The Process to carve a Handyman caricature

[Ed DelCogliano]

I figured I'd show the process I used to carve this Handyman caricature. The wood is Basswood and it is made up of 3 pieces, the main body, the saw and the piece of wood he is cutting. The bench is part of the main body. I started by taking pictures of myself to show the positions I needed to trace onto the block of wood. I carve this about 5 years ago because I started a handyman business and I wanted to have a picture of a handyman on my business card. The name of my business was " This Old (House) Guy " with the word house crossed out. Hope this helps any new carvers.

I traced onto the block of wood cutouts of the pictures I had taken to give me a rough idea where I was going to start to carve. I used a bandsaw to cut out the figure, then started to carve using the pictures to show more detail, I would always keep tracing with a pencil to show where I had to carve. I used various gouges and knifes to carve.

This is the finished piech after many hours of carving.

Hope this helps some new carvers out there.....Regards Ed

 

[ptt49er]

Thanks for sharing your steps!! I'm sure that'll give a lot of us the nerve to try it. Nice work!

And I'm glad to see you were able to get the pictures figured out!

Have a great one...

 

[RandyJ]

Wow! Nice pictorial, Ed. Thanks for sharing your technique.

 

[Sealeveler]

Good Job.The steps show alot of detail.Thanks
Tony:thumbs_up

 

[woodArtz]

That is amazing... very cool! :icon_thum:icon_thum:icon_thum:icon_thum

 

[DaveO]

From the first picture I thought you were going to punch it out of the wood with brute force :gar-La;:gar-La;
I really like how you used yourself as a model to get the basic design. Going from 2-D to 3-D takes an amazing talent. You have to see the form in the wood before you start. And as I have heard said, just remove the wood that doesn't look like what you are trying to carve.
Yep, I bet it's that easy :roll::roll:.
Thanks for posting this, it is very enlightening.
Dave

 

[rcflyer23]

That is an amazing piece of work. I love it. It almost looks like me. One day I may give that a try as well. Although even with the steps I have no clue how you did that.

 

[WoodWrangler]

I was thinking along the same lines that you were going to punch your way thru the wood to make something ... but ah, then I saw the light. Pretty dang neat!

PS - I have been laying out a new website called "How Wood You" (www.howwoodyou.com) that would be a central hub for instructions on how to do things with wood. This might be a great candidate ... that is if you are interested. The site is not "on the web" yet, but I've got the starts of it on my computer while I look for content. PM me if you are interested in maybe putting something up on it.

 

[flatheadfisher]

That is really cool and amazing.

 

[TracyP]

That is really cool! I really thought that you were going to Punch out the wood into a carved design:dontknow::dontknow:.

 

[CarvedTones]

Ed,

I think I got it except for the one step here:

Then the sea parts and angels sing... :icon_sunn:icon_sunn:icon_sunn

:rotflm::rotflm::rotflm:

Seriously, that is what always kills me - details!

Very nice job. :notworthy::notworthy::notworthy:

 

[ErnieM]

I think this is amazing work. I can't even imagine how this was done. I don't know if I'm more impressed with the man or his clothes. I think I'm gonna try it - I'm gonna start out with a pencil and see if I can carve a pencil out of it. :dontknow: :dontknow:

Thanks for sharing your wonderful work with us.

Ernie :notworthy: :notworthy: :notworthy: :notworthy:

 

[MikeL]

This is truly a great posting! I have always admired those caricature carvings. You are very talented. Thanks for taking the time to share with us.

 

[Ed DelCogliano]

Thanks for all your comments. I hope it has inspired others to carve, you can do it. I've read many of your postings about what chisels and gouges and knifes to get. Just start out small, buy the best you can afford, keep them sharpe, really sharp and keep you hands and fingers protected, that is a must. Just do it! Regards, Ed

 

[skeeter]

Great work. I really enjoyed seeing how it was created, though I don't think I would ever build up the nerve to try.

 

[Matt Schnurbusch]

That is absolutely incredible!!!:notworthy:

Since I run a Handyman business I think it's extra cool. I could see a business card holder on the front of that... Now that would be over the top!!! I have been wanting to make some business card holders for myself, but now I feel rather inadequate. Mine were just going to be basic. You have inspired me, unfortunately I don't have the level of talent required to produce something like that.:no:

Matt

 

[Ed DelCogliano]

Thanks Matt,
You are welcome to use the image on your business card. Let me know and I will send you the orginal one I used on my card. e-mail me at eddelcogliano@att.net and I'll even send you my business card to see what it looked like. Regards Ed

 

[Matt Schnurbusch]

I appreciate the offer... What I actually meant was to reform your carving in another rendition as a business card holder.

Matt