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My local hardware store sells "plumber's flux brushes" in boxes of 24.
They are about 1/2" wide and I'll bind a few together if I have to.
That works out to approx $0.15 each. Not worth my time...

Exactly the style of wood carving that I admire = minimalist. There lots of features which describe "bird." You did everything necessary.

I'm fond of 100x 100 mm x 4m wester red cedar fence...

I'm in

Sure beats the Hello out of Take-away cardboard! I like the subtle colors of the first one.
What did you decide to finish them with?
Will those woods stand up well to a knife or a pizza wheel...

History. I have a few tools (dividers, 1/2" chisel, folding rule) which I know are from my grandfather's boat building shed (mid 1950's?)
I don't suppose that they are the best of the best but I am...

I found that mallet mass really needs to match gouge size to apply enough striking force to get anything done.

A 12 oz ShopFox mallet is OK for gouges like 8/7 or 5/12 but just about useless for...

I've bought pairs of 12 mm Narex skews at the factory bevel of 25 degrees, that's just fine.
For wood carving, I've revised them to 20 degrees. They hold up very well and are much less of a "push."...

Agreed. We used it to clean out the entomology labs ( orchard and vineyard pests). The virtue was a short half life.
Chase everybody home 3 PM Friday and gas the place. Open the doors 5 AM on...

I have a square island bench in my work shop where I do mostly wood carving.
Miter saw, band saw, drill press and scroll saw. I drilled 5/8" holes in the bench top,
every where I needed to mount a...

I was taught freehand sharpening of wood carving tools with waterstones and honing on a box card strop.
Three little things you need:
1. A 10X magnifier such as geologists use. You must be able...

Given your location and summer coming on, I guess that a snow knife is the last tool you need.

Old saw blades here are used for crooked knife blades for the Pacific Northwest First Nations wood...

I've found a router to be as accurate as I've needed. Miter saw cuts precisely to length only.
Steam-bent wood box joints need to be precise or the undercuts simply will not fold at the corners.

Yes, "it's 5 o'clock somewhere."
How might it look with 3 or 4 clock movements installed for all your favorite time zones around the planet?
Local, UTC, and some strange ones from the outbacks...

Revealing! Some top quality photography to make this all worth watching.

I was taught a fairly dogmatic ritual for free-hand sharpening of gouges and such for wood carving.
The end was a 4K waterstone then hone on a strop with CrOx/AlOx.

This has always been entirely...

Scanning electron microscope images indicate that going above 1500 grit is of little incremental benefit.
The iron is so very plastic, the edge is always shredded.
I stop with 1500 then hone my...

Canada. Jasper National Park. The new(?) 40' totem pole by the railway station.
The Tale of Two Brothers, carved by the Edenshaw boys and apprentices in Haida Gwaii.
Concrete foundation and a...

Synthetic stone quality depends on a mix of grit size, grit hardness, adhesive hardness and proportions of grit and binder.
How carefully was the screening done for nominal particle size? I can...

I suggest that you turn shallow salt and pepper grinders (mortar and pestle) from Serpentine stone.
Make a performance of the preparation of the condiments.
I collect salt from all over the...

Unlike any of the other conifer woods, Douglas-fir shows a spiral thickening in the S2 of the xylem secondary cell wall.
This warps unequally to make a fuzzy textured surface after wetting with...

The great thing about JJ's carvings is that he always has the patience to stop often to take progress photos.
There's a big lesson in the sequence. That's a thing in itself to watch the 'what' and...

This is just about the same a wood carving with western red cedar, pine and other conifers.
Extremely carefully sharpened tools.
Density: Do a ring count. Anything less than 15 rings per inch is...

1. The vibration from machinery on wheels can walk around your shop.
You need some kinds of blocks, weights or skid pads under the wheels.
My Ryobi table saw is really cheap and really bad for...

Dimensional stability for gears and puzzle pieces.
The gold standard here is "Baltic Birch Plywood."
Usually available in 30x30 cm squares, void and knot free.
Most that I have is 12 mm which I...

