Walrus 1...Mistake & Semi-Rescue

[scottp55]

JUST opened Vectric Newsletter, and there on the bottom was a Glaring pic of one of the Worst mistakes I made all last year!!!

Figured I should show Why the workpiece slipped, and then the semi-rescue work I did last week.

First of all these were Black Walnut branches from my Aunt's tree cut down August 2016 and headed for the shredder!!
Managed to grab enough to fill back of a minivan, and took 1 branch and cut small lengths on tablesaw so they'd dry faster and sealed ends with 3 different Linseed, and Linseed/Beeswax mixtures, on both the fresh cuts, and the slight checkering as I got there 3 days after tree was cut(Wax mixture worked best on fresh cuts....penetrating mix better on slight checking).
Took 2 green pieces and stationary belt sanded to 400G on ends and what I thought would be the back, and then hand sanded to 600G and sealed the surfaces with Linseed/Beeswax mix, melted in a double boiler to a "Butter". And then they sat on kitchen counter till March when I Tried to cut the "Walrus".

You can see I didn't sand the left piece to a flat bottom, and never squared the ends, Like the right hand piece which turned into "Owl in a Walnut Branch 1"

That caused it to jig up a little "shaky", but wedges underneath firmed it up enough so I could take light cuts.
You can see what I THOUGHT I'd do in the roughing pic....

I THOUGHT I could have the Walrus head in full profile, by using the branch....but branch had split going down further than I thought, so had to use a .5" cove bit to clear an area for my collet/nut.

Went down by cheating Z(Nudging) and changing size/shape of pocket as I went down as close to collet/nut as I dared.
THEN decided to cut it with the Onsrud 30 degree Engraving bit(.005" flat).....WITHOUT checking to see if wood movement had loosened either cam clamp or support wedges!!!!
A couple hours later when it was almost finished....the piece got SUCKED up into the collet/nut!!!
Never came fully loose and spun the piece, as I was right there and stopped it...but the damage was done.
Will post my recovery attempt after shoveling ramp before wind makes it feel like -20F.....instead of the actual 7F so UPS guy can get in.
scott

OH! Congrats Mark and Ted......shame your Nice cuts were posted next to Mine

[scottp55]

OK...Life's interruptions have paused for a moment.

As mentioned in Scott's GREAT thread "Flying Walrus";
viewtopic.php?f=29&t=31336

This whole project wouldn't have been possible without Brady Watson doing a 360 laser scan of a 1973(?) Inuit Soapstone carving of a Walrus I love;
http://www.ibild.com/

Nervous as Heck sending Soapstone Inuit carving out, as you can scratch it with you fingernail while rubbing it with natural face oils for patina!!
Wrapped in Fleece and bubble wrap,shipped, got a call from Brady asking if it was OK to Talc it (it was too shiny), and then got it back unscathed(and cleaned:) within a week
And the scan 3 days earlier in both .stl AND Cut3D format;

Had the scan for a year and a half , but was LOUSY at Cut3D....so didn't touch it till VCP 8.5 came out.
Scan was so High resolution I could see the file marks I needed a magnifying glass to see in person.
Can't recommend IBILD enough!!
May send my Inuit "Shaman" head, now I'm more experienced, and won't worry about Brady's respect for it, and the care he took.
MAY try a 2-4 sided cut sometime in future in Macassar now I have the Tiny Radius 3"TBNs and some more experience."

Got sick and tired of looking at my screwed up Walrus,

so first thing I did was take it to my stationary belt sander and flattened the backside till it got interesting, and then sanded the endgrain edges till they were now roughly parallel up to 400G.
Got a good SOLID hold down THIS time!!

Used the same exact Finish Toolpath as back then, but plugged in my freshly arrived 3" long, .25"shank, 1mmR Chinese TBN with what eventually became a .26" allowance, and started cutting down in an Offset .05" at a time(and after Feeds/Speeds tweaked, at .1" pass depth) at 10% stepover....And Down I went, Nudging my Z down before repeating the toolpath.
I didn't know how far....It was finally .75" before the bit mark Almost was gone(Wanted to save a Tiny bit to remind me about hold downs!).

