MI Roundup Schedule

Wednesday - a morning and an afternoon Fundemental of Woodcarving class. see below description

Thrusday - Human Face Study Stick- see below description

Friday - Bellamy Style Eagle Class - this is a 24 inch wide eagle in a Butternut rough out, done in a folk art style made famous by John Bellamy of Kittery Maine in the 1860's. - see description below

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Fundamentals of Woodcarving Instruction Guide By Jim O’Dea, Grand Island, NY 716-775-3437 & Rotonda West, FL 941-697-2002 jeodea@aol.com

  • Safety: 1. Finger guards, Thumb guards or Tape- masking, or green medical 2. Gloves – Kevlar, stainless steel, leather, cotton 3. Aprons - leather – particularly if you are carving in your lap or power carving 4. Small cuts can be dangerous due to infections or hitting a nerve 5. Put several band aids in your tool box 6. Toxic woods www.ci.tucson.az.us/arthazards/wood2.html 7. Spalted wood www.thewoodbox.com/data/wood/spaltedinfo.htm

  • How to use a knife: - Two hands on the tool or two hands on the wood 1. Use thumb to draw blade to edge of wood 2. Use thumb as balance point to accurately recut the same spot 3. Use thumb as movement control on blade 4. Pivot off the thumb, makes use of leverage for less force and sensitivity of control 5. Use long blade as Detail knife – hold blade between middle finger and thumb, as some people write.

  • Types of knives and important parameters: 1. Straight blades – majority of knives made for woodcarving 2. Curved blades – specialty blade or pocket knife 3. Blade thickness – thinner better but weaker 4. Blade width – thinner for detail work, wider for rough out 5. Blade quality – amount of carbon 6. Blade hardness – unit of measure Rockwell Soft 56 –58: flexible, easy to sharpen, dulls sooner, need to sharpen more often Hard 61-65: brittle, tip breaks easier, stays sharp longer, harder to sharpen Composite – has hard center layer with softer side layers, best of both worlds, Sweden 7. Handles – should be comfortable in you hand. Round rolls of table, flat spots won’t, thin allows you to get blade closer to the wood 8. Blade guards to keep your edge sharp – plastic tubing, Styrofoam, leather sheath, corks 9. If you sand your carving – using a knife or gouge after that will dull it real quick

  • Gouges: - Size of carving you want to do influences size of tools 1. Defined by “sweep” number (1 to 11) and width(inches or millimeters) 2. Straight, bent and spoon shanks 3. Palm or straight handles

  • V-tools: - Size of carving you want to do influences size of tools 1. Defined by angle of the V (45, 60, 70, 90 degrees) and width (inches or millimeters) 2. Straight or bent shanks 3. Palm or straight handles

  • Wood Selection: Free wood – my favorite 1. Basswood – soft, little grain, keeps an edge, good if you want to paint project 2. Pine – soft, heavy grain, carves nice put not good keeping an edge, splits easy 3. Tupelo – bird carvers like it, works well with power tools and burners 4. White Cedar – soft, tight grain 5. Butternut – soft, heavy grain, brown, coloring, good for projects left natural 6. Jelutong from The Hardwood Connection in Sycamore Illinois. They do mail order, phone number is 815-895-8733. 7. Kiln dried versus air dried (slowing the drying process with plastic bags)

  • Finishing Your carving 1. Painting with acrylics – thin paints tyo a few drops of paint to a tablespoon of water. Wash carving with dish soap and water and a stiff hand brush, let dry or force with a hair dryer. Paint white color and all of eyes. Coat with min-ax natural stain and a little burnt umber oil stain mixed together. Wipe excess off and continue painting with other acrylic colors. A few days later spray with Deft or clear Kyrlon matt finish. 2. Non- Paint: Danish Oil, Tung Oil, Boiled linseed Oil, Wax, Deft or clear Kyrlon lacquer finish.

    __________________________________________________________________________ Human Face Study Stick

    8 hr class of classroom time required

    This class is an introduction to face carving for the beginning woodcarver little or no experience doing human faces. Students will have the opportunity to follow a methodology in developing a human face using just a knife. The emphasis of the class will be on the “process”, not the artistic mature of the carving. Each student will carve there own step by step set of five study blocks, with each step numbered, which will lead them through the process of "blocking" out a human face on the corner of a 1 1/2 inch square block. We will complete the nose and mouth with teeth on these blocks. We will also do eyes, step by step on a smaller, separate one-inch square study stick before attempting to put the eyes on the face on the bigger blocks. Those carvers who are more experienced will have time to complete the eyes on their bigger blocks. Those less experienced will have the eye study sticks completed but will have to complete putting eyes on the bigger blocks at night or at home. The whole idea is to understand the process and have your every own numbered sequence of steps to follow when you next attempt a human face.

    I use techniques which only require a knife so that the student need not purchase any special tools, however for those with V tools and gouges I will demonstrate where these tools are quicker and easier than using the knife. For the most novice carvers, I always have several SHARP knives they can borrow.

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    Bellamy Style Eagle Class - this is a 24 inch wide eagle in a Butternut rough out, done in a folk art style made famous by John Bellamy of Kittery Maine in the 1860's.

    This one day class will be taught on Friday and Saturday Morning (if you need more time than just Friday). This is not step by step so start when ever you want during the day. It is anticipated that you can substantially complete it in one day as you will be working from a roughout and being stylized there is no burning of the feathers.

    There are many options to this design so you can add a flag or even a banner. You can come back as manny days as you want to finish it and paint the flag and oil/wax the basic bird. In one day you will have substancially complete all or most of the detail so you can move on to another class if you wish to. In addition to the Butternut, Jim will have some basswood roughouts for those that want to paint, stain, burn, goldleaf or otherwise emblesish the eagle itself. In this case you will need your own paint,stain,goldleaf, or whatever. Eagle roughout in Butternut is $22, Basswood $18. Jim will be providing MinWax natural stain for a finish on the Butternut and a sealer and acrylics for flag colors on the eagle. Butternut Eagle can be waxed or sprayed with a Deft like product when you get it home. Hand tools are anticpated, mostly gouges. Jim will have some loaner tools. questions?/ email Jim at JEODEA @ AOL . COM 1