Years ago, I had a list of simple wood working projects which required reasonably accurate holes (screws and dowel pegs) at 90 degrees
to the wood surfaces.
The little Delta 8" bench top drill...

Not so, Graeme. Simon Fraser University has a team of light bulb & fluoro changers who work every day.
It's much cheaper to replace everything than to send out a guy to change one bulb at a time on...

Ladders. You get what you pay for, here. I always bought top quality ladders to last in service.
True enough, they do. However, my sense of balance was damaged in a fall and no recovery
so...

Gallery-grade again. Thank you.

I can appreciate that people speak loudly enough and clearly enough.
However, many of the sounds that people make do not match any words in my head.
The Dr. knew immediately what it was when I...

I'd swing those. What is UHMW? Is it at all slippery on carving gouge handles?
Your 18 oz mass would be really nice to swing all day. Plus, they look really good.

It took some getting used to...

Excellent! From the thread title, I was expecting something more totemic, in view of where I live with paleo culture around me.
Poles always take a long time to carve, no surprises there.
I'm...

Metals have a "coefficient of expansion." In some data base, I'm sure.

My first thought was Bohdan's method (#7) above.
Modern float glass is nearly optically flat as you can see from...

Is there no gouge left to sharpen?

I'm surprised that turning tools don't appear to follow the numbering system described in the London Pattern Book for wood carving tools.
It's a pair of...

Particulate air pollution is synergistic = the sum of the contributions is more deadly, out of all proportion, to the individual parts.
Occupation and environment, collected.
I am still surprised...

I agree with China.
There's a temporary base plate missing which would be the interface with the carving.
If the movement is very secure and steady, worth saving until some additional work can be...

The worst cut to the bone was with a wood carving crooked knife of very hard steel.

I use pairs of Narex 12 mm skews to cut V-grooves in form-line relief carvings.
The factory 25 degree edge is a...

Made me smile = you can't buy equipment like that. What a satisfying build. Like the use of Narex steel.
It looks like it will be a pleasure to use

I sure do hope that you can find what you need. They are very quiet tools to use while you can almost think your own thoughts.

I like to use an elbow adze of Pacific Northwest First Nations...

My wood carvings are rarely in pieces longer than 60 cm.
As such, if I encountered "bug wood," I have a cure.

My food freezer is -20C and big enough for the wood.
3-4 days in the freezer then...

Lee Valley has some bumpf about their bars of CrOx/AlOx with the Veritas name.
I think they upped the % wax carrier.
Anyway, 0.5 micron CrOx mixed with some % of AlOx (0.25 micron) seems fairly...

Western Red Cedar is OK, I've been carving mostly WRC for the past 20 years.
I'd object to the sharp rim on the seats = would prefer something more akin to a mushroom cap.
My cheeks will thank you....

I'm in

TSP trisodium phosphate wash as a degreaser. Roller base coat. Textured roller top glaze is a randomized look.
Light tones, warm cheerful colors.

Unlike my partner, number the damn doors and...

Nah. That's for opening paint cans.

I can see that a "Nearly slick" is a very useful wood carving tool here in the Pacific Northwest.
Most of all the various kinds of totem poles have some...

I enjoy the developmental illustrations.
Maybe some beholders aren't interested but the production processes always fascinate me.
Long, long time since I have seen that table.

I don't have an...

The roller damage to the stone would depend upon the ratio of adhesive to abrasive as well as the hardness (?plasticity?) of the adhesive.
How hard must you lean on this to get a result? I'd go...

I have come to expect that all instruction manuals are on line. The most cost-effective option for business and available 24/7.

The most common honing compound available is some sort of a high...

I use pairs of skew chisels in form line carving. I have two pairs of Narex 12 mm that are very nice to use. I have pairs of others.
I revised the bevels from 25* down to a more common carving...

I use fine sandpapers for sharpening wood carving tools.

For finishing, I like a first coat of MinWax Tung Oil Protective Finish. Instead of sandpaper, I wait until that first coat is good and...

Is there not some connection in physics between mass and momentum?
I do some woodcarving. The rough-out parts are commonly done with adzes such as an elbow adze and a D adze.

My first elbow adze...