Bark was only being held down by the nibs at this point because of the belt sanding, and after going down .5" had to remove it.
More cutting finished pics in a minute....
scott

[scottp55]

Sorry no pics of the piece just before finish cut with the Tiny 1.5" length, .125" shank, .25mmR TBN
But I was bugged by Gremlins caused by not blowing out Keyboard/Mouse/and control computer connections enough and had my fingers crossed the whole time after having to shut down completely 3 times.

I have both control computer and UPS "Dirt bagged";
https://dirtbag.biz/products/tower-covers
And it's been a couple years since I took everything apart and blew it out.....BUT that's Today's project...On the whole Dirt Bag filtration has worked well for 5 years, considering computer and UPS are UNDER my machine's cabinet, and my fondness for cleaning the shop with 90 psi while the Fein HEPA is running:)
Stopped the cut at 98% hoping to avoid the final stepdown of .015", but still got marks at the bottom of the "Well"
Having a couple of ideas like using "Iceland Spar" as a smalt at the bottom?;
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iceland_spar

Gotta see how it crushes in a mortar and pestle, and filters out grades.
(Got a small baggie of clear small crystals...but Darn if I can find them at the moment:(

Spent the last week carefully scraping off the last of the inner bark with my thumbnail(and when those wore out...a hardwood "scraper")
These pics are about a week old, and piece is looking better now, but not ready for pics until I peel bark off another Black Walnut branch and try a couple different things.
scott

Out to clean out my Gremlins, and give my machine the rest of it's "Yearly" maintenance.

[scottp55]

Oh......Notice how his "Cheeks" seem rough....Those are his whiskers trying to be carved:)

Almost exact opposite of Soapstone, where the more you rub it...the greater the contrast.
Considering options like coating who knows how many layers, and then after oil finish is pretty hard, maybe a bamboo skewer that's been soaked in water and FIRMLY pressed into 600G Corundum Powder (Stone/Gem Carver trick for flexible shafts..usually an 1/8" Birch dowel though with Corundum or Diamond grits) (?) and "Etch" the finish? Maybe a Carpet Needle?
Just scratching finish on purpose to bring out contrast Soapstone Carvers don't have to worry about.

Oh, and a tiny cavity in the branch, gave him a Big cavity in top of his left tusk.
I do NOT think I'll play Dentist:)
scott

[dwilli9013]

Still beautiful even with the known blemishes. Gives it great character and a personalized touch. Always enjoy your posts Scott. I learn something new from each and every one. I would imagine if someone laid that in my hand as a gift I would be so intrigued in its beauty that the flaws would never become apparent.
I am always the roughest one on my work. What I deem as "Meh it's Ok" others tend to grade as Oh my gosh that is beautiful. But as they say never think your work is perfect. There is always room for improvement and elevation to the next level. Only one person I know upstairs that can get to that perfect level.

[scottp55]

Thanks Dwayne
Yep, we're our own worse critics and good thing they all have a small(OR Large ) imperfection in them, or I'd be tempted like some Japanese Craftsmen to PUT one there
Got a direct sun day today, and been 2 days since last coat, so the 6 pieces are sunning themselves so may get some oil/wax to bleed out, and can then buff out as a micro-coat with a soft horsehair shoeshine brush. They're at different stages, so got to remember to do the waxed ones last:)

Normally with hand-rubbing the friction of your hand warms the wood to bleed, and then palm of hand spreads it, BUT Owl's sharp beak/feathers, and Squirrel's claws, and Walrus being in a recess,
mean using heat from another source...Sun is free today:)
Have lightly used Halogen lamps and hair dryers successfully in past, but brushing still isn't quite as good as hands.
Did use 140F Oven ONCE!!!! What a MESS
Doing yearly machine and peripherals maintenance for a few days piecemeal...
Be glad to cut again.
scott

[wmgeorge]

Nice Scott, I am trying to do the something more or less the same... not. I have a split piece of walnut log. I used some really heavy aluminum angle and used wood screws into each end of that log and clamped the angle to the table, split side up. Faced off level or most of it anyway. Rough cut a Bear standing (Design & Make) in a dished recess. The Finishing pass, well the story is above. So I am going to do a new Roughing pass and limiting the left material to a smaller amount and then do my Finishing pass. Its Da Bear in a Log, and making it for a Bears fan, no less.