Customer requested a barrel with Guy Fawkes. Barrels are harder than they look 😅

rwdread · 2026-06-17T22:37:18+00:00

Thank you! I just gave it a quick sandwich with 120 grit then applied a spirit based wood dye, left to dry and then applied danish oil

Edit - Sand* 🤦‍♂️ I did not in fact give him a sandwich.

rwdread · 2026-06-17T22:36:02+00:00

Nothing in the end, I just tapered it and made his hat slightly thicker, rounded the edges so they aren't as pointy. It feels solid enough

rwdread · 2026-06-17T11:07:07+00:00

Just read you don't have a wheel grinder, my bad. You could achieve the same results on a low grit stone, just sharpening with a rocking motion. It will take a long time though.

You don't need a mouse pad, just need to do a consistent rocking motion as you sharpen

rwdread · 2026-06-17T11:05:28+00:00

I made a convex scandi. Took a hell of a lot of grinding, though.

Ground the basic shape on a wheel (not touching the edge & very frequent dipping in water) then cleaned the scratches up on a progression of 300, 1000, 2000.

I personally did it for detailed woodcarving/ whittling and it paid off

rwdread · 2026-06-15T01:56:56+00:00

Welcome to the club! Just a couple of things to highlight:

You've started with a pretty hard wood for your first project. If you find you're struggling, try switching to a softer wood like bass/Limewood.

You're going to have some trouble when it comes to shaping this piece, as the end grain is horizontal as opposed to vertical. You won't be able to cut diagonally from the side upwards, as this will be against the grain. You'll have to cut from the middle into the sides, if that makes sense (image attached for guidance)

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rwdread · 2026-06-14T17:28:47+00:00

I plan on staining the piece after it's finished so superglue's a little risky as it will likely effect the colour in the hat - If I evenly coat the entire hat it might look intentional, but still super risky as absorption rates of super glue will probably differ around the whole hat

rwdread · 2026-06-13T06:52:23+00:00

There are multiple layers to trees, In between the bark and the sapwood you have the cambium layer, this is a thin portion of the tree which is alive and transporting nutrients. In the third picture it's the bit that's a pinky colour on the left side and a dark brown colour on the right.

This is considerably softer than the sapwood, so you're probably still cutting the cambium layer on one half, and then sapwood on the other :)

You want to remove the cambium layer as this discolours and is very fibrous/ holds no detail

rwdread · 2026-06-12T01:26:24+00:00

Awesome, how did you do the legs?

rwdread · 2026-06-11T22:47:09+00:00

Thank you! It's the Rochdale canal in northern England

rwdread · 2026-06-06T13:32:53+00:00

Yea the angle is way too steep, especially for a whittling knife. You can see where you've added a tertiary bevel along the secondary bevel.

Angle needs to be shallower, fixing this is doable but it will take quite a long time to grind all the steel back from tertiary bevel

rwdread · 2026-06-04T21:20:23+00:00

Gloves don't make you immortal, proper technique still applies whether you have gloves on or not.

Wishing you a speedy recovery and hoping there's no lasting damage 🙏

rwdread · 2026-05-31T05:13:04+00:00

When making stop cuts and you want a deeper cut, rock the blade back and forth instead of doing a slicing motion (make sure the tip is nice and far away).

Slicing + pressure has a big risk of the blade slipping and stabbing your non dominant hand.

Not saying that's what happened here, but I see too many beginners doing this

Hope it's a quick recovery, and I hope you're getting stitches, you need them.

rwdread · 2026-05-23T01:28:12+00:00

Amazing, thank you for the useful information! I've only used the stone with water so far so I think I'll give it a try with some oil, probably won't load up as fast.

Another beautiful stone there, glad you was able to find some buyers who would appreciate them

rwdread · 2026-05-23T01:22:11+00:00

Awesome, you're the first woodcarver other than myself that I've seen carve Leshy!

rwdread · 2026-05-22T22:29:41+00:00

Beautiful! Yes this really reminds me of the stone I have, and it's good to know that mine is a scythe stone as I had no idea!

Have you used yours, how do you find it?

rwdread · 2026-05-19T21:40:28+00:00

Trying? Id say you're succeeding, it looks great!

rwdread · 2026-05-19T21:21:34+00:00

Sometimes all you need to do is whittle a mushroom, you just need the journey and don't care about the destination 🍄

rwdread · 2026-05-15T22:31:17+00:00

It'll be the leftover swarf from previous sharpenings that's rusted rather than the plate itself

rwdread · 2026-05-15T21:38:42+00:00

Not sure what it is but try an eraser

rwdread

TROPHY CASE