Thread: Everything old is new again...

Both are nice ! Lovely woods, and very elegant lines on the handle.

Classic. As I said in "the other place," you have no shortage of iconic wildlife designs to pick from. It occurs to me: the stick doesn't look the least bit "modern." Appealing.

That is certainly a great stick!!

Both very nice, I admire you for tackling jarrah it's pretty hard stuff but lovely grain & color.
Where are you getting the eyes from? they make bring it to life.

Thanks guys for your kind comments. The jackal really did teach me some things about working these harder woods. Thank goodness for tungsten burrs! I'm looking forward to trying out a few other patterns with blackwood and jelutong. I'll post some results when I have them.

RV: Not sure what 'modern' means in this context, but thanks for the compliment.

Copeau: I like to define a handle on my staves. Smooth sticks can be hard to hang onto after a while on the trail. One's hands get sweaty and gripping the shaft becomes fatiguing to the hand muscles. By putting that slight indentation in the shaft and then wrapping it with leather, it makes for a slip-proof grip and a much less fatiguing stick to use. The beads are just my idea of style.

Rob: The search for hardness came about because of the search for a timber that would prove a bit tougher than the jelutong. The guy who ordered the Jackal, also wanted a kangaroo. Unfortunately the jelutong one that I sent him was damaged in transit which is why I started experimenting with harder woods in order to get a less fragile kangaroo ear. They are a lot harder to carve that's for sure. Time will tell if they are any more robust.

The eyes are just your average 'teddy bear' plastic eyes available from most craft shops. One can also get them in glass but glass cannot be ground to shape the way plastic can so I prefer the plastic variety. The trick to realistic eyes is to only let that part of the eye ball show that would normally show through the eye fissure in real life. If you just drill a hole and fit them, they make the subject look 'goggle' eyed. If you look at the eye of your subject when he/it is relaxed, what shows in the eye fissure is usually almond shaped. I grind the plastic eyes to this almond shape first... THEN carve the eye sockets to match the modified eyes. If you do this right it adds HEAPS to the finished look. Get it wrong and you can completely ruin an otherwise flawless carving. I can probably do a WIP on eye shaping and setting if there is any interest.

I think I find that the dark wood gives an impression of age.
Good trick with reshaping the eyes, thanks also for that.

Thanks for the eye info Whittling, I would have probably just drilled a hole and stuck them in, now I know.

Love the sticks especially the top one the wood used just makes it stand out.

Originally Posted by Whittling

I can probably do a WIP on eye shaping and setting if there is any interest.

I for one would certainly appriciate a W.I.P. Anything to learn is always a great help

very nice

As usual, great work whittlin

It looks very real especially around the chest.