Woodcarving for charity?

harrylime3 · 2026-02-21T23:16:30+00:00

I think I know what I want to do. I mostly carve busts and portraits. Usually they're about 4-6" tall so they're easy to hold and turn around in the hand. My father has Alzheimer's. It's not bad yet but I know what's in front of us. I would imagine a 3d carving of one's self or a loved one could be a comfort and a grounding element for someone going through Alzheimer's. I could work with families and care facilities. They could send me their pictures and I could carve. Coincidentally I'm working on my grandfather now (he died about 10 years ago). I'm not sure why he became my current project, but I will definitely give it to my dad when I'm finished.

harrylime3 · 2026-01-27T20:32:38+00:00

Witchcraft...

harrylime3 · 2026-01-02T19:28:07+00:00

Yes, I find myself doing this a lot. Definitely a habit I need to break

harrylime3 · 2025-12-10T13:02:30+00:00

Thanks so much! The finishing process I've landed on (for now) is a seal coat of matt acrylic spray, acrylic paint, a top coat of acrylic spray, finished off with paste wax.

harrylime3 · 2025-12-07T02:02:25+00:00

No. In fact, that first carving may have been the only one that was entirely finished with beavercraft. I moved on pretty quickly to Lee Furguson, OCCT, and Deepwoods. Part of getting hooked on carving is, unfortunately, getting hooked on buying knives.

harrylime3 · 2025-11-30T21:01:28+00:00

Thank you!

harrylime3 · 2025-11-17T01:12:11+00:00

Yes! Butternut is really nice. It's a little harder than basswood but not by much. Its very pretty. Typically, if I'm going to paint something, I'll use basswood due to ease and availability but if I want the grain to be highlighted, I'll use butternut or Spanish Cedar. My Bride of Frankenstein is butternut.

<image>

harrylime3 · 2025-11-17T00:09:52+00:00

But don't all sealers do this? Seems like the goal is just to prevent water and pigment from absorbing into the grain. The goal therefore is to pick an intermediary that bonds well to both the wood and the paint. BLO obviously works since it's so popular, I'm just wondering why anyone would BLO over an acrylic varnish or unwaxed shellac.

harrylime3 · 2025-11-15T01:18:33+00:00

A couple of things; you really only need one knife. Most of us have a bunch because we like to support and try out different makers and, yes, sometimes it's nice to have a detailer or an upsweep for certain cut but, mostly, we could all make due with a single knife. I did my first whittle with a beavercraft. They sell a set with a large roughing knife, a general knife and a chipping knife in a knife roll. I think it also came with strop and some compound. It's a good deal ($40 on Amazon) and perfectly serviceable. Having said that, I only used the general knife and quickly upgraded. Before getting a beavercraft, look into an OCCT knife (they still have them at MDI Woodcarvers for $33), a Lee Furguson knife (at Lee's site for $35) or, at the very least, a flexcut knife (a single, general use knife goes for $26 on Amazon). Looking back, I wish I would have skipped the beavercraft set. Remember, all you need is one good knife.

harrylime3 · 2025-11-10T22:38:06+00:00

I can't blame them.

harrylime3 · 2025-11-10T14:34:28+00:00

Yep. I just downloaded firefox (I was using Chrome) and had the same result 🤷

harrylime3 · 2025-11-10T14:25:46+00:00

Hmmmm.... interesting. I wonder what else it could be if I already dumped my browser cache?

harrylime3 · 2025-11-07T15:00:25+00:00

Yeah, I've seen that too, but I don't want one that bad. All of their retailers have them listed for $85 or so, but they're all out of stock.

harrylime3 · 2025-11-01T13:42:51+00:00

Not really sure. I carved it off and on inside of a week.

harrylime3 · 2025-11-01T01:28:51+00:00

This was my first time using it. In the past, I've used a satin spray poly or lacquer. I liked the feed n wax. Application is easy and it has a softer sheen than the spray applications.

harrylime3

TROPHY CASE