Thread: A Whittling-inspired hair pin

Hi Hermit,

Well done mate! I reckon you could get away with calling it anything from a raven to a magpie to a kurrawong. Good idea too about using a bamboo skewer and steaming it for a bend. You are right... you can use thicker timber and a tighter arc for more 'bend' in the piece itself. I've been experimenting with 35 to 40 mm thick and getting two or even sometimes 3 clips out of one block. Saves a lot of time if you only have to cut them once but get 3 saleable clips.

Don't worry too much about detail unless you just want to make it for fun. Bogging down in really fine detail is ok if you don't want to sell it, but its a killer if you do. (I can hear all the artistic hackles rising as I speak). Most of my patterns are very simple with little in the way of detail.

Anyway, to each his own... and good on you for having a go!

Originally Posted by Whittling

Hi Hermit,

Well done mate! I reckon you could get away with calling it anything from a raven to a magpie to a kurrawong. Good idea too about using a bamboo skewer and steaming it for a bend. You are right... you can use thicker timber and a tighter arc for more 'bend' in the piece itself. I've been experimenting with 35 to 40 mm thick and getting two or even sometimes 3 clips out of one block. Saves a lot of time if you only have to cut them once but get 3 saleable clips.

Don't worry too much about detail unless you just want to make it for fun. Bogging down in really fine detail is ok if you don't want to sell it, but its a killer if you do. (I can hear all the artistic hackles rising as I speak). Most of my patterns are very simple with little in the way of detail.

Anyway, to each his own... and good on you for having a go!

Thanks for the kind words, Whittling. You're way in front of me, including your idea of starting with thicker timber so as to cut 2 or 3 at once.

For now, I'm just trying to learn how to carve for fun, so want to have a go at some detail.
Regarding selling them, I doubt if I'd ever get fast enough to make one in a couple of hours like you. The first took a full day, and the kookaburra has taken about a day so far, with another half a day to go. I just finished the carving and the front curve, still need to do the back curve, pin, holes and cleanup. It's thicker than the first, 20mm, so I can get a real good curve in it.

These are fun to make, and a great learning experience. I'm learning to read the grain in a way I never had to before. I'll try something slightly different next, maybe a pendant. (Not too different.)

Great looking hair pin Steve

Originally Posted by Diggerdelaney

Great looking hair pin Steve

Thanks Derek. For a first attempt, I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out. I've drawn up some more hair pins and pendants, but only got one of each finished and then the scroll saw blade tensioner died. I sent it off for warranty repair on Monday. Hopefully it won't be too long.

Hello from the U.S.A....

VERY nice work. I am brand new to this forum, just found it by searching for those Comfort Birds. I wanted to make some for our church. I decided to poke around on the forum and found this entry. I just HAD to tell you that you did a beautiful job. Feel free to send one my way... my wife would love it...as would my sister, my sister in law, my... )

Rick