Racoon in Walnut branch

[scottp55]

Been doing surfacing/prep work/and finishing pieces for a week, and although some of it is CNC...
Not much of a challenge, and I wanted to Cut!
Seeing Mark S do a tiny..and then Randall pumping them out...yesterday at dawn decided to Cut
Ron and I bought the same Racoon model the same week but he's already done a great Tiny.

So brought some Walnut branches over as the sun rose, and picked a possible one.

I wanted to find a dark spot about .25" above the heartwood, so racoon would have a black nose,
then a sapwood section on muzzle, and then heartwood from eyes up.
The piece I picked was marginal on the already surfaced side, and if that was the top...
I had to flatten the back for stable jigging, and trimming afterwards on the tablesaw.

I kept hoping for a knot or branch inclusion as I surfaced down to be his nose.
No such luck, but there was a dark spot that could possibly get bigger(?)(to right of penny)
So I kept my surfacing jig in place, and moved the model so his nose was on the spot.

Model is 1.00" deep, and I used the Chinese .25" shank 1mmTBN at 7% for Rough Finish using a more aggressive setting, and also upped my Feed to 2IPS in all axis(still testing for Mom's bigger Harley).
Moved my Z-Zero up .8" and ran first .2" pass to double check no sudden plunges anywhere.

Then dropped Z-Zero down .4", and the bit had no problem with that once past initial plunge, But
left material a shade rough for me.

So next 2 38 minute passes were at .2" depth which cut cleaner.
Miracle of Miracles...I didn't mess up my math and the dark spot was on his nose

Went down another .07" in 2 passes, but it was getting late.

You can see I'm getting into interest stuff barely.

I did NOT want to do like on the small test Harley, and cut to final depth with the .25mmTBN....
And then the next cut for fine details with the Onsrud 30* Engraving with a .005" flat...
On 2 separate days!!
So I left about .03-.05" of material on top of where I thought I'd wind up, and put it to bed with a thick coat of Linseed/Beeswax "Butter as I knew today had to quit at Noon.

The two Finish Finish toolpaths show at roughly 5.5 hours each....so tomorrow I'll cut both in one day!
more pics on next one....1mmTBN on a model this detailed looks junky!

[scottp55]

So this was what I saw at Dawn today

Used the heat gun and horsehair brush to remove excess onto 4 other pieces of wood/pieces.
Warm in shop today, and leaving door open to house overnight to let it at least partially cure.

1mm TBN preview on left..right is the .25mmTBN

.25mmTBN

And here's the Engraving bit details

Hard to tell the difference for a 5 hour cut, but running preview I could visibly follow the changes.
And I am a fanatic for details

PLAYING with the idea of mini-torching the left side in spots(or both sides?) and then skimming with the 1mmTBN about.005"(?) to get similar dark areas, if wood doesn't oblige me.
We'll see how I fell about it tomorrow when fully caffeinated

Almost didn't post as colors aren't obliging me, but figured even mistakes can teach someone:)
scott
When cut off, should have 2 good pieces for Tinys:)

[rtibbs]

Absolutely gorgeous Scott.
Puts my coon to shame. Gotta learn your finishing techniques.

Ron

[scottp55]

Not done yet Ron
Still 2 Finish Finish toolpaths to go(.25mm and 30 Engraving)
Woke from a nightmare my bit plunged to China on initial plunge
Time to warm up machine and run the 1mmTBN path .01" above last toolpath and make sure nothing moved!
Thanks!

[BillK]

Looking good Scott! Can’t wait to see the completed. Glad to see you pushing the feed speeds up. I’m trying also, at least in x and y with good results. I do override the first pass down to 40% just to reduce the pressure, but then let it fly to the end.

[scottp55]

Thanks Bill,
Yep, 1 MMTBN was about 30% faster yesterday.
Slowed it down to 1.5IPS today as I wanted to make sure it hadn't moved(it had... -.003 in X).
Took 4 stabs to get Z and X perfect...AND I wasn't sure how a deep oiled semi-cured cut would do.
Ran it once at a .005" pass to double check the 1mmTBN was cutting uniformly everywhere.
Came out GLOSSY and perfect:)

Too many pics by one, so I'll just post a pic of a racoon for anybody who hasn't seen one up close.
(it will also explain what I tried to do next;
Here's the Furry Bandit

More cut pics in several minutes...

[scottp55]

There was a blacker than sin streak under his chin, so I knew I had to run about a .02" pass anyways.
SO I decided to use my little butane Blazer torch..it was 4am, and been up since 2:30 running the spindle fan directly on the oil, but you can see I was TRYING to get nose/left eye/cheek/ear slightly blacker.
Did a poor job of it, but then wanted to know how deep the black went,so ran a .005" deep pass;

Darkened the wood to a deep golden, but ear was thin and needed another .005" pass to clean up;

Threw the 30 degree Onsrud on, and made a .45" deep Profile cut On the line to give ,25mmTBN room.
Then chucked the .25mmTBN in....Lightly torched a few spots(included his right claws this time).

LinWaxed him again and ran the .25mmTBN toolpath at .01" deep....

almost 5:30 by time it finished.

