wooly

I recently sold my favorite eagle so far to a lady I'd never met through my FB. I've been holding this one here since December just for her. I had a few offers on it between then and last weekend when she FINALLY picked it up. Some for more than I was even asking, and waiting to be paid was getting frustrating, but something told me to keep holding it for her anyhow.. She had told me the story of her husband passing recently, and how my eagle had reminded her of their trips to Alaska together. She fell in love with this one before it was even done and sent me all kinds of really cool pics from their trips together. Then when I added the fish to the base (before I even heard her story) she was ready to drain her savings account to make it hers,lol! Long story short, the extra cash is always a good thing, but I've really met some great people and hear some wild stories through all this as well. Some customers are just more of a pleasure to meet than anything else. When I see the emotional connection they have to that old dirty log that once laid in the woods, I find that more rewarding than any profits that come from this stuff, and that's the honest to God truth.

WNY, 4o miles south of the Buff.

Thanks guys! That's the biggest problem I'm running into with this stuff right now is just dealing locally through word of mouth, and my FB page. Eventually I'll look more into some shipping options. To my surprise I've had to turn down some out of state interest because I'm not familiar or comfortable with crating and shipping big heavy items like this. Once I start getting into a rhythm with the carving side of things, I'll start to look more into how the business end works to make it profitable while still affordable to out of towners.

Forgot to measure it, but gotta be between 4- 4 1/2ft tall. Planning on selling it eventually, but it's going to be part of a bench with another carving on the other side. Not sure what that other carve is gonna be yet.

I forgot all about that! That sucker's gonna be worth millions when I croak,lol I'm gonna try to do a few more skulls this year.

Gonna use this guy as a bench end. Have to add some eyeballs.., finish up the base.., and let him drink another can of varnish. Just need to carve up something for the other side now and put it all together. Quick eagle I just finished up the other day too.

Definitely put a call in. Ask them if they have any members that go by the handle "doewhacker" or "steve863". Even if they don't.., I'm betting those two had something to do with it,lol

I've got a bunch of short rounds like that I'm going to give some of those a shot with this summer.

When I'm alone at home I call like a 10. Put me in the woods with a partner and I fall off to a 5. Put a gobbler in front of me and I'll drop or swallow the damn call,lol

Some NUT shared in on FB,lol

Grey Lives Matter,lol Probably would have ended a lot differently had it been a black squill!

This sheeit cracks me up! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yOwe1T2RXis

Not exactly the finish I had planned for this one, but the log has a mind of it's own sometimes and gets the final say. Just need to clean up a few minor details around the base and dump a few more coats of spar varnish on it.

It's just like hunting man! None of us are born good at anything... you get better as you apply yourself to it more. I never imagined I'd put anything else over hunting, or photography, shed hunting, or any of my other outdoorsy interests, but you never know what the future has in store or how much you'll enjoy something you've never tried before. Just another reason I like to keep an open mind and try new things even when I don't think I have any interest in them and am not very good at them in the beginning.... in this case, art. Who woulda thought this panzy crap would be any fun,lol

Thanks guys! I'm sticking with the Stihl chains for now. That's what I started with and feeling pretty comfortable with now. I'm running three different pitch chains on three different saws. My 12" carving bar is a 1/4" pitch .043ga..my 16" bar and chain is 3/8.., and my 18" is .325 .050. Each one has a different duty in removing wood, but in all honesty you could do it all with one pitch to some degree of detail once you get the hang of things. I'm just getting interested in some of the chain modifications and filing techniques that some carvers are using now. Once I dull up a few more chains I'll start experimenting with some of that on my own to see if there's a style that performs better for me. I started laying a little hair on this one yesterday after I posted those last pics. Just need to do some shaping on the fawn yet and get things smoothed out before I start the finish work. I may start experimenting with a little paint on these things, but I'm not sure this is the right one to start experimenting on,lol

Worked on giving the ol' stud a kid this morning and smoothing a few things out. Just kinda decided on this on the fly once I got going since I really didn't have a plan on what to do if the buck head turned out alright.

Very damn cool! Wouldn't bore me one bit if you posted your encounters with him EVERY day! A buddy called me over to see a grouse that was stalking him years ago. Same deal with him on the wheeler. I've never had that happen to me while alone in the woods though.

Surprised you didn't drop your drawers and demand a cavity search,lol

I cut out a diamond shape straight through the front view with the 18" bar. That gives you a good start to working the curvature inside the antlers. Then it's a delicate balance of removing a little bit at a time from each tine and beam and carefully shaping with the narrow carving bar. The carving saw will turn in the wood as it cuts if you don't try to take off too much in one bite. The outside of the rack can be taken down in the same manner, but at this point I'll probably switch over to grinding and sanding wheels on the angle grinder so they don't accidently get snapped off with the saw if it catches a knot..

You're hired! My new head of marketing director!

I'll look for a program that does the time lapse and see if I can't put something together. Been meaning to do that for a while now. If all else fails I'll have to pick up a new trail cam that shoots time lapse for my carving pit,lol

Finally got another full log back to the pit today and didn't waste any time making more sawdust! Still quite a bit to remove from this one, and plenty of shaping left, but the hardest most critical part is over.

Ahhh..., the goal isn't to make them 100% anatomically correct, rather to make them recognizable and interesting from any angle. The extra length helps to identify him from the other side as well.

I ran out of wood again, so I was digging through my scrap pile and found one of my first ever bear attempts that got tossed and was waiting to be burned. Figured I'd try to salvage something from that meaty chunk of wood and came up with this rabid coon.