# Eagle and Fish



## beltramidave (Jan 6, 2016)

Finished a couple of projects this week. First one involved fish. Had some issues and ended up re-doing the carve, evidently I am "too fussy". After finishing both pieces, the customer was more than happy with them and took both of them. This one done on 5/4 select pine with golden oak stain and chestnut glaze with a poly topcoat.

The second one involved an eagle model. I tried something new and added a little color. Not quite at Scottart's painting level yet, but was pleased with my results. Ash slab sealed with sanding sealer and then a mixture of stain colors that I had laying around and topcoated with lacquer.


----------



## difalkner (Jan 3, 2012)

Awesome work, Dave! Great job!

David


----------



## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

awesome


----------



## RainMan 2.0 (May 6, 2014)

Very impressive .
I wouldn’t have painted the eagle , but then I seen it painted . Great work


----------



## Herb Stoops (Aug 28, 2012)

+1 What Rick said. They are super nice. I like them all.
Herb


----------



## jj777746 (Jan 17, 2015)

Holy smoke, perfection cant be bettered! Kohl's Resort Fishing Contest is my favorite Dave.It's all action. Jamesjj777746


----------



## old55 (Aug 11, 2013)

+1 what they all said, Dave.


----------



## beltramidave (Jan 6, 2016)

RainMan 2.0 said:


> Very impressive .
> I wouldn’t have painted the eagle , but then I seen it painted . Great work


Not usually a color guy either, but was wanting to try something different and in this case, the different colored stains brought the eagle to life, in my opinion.


----------



## sreilly (May 22, 2018)

Craving the carver. Now I want one.....great job.


----------



## honesttjohn (Feb 17, 2015)

Oh oh. Dave's dipping into painting and colors now. I see another trip to Alaska on the horizon. Scott will have 2 "students". He'll get almost all the winter firewood chopped at this rate.

Told you that you didn't have to redo it. Remember ...... if it's perfect - it's because it's handmade. If it has a couple flaws - it's because it's handmade.

Good weekend's work!!


----------



## marecat3 (Nov 30, 2010)

They look great


----------



## beltramidave (Jan 6, 2016)

honesttjohn said:


> Oh oh. Dave's dipping into painting and colors now. I see another trip to Alaska on the horizon. Scott will have 2 "students". He'll get almost all the winter firewood chopped at this rate.
> 
> Told you that you didn't have to redo it. Remember ...... if it's perfect - it's because it's handmade. If it has a couple flaws - it's because it's handmade.
> 
> Good weekend's work!!


Haha John, You know me too well.

So I decided to share "my mistake" and the process on how I tried to fix it. I was doing a process called rest machining to get more detail using a smaller ball nose bit in specific areas when this happened and I forgot that when I 'calculated' the toolpath, I had the underlying water model turned off. So doing an offset toolpath on the perch worked well until it got to the edge of the perch and decided to plunge down almost 3/8" and before I could stop it this happened... So I decided that I would try to inlay a new piece of material and recarve just the one fish.

The process worked fairly well, but I was not happy with the glue line and the grain match. I decided to finish 'the mistake' and see if the customer would notice (and he didn't). Wish I would have taken a picture of it finished to post.

In the end, I probably should have listened to my critics and saved myself 7 hours of carving, not to mention the glue up, material and a sleepless night trying to decide what to do.


----------



## honesttjohn (Feb 17, 2015)

If I only shipped the "perfect" ones I'd have one heck of a supply of firepit fuel and no shipping costs.


----------



## Multiwood (Feb 24, 2013)

Excellent work Dave.


----------



## Danman1957 (Mar 14, 2009)

Dave,

I really like these carvings, the more I see these from all the members that make them, the more I want to have the opportunity to be proud that I can create similar works. I like fish, but, that Eagle just blew me away ! Is it for sale ?

I think I better start saving my $$$$ for a carving set up, I have seen a couple lately on our local Marketplace listings one was only $1500 but small, then I saw a 4' x 8' for only $3500 ??? 
I will start reading up on it and get prepared to take the PLUNGE !

Where on the site will I find the literature I need to learn more about this ?

Thanks,
Dan


----------



## fishrman (Jul 16, 2020)

Very impressed!


----------



## TenGees (Sep 12, 2012)

Beautiful. I like the colored one, you can still see the grain.


----------



## Gaffboat (Mar 11, 2012)

The color stain on the eagle is just superb! Paint would have been overpowering. The stain is very subtle, and doesn't distract from the wood grain.


----------



## beltramidave (Jan 6, 2016)

Danman1957 said:


> Dave,
> 
> I really like these carvings, the more I see these from all the members that make them, the more I want to have the opportunity to be proud that I can create similar works. I like fish, but, that Eagle just blew me away ! Is it for sale ?
> 
> ...


Dan,

I would recommend looking into the Avid Cnc Pro Series of machines. If I had to do it again, I would probably go that route. I have a Fine Line Saturn, which is a great SOLID machine, but they have taken a bad rap since I got mine and it is definitely not a plug and play machine. You can expect to pay 10-12K for a ready to run AvidCnc 48 x 48. Honest John has one, he can give you more details on them. If you have LOTS of money, look into Legacy Cnc's.


----------



## honesttjohn (Feb 17, 2015)

I bet Dan's loaded!!


----------



## MEBCWD (Jan 14, 2012)

Great carvings Dave. I agree that stain was the way to go on the Eagle, paint would have been too much. 

Great save on the fishing sign, I think I would have pocketed from the face of the Bluegill to the tail of the Pike but that would have been more work but would help hide the patch on the sides at the end grain.


----------



## Danman1957 (Mar 14, 2009)

If you bet that I'm loaded, sorry You lose !!! This Covid has had me living on 60% of my regular salary since March ! I'm lucky that I was able to do odd jobs to earn some extra cash to make ends meet !


----------



## RainMan 2.0 (May 6, 2014)

Danman1957 said:


> If you bet that I'm loaded, sorry You lose !!! This Covid has had me living on 60% of my regular salary since March ! I'm lucky that I was able to do odd jobs to earn some extra cash to make ends meet !


Don’t feel bad Dan. I’m so broke my reality check bounced


----------



## jssussex (Jul 18, 2010)

you did a great job on both but I love the eagle. Adding translucent color to a carving adds a lot to many. I commonly add translucent green to trees. adding color is a separate art all unto itself. congrats on a great job.


----------



## Gary Lee (Jul 9, 2007)

Those are neat. The bark on the eagle plaque added class. 
Nice Dave....


----------

