Whale Tail or Just a Fluke?
Hope this is appropriate for this forum - I did start with a chainsaw.
A friend went whale watching and brought back this photo, asking if I could carve it. Well, I can't say no to a pretty face so I said I'd give it a shot. Besides, I had some time to kill waiting on parts for the IEL HM you see in the background in the third photo.
Looked in my wood pile and found a nice walnut 4x6 with some nice figure. I butterflyed it and glued the matching ends together at an angle. Then cut out the basic tail shape.
I glued the remaining pieces face to face for the body. I cut a slot in the body almost the thickness of the tail and filed the rest of the way to fit the tail really snug with no gaps, then went work with a rotary rasp and die grinder and a belt sander. Got it down to the shape I wanted, sanded for about three days, then sprayed a few coats of Deft. The base is a slab from a walnut root I'd been saving for a special occasion. This seemed like the time. I may try a little toning to blend the color in a couple areas better.
Hope this is appropriate for this forum - I did start with a chainsaw.
A friend went whale watching and brought back this photo, asking if I could carve it. Well, I can't say no to a pretty face so I said I'd give it a shot. Besides, I had some time to kill waiting on parts for the IEL HM you see in the background in the third photo.
Looked in my wood pile and found a nice walnut 4x6 with some nice figure. I butterflyed it and glued the matching ends together at an angle. Then cut out the basic tail shape.
I glued the remaining pieces face to face for the body. I cut a slot in the body almost the thickness of the tail and filed the rest of the way to fit the tail really snug with no gaps, then went work with a rotary rasp and die grinder and a belt sander. Got it down to the shape I wanted, sanded for about three days, then sprayed a few coats of Deft. The base is a slab from a walnut root I'd been saving for a special occasion. This seemed like the time. I may try a little toning to blend the color in a couple areas better.
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