NOT sure exactly how I'll darken left side of face more...probably wait a few days for coat to totally dry,
and experiment with torch settings on scrap. Also may experiment with Milk Paint Black dye in oil/wax,
as a kind of glazing(?).

Onsrud 30 degree Engraving bit running at exactly the same depth as the .25mmTBN started an hour ago.
DANG...cut got into his fur...and not enough wood was showing up in the wax
Lowered Z-Zero .002" and now looking as expected, but now won't be done till after midnight!
Should have watched it longer than 20 minutes before posting here

I'll be sleeping late, as cleaning off all excess/bit/and machine wipe down it'll be 1 am...2:30am to 1 am,
I'll take pics in daylight when it's off machine....better than holding camera over my head and praying for a good shot!
Thanks for listening to me yak:)
5.5 hours to get more delicate hair and claws...I'm crazy!
scott

[Jan.vanderlinden]

Crazy in a good way.
I thoroughly enjoy reading your posts.

[scottp55]

Thanks Jan!
You ought to see the bit follow all the little hairs....almost to quick to see the Z movement.
THIS is one Hairy critter!!
JUST made a note to myself on my plexi shield....Star brush ONLY!
(It's my softest horsehair brush....I foresee some toothbrush work for finishing after I figure how to get colors on his face more uniform:)
It's cutting well now, but resetting it back to scratch an hour and a half into the cut, just to get hairs deeper was nutsos.......12% done a second ago at 57 minutes into the cut...the tiny Z moves are really throwing the scale factor off! The .25mmTBN estimate was with 10 minutes of the 5:40:30 estimate.
DARN good thing the Boundary Vector is only for the Racoon's face and claws!
Darn close to a 24 hour day....I'm getting too old for this
Probably will just put a thick coating of Linseed/wax on when it stops...zap it with the heat gun and hit the sack. The sides will be cut away, but in the meantime it makes a great bathtub for molten mixture.
Those tiny hairs....I want them Saturated with oil, so they'll be stronger when it fully polymerizes!

[scotttarnor]

Scott, You do awesome work !

[scottp55]

Thanks Scott!
I DID get that tiny knot on his nose(even if I got half his face wrong:)
Carving the tip of nose now:)
33% done at 2:29...
I had wondered how it would have turned if I'd cut the original face....but heartwood isn't centered in section I picked....probably just reversed the black side.
Got a chunk of Walnut bark in denatured now to get a dye...that may come in handy in a few days:)

[scottp55]

OK...I exaggerated....I was in bed eating supper at 2am....only 23 and a half hours

I put him to bed after wiping slurry off with a fresh thin coat of Linwax hit briefly with heat gun and spread.
This is straight off the machine, but took excess off with SOFTEST horsehair brush onto another project.
Kinda liking this pic, as had a baby racoon stuck in the house one night.....
He got really curious about me as the night wore on, and got very close, but my glasses were in the kitchen... so he was fuzzy like this;

But for clearer pics;

Now on the end of kitchen counter where a fan blows constantly on any projects that could use another very slight coat, when I brush out last of wax from the brush;

I'll look at him a few days while he dries(wood was saturated with Linwax), but think he'll get crosscut 1/2 inch below the model.....and flush with the top...and then beveled on the back for on uneven top profile.
Sides will probably be knife/sanding work to fair it into top profile afterwards.

Will let him get a couple weeks of sun before I start messing with his face...
It'll give me time to experiment.

Nice thing before I cut things off....I can flip him and engrave the back this time....
instead of my usual illegible script

[BillK]

Really nice Scott, beautiful work. Pulled an all dayer and nighter on that one. Did you increase the model height? I’ve seen this carved before looking much flatter.

Had a few raccoons in the garage once. Left the door open and they came in to help themselves to the cats’ food there. They’ll also come up as a group and stare in from the slider on my deck. This model reminds me of them.

Hope you take a nap today. Great work!

[scottp55]

Thanks Bill!
Trying to remember what it was after clipping... .69"sounds right, and then increased to 1" so I had some leeway on CEL for the .15" shank TBNs.

Yep, had a cat that came in very late sometimes, so garage door/shop door/house door from shop were kept cracked open....and had my fair share of buffet garbage...and they were eating the cat food 2-' from bed that night. Making a lot of noise, so told the cat to quiet down(cat meowed from foot of bed:).....
Yelled "Get OUT!!!" and heard scrambling, shop door slamming, shop door to garage slamming
Got up and shut all 3 doors and went back to bed only to hear a baby crying???
Mama went straight out the way she came in....Baby took a right and wound up in guest bedroom

Same time I heard Baby....my garage and front door were ATTACKED by VERY irate Mama!
No WAY was I going to open doors for the baby to go out!! Had to replace/repair parts of both doors!
MUCH more fun watching them on the far shore of the pond:)

Yep...after posting....all I did was eat and sleep to make up for the previous 2 days:)
Drying Linseed and just one day of sun are evening the colors out already:)
scott

[BillK]

Scott, those Mama raccoons are a force to deal with for sure. My father once lit his first fire of a season in his fireplace. Shorty there after he heard all kinds of racket above the heatalator and in the chimney. Watched the Mama go and carry out her 4 babies one at a time from the chimney. Only the last one seemed to have some scorched fur. It was close to 15 feet from the fireplace to the chimney top.