The sign mount is my first .
Needed a hardy tool for this.
I’ve tried other ways & never could pull it off.

Put a hammered texture to the mounting bracket

Beautiful work!

Tenon & mortis cut in

I'm having a good time learning. Being artistic after being a sledge hammer most my life isn't easy !

I got my last radio operator into carving last Fall. He’s digging it & appreciates the calming effect of his time at the work bench.
I love this hobby, small investment of money & minimal tools to get started.
But a lifetime to master.



Went with an antiqued bronze paint on the bracket.
Looks like it’ll work for my first attempt.
On to the dyes & stains.











**** Haveme1or2,
I thought of this when I read your comment about being a Hammer all your life.
It’s what my friends find odd about my hobbies.

Grumpy

Is there anything you can not do.
I have seen your metal work and now this.
You should have a studio to let the public view your great work.

God has gifted your hands and mind.

Grumpy, you are indeed annoyingly talented.

Really enjoyable thread.

quote:

Originally posted by GrumpyBiker:

And yes the wood is Poplar. I find if I’m going to attempt to dye & stain multiple colors or hues a lighter wood is easier to get the color to stand out.

Catching back up in this thread, I do so dig that shade of red on the hutch.

Great woodworking there, guys!!!!

quote:

Originally posted by SigJacket:

Catching back up in this thread, I do so dig that shade of red on the hutch.

It’s a mix of red oak & early America chestnut on lumber salvaged from a barn built in 1886 just north of me. A fellow officer at the prison tears them down & sells the wood.

quote:

Originally posted by GrumpyBiker:
Tenon & mortis cut in

The only butts are in the aging room?

Weld joint from the rear? That's kick-ass engineering for an eight-pound sign. <thumbs-up>

I'll be aging the lip of a violin shortly. So much easier than creating a matching varnish. Because I can make a spirit stain with alcohol and pigment, then put a light coat of plain varnish atop it. Cannot do that on the fiddle top itself because stain will affect tone.

Today I make hide glue. It'll sit in the fridge for a week or so before I use it. Just like a stew being better the third day ...

Woodman, I always prefer to see an older item show its wear vs. being stripped & restored to new condition. But getting the wear to look correct in a repair is an art unto itself.


Maybe it’s weird but I’m always both excited & a little sad to start staining a carving project.
I like the bare wood look but , at least most times, it does look better stained.
With multiple colors I always start with the darker tones before the lighter ones and the only paint I use is to fill the lettering.
The folks at Keim Lumber in Charm, Ohio are great when I’ve had stain & dye questions.
Mixing custom colors isn’t as easy as I’d hoped but nothing usually is.

Making a violin's lip appear old and worn, making the underside of the top lip appear as if the top had not ben removed, this can be pretty fun and rewarding. After dozens and dozens of hours, closing the violin up and hiding any trace you were there. Since the lip is not too much a part which creates tone, I might cheat a little to get a desired effect. I joked to one client about taking the floor sweepings from an old choir loft and mixing them with 151 vodka. An instant spirit stain which works better than you'd guess.

The neck receives no varnish but after shaving the sides of a fingerboard flush or correcting some issue which detracted from a smooth feel, newly-bared wood can be returned to that century-old look with a similar stain.

But the top, sides, and back of a violin, it is completely verboten to remove old varnish and refinish the instrument. You lose the provenance, but more tragically, you'd wreck the tone. Old varnish, worn hair-thin or less, has a tone impossible to duplicate. You want to leave as much of it alone as possible.

This early 1900s fiddle has been here for almost four months. I'm about ready to put the violin back together. The top had countless small cracks and was in three pieces when I got it. Many many repairs before me, as it was a trade instrument played by a dedicated musician and family man who performed every weekend his entire life. Rough patches, improper glue, casual mismatched varnishing all over it. The darkest streaks are in the wood, not on top of it, and I cannot do anything about them, so will not try.

I'm finally at the point that a quick buff of the areas under repair, maybe a little more touch up, and that's it for the top. The lip will get its final once the instrument is glued together.

I see what you mean about bare wood. The leaves above the grapes had a great look, bare wood, especially. The poplar looked like birch.

Nothing yet, I’d like to start though. My closest I came to carving was doing mortise and tenon.

I do have two 6 foot halves of a cherry tree drying in my garage for 2 years. Not sure what to do with them.

Staining & lettering is done.
Just have to figure out the chain lengths & hooks.

Lovely finish. Do you 0000 between coats? I'd like to find a supplier of 0000 brass or copper wool.

On the way to a rural bluegrass circle, along a farm road, one horse farm sports a fancy gate with wrought leaves woven into the rungs. Maybe I'll get pics tomorrow.

I hate listening to ideas from the peanut gallery. But ... Instead of chain, maybe hammered rods? With floral accent, naturally. Although hammering out leaves sounds like a whole new activity ...

I do use 0000 on the contours and usually wet sand with 2000g on the flats.
I like how the lacquer brings out the true colors of the piece.

Just beautiful!