Today I taught a workshop on power carving. We looked at different cutting blades for angle grinders and discussed pros/cons, set-up, applications, safety and technique before plugging in the tools to start experimenting with them. We first practiced on a chunk of cherry before going to work on two serious chunks of wood – elm and red cedar. Oh, I love the smell of cedar! The focus of the class was to get comfortable with the tools shaping the edges. Joinery for the base/legs was beyond the scope of this 5-hour class, and it will be really interesting to see what they come up with. The possibilities are endless.
Part of the fun of working with unsurfaced (rough-cut) materials is exposing what is underneath. We couldn’t really tell what kind of figure we could expect or what colour variations that would be revealed. We could see the heartwood/sapwood line, but not this!
Little details like this can really enhance the experience of the completed piece. It just feels so… Well, it just adds another layer of depth.
Sculptural Woodwork by Chris Wong 