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

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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.