The Seahorse the process continues

After the initial rough out work was completed with an electric chain saw and a grinder it was time to move on to the second and much more time consuming non power hand tool work.

I use several different chisels and carving tools to do the fine and detailing work in my pieces.

I also use sand paper. A whole lot of sand paper.

The devil is in the details on this little guy. Hours and hours of detail work to be honest.

I still have more detailing and sanding to go before starting to apply the oil to the Seahorse.

I will have another post up soon to show the rest of the work.

the Seahorse in process

I have started a new piece from a rather large section of the Raspberry burl.

A little quick history on the Raspberry burl.

This was one of the only times I have ever found a whole tree that was nothing but solid burl.

This Maple tree had lived many many years and had been completely turned into a burl. Right down to the roots, which I have also used in some of the pieces. This "tree" was nearly 5 full feet in diameter. It took 3 days during freezing weather and occasional heavy snowfall to take the remnants of the "tree" from the original location.

I only harvested this tree because the property owner had decided that the tree had become an eye sore and was attempting to have a tree removal service run the whole tree into a chipper.

It would have been a tragic waste of an excellent maple burl.

This section of the burl reminded me of a Seahorse in some ways So that is what it is on it's way to becoming.

I started with an electric chain saw. It allowed large amounts of the burl to be removed quickly and the seahorse to emerge from within the wood.

After a short time the seahorse has started to emerge and it is about time to switch over on the tools.

Next up - chisels and hand sanding.