some black walnut cut from the family farm before he was born. Bob made many things from this wood and brought it with him no matter where he and his family were transferred to and since his passing the wood has been slowly given out to each of the children's families. I knew the rich dark brown color would make the walrus come to life without having to resort to any stain or paint. Carving black walnut take time, patience, and several sharp blades. I must say at this point that black walnut is the toughest wood I have ever tried to carve because it is really hard. Once I had carved the head it was time to work on the tusks. I looked a a couple of different kinds of wood for this but nothing seemed the right color (without resorting to paint). What I ended up using was some pieces of white plastic molding cut, sanded, and bent to the right size and shape. Following the instructions, the whiskers are made from toothbrush bristles but I wonder if when the original was made if the bristles were as narrow a diameter as these were. (Come to think of it, I could not think of doing this part without Crazy Glue ether.) As for the eyes, well I did break down and paint those with some black paint. A couple of coats of poly finish this off. One thing I would do differently if I was to make another. The whiskers would have been done after the poly since the poly collected on the bristles like droplets of water .

Bucksaw

2010-03-14T12:55:00.000-07:00

Late Feb. 2010

Time to carve: .5 hours
Finishing: 1 hour

It's funny how sometimes oppertunity strikes.
Just as I was finishing with the last couple of members of "the Herd", I broke a bandsaw blade. Oddly enough, it just so happened I needed a part of a blade for my next slide.

As a young Scout, I seem to remember seeing someone in my troop (or maybe it was another troop?) who had made a real bucksaw and use to carry it to overnights in his pack. I even think I have the plans for one in an old fieldbook soelymewhere. Cut from a strip of thin Poplar, these pieces to this slide had to be cut precisely in order for them to fit together correctly. The blade is a piece of the bandsaw blade and the rope at tbe top is waxed heavy thread.A couple of coats of poly to finish it off and this one was ready to turn some heads.

Phillipine Water Buffalo (and the herd)

2010-03-14T05:35:00.000-07:00

Mid Feb 2010

Time to carve: 18 hours
Finishing: 6 hour

I began thinking that I really wanted to come up with something special for my 50th slide and checking the packet I am working from the “Philippine Water Buffalo” was the next in line. Hmmm...a good looking slide and made in cherry. But I don't have any cherry. I began looking around for some wood to use instead of cherry but nothing was grabbing me so I set forth look for it. I looked on line and found some but I thought I must be able to find this locally. The first place I tried was closed three years ago and the second place had odd hours that never seemed to fit in with my working hours. By chance, I happened to ask Jud (the father of an Eagle Scout in our troop) if he knew anyplace where I could buy some cherry. Jud, one of the most bighearted guys I know, offered to give me some cherry scrap he had hanging around (as well as some other good wood for carving). A quick coat of glue, some clamps, and a couple pieces of wood that were not thick enough became just right for this slide. I roughed it out on the band saw, using the drawing as a guide, and began carving. A little more than an hour later I had a really good looking slide in front of me. Again curiosity got the best of me and I tried another kind of wood (some red oak). Also, a very nice slide.
Re-reading the article I struck on another idea. It seems that these slides were brought by Philippine Scouts to the 2nd National Jamboree, in 1950 Jamboree at Valley Forge, PA , for trading. I have a Scout in my troop going to the 2010 Jamboree. It seems like a match so I set forth to make a bunch of these slides for him to take with him. A couple of weeks (or more) latter I have 12 slides for him to trade, one for him to wear, one for Josh (Jud's son), and two for me. (One of which I messed up on and didn't want to send out.)

Lots of sanding on these slides but it was worth! Normally I use a water based Poly on my slides because it drys quickly and clearly. But on these slides I wanted the slightly yellow tinge of an oil Poly to bring out the grain on theses slides.

I went to post this blog and realized this is my 51st slide...Oh well!

Sunday Slide

2010-01-31T18:06:00.000-08:00

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

2010-01-29T17:20:00.000-08:00

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

2010-01-29T17:05:00.000-08:00

The last time I saw a surfboard like this one was back in the 60's on some TV show (maybe The Monkees). I doubt you would find one like this long board anywhere on the waves anymore. Carved from pine the board is a quick carve. The hardest part is carving the fin which has to be custom fitted to the curve of the board before attaching it to the board. The painting scheme is based on the original pattern from the pattern and is done with craft paints.Finished off with a couple of coats of polly. Maybe I will revisit this one sometime in the future and update it to a more current design.

Plaque Slides

2010-01-29T15:56:00.000-08:00

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

2010-01-25T15:12:00.000-08:00

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

2010-01-25T15:00:00.000-08:00

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

2010-01-25T14:40:00.000-08:00

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

2010-01-24T18:29:00.000-08:00

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

2010-01-23T14:53:00.000-08:00

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

2010-01-23T12:31:00.000-08:00

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

2010-01-23T12:16:00.000-08:00

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

2010-01-23T12:03:00.000-08:00

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

2010-01-23T11:46:00.000-08:00

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

2010-01-22T18:49:00.000-08:00

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

2010-01-22T03:39:00.000-08:00

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

2010-01-21T19:44:00.000-08:00

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

2010-01-20T17:28:00.000-08:00

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

2010-01-19T20:14:00.000-08:00

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

2010-01-19T20:04:00.000-08:00

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.

Tom-Tom

2010-01-19T19:55:00.000-08:00

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

2010-01-19T19:24:00.000-08:00

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

2010-01-19T19:05:00.000-08:00

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

2010-01-18T17:05:00.000-08:00

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

2010-01-18T16:10:00.000-08:00

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

2010-01-18T15:31:00.000-08:00

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

2010-01-17T18:11:00.000-08:00

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

2010-01-17T17:41:00.000-08:00

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

2010-01-17T17:23:00.000-08:00

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

2010-01-17T15:46:00.000-08:00

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 by Friction

2010-01-17T15:15:00.000-08:00

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

2010-01-17T15:04:00.000-08:00

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

2010-01-17T14:46:00.000-08:00

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

2010-01-17T14:28:00.000-08:00

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

2010-01-17T06:17:00.000-08:00

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

2010-01-17T05:46:00.000-08:00

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

2010-01-17T05:26:00.000-08:00

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

2010-01-17T05:10:00.000-08:00

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.