Carving the Civil War, by Tom Wolfe. Need help

[bcarvings]

Hi,
If anyone here has read the book Carving with Civil War with tom wolfe I can use your help.

1st of all what size block of wood should I use to make the soldier? What size for the head, and what size doe the body? The book doesn't tell me!!!

Also what brand of v-tool is good for carving in the hair? Can someone show me a link to a page of a good v-tool for this? Mabye I should get a set and save some money?

Also if anyone here who has carved the figure I would really appreciate a picture. The book has pictures, but I'd just like to see how someone else carved it. Thanks again

[Hi_Ho_Sliver]

Does the book give a pattern? if so, then thats your "size"

[bcarvings]

Hi,
Unfortunatly it only gives side views. Why would a book give a left and a right side view of the pattern, and no front. Thanks for tryin Ho ho

[Mitchell]

In this book, Tom gives the pattern with a side view profile. The pattern needs to be enlarged 125% to be to the scale that he originally carved the piece. He generally only gives one view with his patterns.

If I remember correctly, I carved this with the front view on 3 3/4" stock. The head was on 2 1/4" stock. The trick is being able to trim down the shoulders to look right for the side dimensions. The area around the elbows was widest. The same for the head(trimming down). I had to carve down the width to be "right" when finished.

Tom did not use a v-tool for the hair. He used a small veiner - most likely a 1 mm #11; maybe a 2mm.

I gave away the carving (my brother-in-law for Christmas), so I don't have it anymore for pictures.

[Hi_Ho_Sliver]

Guess I am going to have to add that book to the list of books to get!

[Mitchell]

Hi Ho, it's an overall good book. He gives instruction on one Confederate soldier with a flag draped over his left arm and a rifle in his right hand. The instructions are detailed and occupy a majority of the book. There is also a gallery with 5 or 6 six other carvings in the same theme.... some Union and Confederate. Also a horse. All with patterns.

As BC eluded to, there is not much "prep" info regarding the tools used or sizes of wood. Therefore it is not a good book for a beginner.

[Coffeeman]

bcarvings...I have carved this piece and yes he only shows the right/left side pattern. Unfortunately I did not write down the exact size of block the wood was that I happened to finally use, my measurements of the finished piece are 2 1/2 " wide at base of coat & 7 1/2 " high to top of shoulder, head is 2" long X 1 1/2 w, with another 1/2-3/4" neck going down into the hole.

I opted not to do the rifle, and instead have him holding the union flag over his head, with the confederate flag still drapped over his arm, and I call this piece "It's All Over".

I also toyed with the idea of placing a rolled blanket backpack laying on the ground next to his feet, but instead did up a powder keg with cannon balls.

I do have a pic of finished item on my picture trail site and if you want, I will take some other photos and email them to you, just give me an address to send them too.

www.picturetrail.com/coffeemanscarvings

Hope this helps you with some directional information/ideas.

[Randy48]

bcarvings, you can make it any size you want to. Take the book to a copy machine and copy the picture(s) as big or small as you want your carving to be.

[Mitchell]

BC,

Here is the link (hopefully) to the Woodcraft page with the gouge set that has the veiner that I used (I think).

http://shop.woodcraft.com/Woodcraft/...B0891876834ED7


Little Shavers has a less expensive set or tool that is a wide v-tool that should work well also. Rick even shows some tips on how to use it!

http://www.littleshavers.com/CatalogPage32.html

I am interested in how you are coming along - especially what size wood you finally used.