The Full Carve - How do you do it?

[SethJ]

If its going to be dyed dark,...no worries,..I just case the area I'm working with,......if it's going to be natural/ oiled,..I try and haul butt carving while its all cased.

[BondoBobCustomSaddles]

Brent, I find that the way you do it is mostly the way I do it, with just a little difference. I fully case the leather then form it to the seat the same as most do. Once it is dry and formed, I began to lay out my patterns. After initial casing, I simply wet the seat over all with a spray of my "special mix" which consists of some distilled water mixed with some dish washing soap and Listerine, to keep the surface at a consistency that allows me to get a good carve and tool in. As for how I work each panel, if I can get it flat on my stamping plate, I do so, but; in the case of areas that do not lend themselves to flattening out, I mount the seat back on the tree, and mount the tree in my Modified Ole George. That allows me to position the area I want to work on at the best angle to get to it and tool. Not uncommon that I will have it on my bench and on my tree several times during the tooling process. I am attaching some pics of one I am working on presently. Please excuse the flash on the pictures, I haven't yet learned how to get nice pics that show the piece the way it really looks. This saddle as you can see is not finished, but; in various stages of stain.

Bob

[jbird]

Thanks for the ideas. I do the same thing except for the tempering on the flesh side. Be interesting to see that done. But, alas, the seat went back in, albeit very snug at the ears and it usually is for some reason. Might have to do some finesse on the ear cut but then, I usually do anyhow.

Spent the day tooling one fender. Tried that idea of wetting from the back side and all that did was make it uneven. Had to put both fenders back in the plastic bags to even out. That wasted time. ehem...... But, once I finally got started, about 1:00pm, all went well. and in a short 6.5 hours I had the following results.

And now it's Miller time! Actually Shiner time, but ya'll probably don't know what that is.....

Brent,

what is this flower you are carving? I can't recall seeing it before and its amazing!

[Go2Tex]

The flower is one of my own creation. Got tired of the same ol' flowers, so I came up with that one. I've since developed another one that works well also. I call it a petunia.

Edited January 27, 2014 by Go2Tex

[jbird]

The flower is one of my own creation. Got tired of the same ol' flowers, so I came up with that one. I've since developed another one that works well also. I call it a petunia.

Love it!!

Josh