making staffs

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making staffs

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marzdragon

Joined: 28 Apr 2005
Posts: 11
Location: Tulsa Oklahoma,USA

Posted: Wed May 11, 05 5:56 pm Post subject: making staffs
i am making decorative staffs out of oak and need some info. I have scraped the rough bark off of the body of the limb and scraped all the bark off the head of it. I want to carve into the head and need to know if I can do it while its green, or do I need to wait for it to dry out. If anyone has done this or can point me to a site, i would greatly appreciate it. Thanks

jema
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 28238
Location: escaped from Swindon

Posted: Wed May 11, 05 5:57 pm Post subject:
Well if you make one. I seem to have lost mine

tahir

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45674
Location: Essex

Posted: Wed May 11, 05 5:57 pm Post subject:
No idea, but it'd be great to see the finished product.

healeytowers
Guest

Posted: Wed May 11, 05 6:24 pm Post subject: making staffs

you can carve it green or seasoned, so depends how impatient you are! make sure your knife/gouges are very sharp though, super sharpen on some leatehr to get a real good edge, then off you go. I'd practice a bit on balsa wood or pine first as these are easy to start on, best to use lime for your staff if poss if it's only ornamental as this has a nice tight grain, likewise sycamore is good. Have fun!

marzdragon

Joined: 28 Apr 2005
Posts: 11
Location: Tulsa Oklahoma,USA

Posted: Wed May 11, 05 9:19 pm Post subject:

i already have an oak limb that we had to trim from the tree. It is so heavy. I am going to buy some gouges at the craft store. and I am very impatiant(sp) when the muse strikes. I am doing alot of decorative wands and have one staff in the works that has honeysuckle vine wraped around it and fused in parts. I stripped all to bark and found the main limb riddled with worm trails, but they are only on the surface. I will be painting them in greens and blues(maybe) and decorating with shells and preserved seaweed. The oak staff will have a carving (it hasent told me what yet) and leather oak leaves and a cluster of jingle bells with acorn caps glued on them so they will be jingle acorns. I would post pics if I knew how. hint hint. Thanks for all the info healeytowers and everyopne elses enthuseiasm(sp) sorry kant spell today!
oh bty does the oak get alot lighter in weight when it dries?

Lloyd

Joined: 24 Jan 2005
Posts: 2699

Posted: Wed May 11, 05 11:01 pm Post subject:
Best to do it green. It will be nigh on impossible when seasoned. It will get a little lighter, but the wood is so dense, it won't lighten a lot. Why not weigh it now, and again in 24 months, when it is fully seasoned.

marzdragon

Joined: 28 Apr 2005
Posts: 11
Location: Tulsa Oklahoma,USA

Posted: Thu May 12, 05 1:24 am Post subject:
I think will and see the difference in weight. Looked at wood carving books at the library today, but not a lot of info, just patternes and stuff i already know.

Gervase

Joined: 17 Nov 2004
Posts: 8655

Posted: Thu May 12, 05 8:26 am Post subject:

A fellow I know who does stick dressing uses a Dremel tool with a burr attachment to help him carve; it will remove wood in a more controlled way if you're new to carving, and is particularly useful with deeper relief work and curved surfaces.
As for seasoned or green, I'd echo what's been said - seasoned oak is going to be pretty hard, so I'd stick to green, at least until the tools and techniques have bedded in. You may get some splitting, but if the grain's right enough you should be OK. And, if you're itching to get started, waiting a year or even longer for the wood to season may prove too frustrating!

marzdragon

Joined: 28 Apr 2005
Posts: 11
Location: Tulsa Oklahoma,USA

Posted: Thu May 12, 05 5:48 pm Post subject:
thats perfect. i have been wanting to get a dremel for jewelry and polymer clay, so i now have another reson to beg hubby for it. thanks. and what is stick dressing? do you know if he uses oil for a finish on it?

Lloyd

Joined: 24 Jan 2005
Posts: 2699

Posted: Thu May 12, 05 6:43 pm Post subject:
Dressing is the term used to describe the preparation, trilling, stripping of twigs, bark stripping, cleaning, smoothing, etc.

Bugs

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 10744

Posted: Fri May 13, 05 7:23 am Post subject:

marzdragon wrote:

I would post pics if I knew how. hint hint.

And they say I can't take a hint - there are some tips on picture posting here:

https://forum.downsizer.net/about2270.html&highlight=pictures

https://forum.downsizer.net/about1205.html

https://forum.downsizer.net/about1414.html

Between them they should tell you what you need to know but if you get stuck just shout!

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