Let It Snow

What better way to start the holiday season then with some snow. As long as you don't have to travel in it!

This is made from a piece of poplar, the snowman is a separate piece of wood. The shovel handle and head are carved, the shaft is a piece of brass wire.

Cowboy Boot on Fence Post

Evidently in some states out west there's a tradition of putting old cowboy boots on fence posts. Some of these nutty cowboys have hundreds of boots on miles of fence posts. One guy in Oklahoma has over 600 pairs of boots on his fence posts.

Cowboy boot superstition says that a cowboy boot on a fence post means someones at home.

I couldn't find a definitive meaning behind putting the boots on the fence posts.

It also seemed appropriate to add a Western Fence Post lizard.

The boot and lizard are carved out of Poplar.

Additional photos at the link below.

http://s289.photobucket.com/albums/ll224/2scale/Boot%20on%20Fence/?albumview=slideshow

A new carving based on a few pictures I found on the web. I pictured the donkey wearing his sombrero going on a trip. So where would a donkey go? Obviously south of the border, and this ones headed to Boy's Town. Nothing like being the star of your own Donkey Show!

Additional pictures at the link below

http://s289.photobucket.com/albums/ll224/2scale/Boys%20Town%20or%20Bust/?albumview=slideshow

Audacious

A few weeks ago I decided to carve a Rodeo Bull. While searching the web for pictures I discovered Bodacious.

Bodacious was considered the most dangerous bull and was almost impossible to ride. Wikipedia has an entry if you want to read a little more about the bull.

ttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bodacious_the_Bull

There is also a TV special that happened to be on TV last weekend about Bodacious, I believe it was on Versus.

I used the picture of Bodacious as the basis for my carving.

I call him Audacious.

Addtional pictures at the link below.

http://s289.photobucket.com/albums/ll224/2scale/Audacious/?albumview=slideshow

Little Cloud

This is a quick carving I just completed. I used a piece of cedar that was left over from a grape arbor I built a few years ago.

The head is approximatel 2 inches tall.

Additional photos at link below.

http://s289.photobucket.com/albums/ll224/2scale/Indians/?albumview=slideshow

Building the Ammo Box for the Caisson

The Caisson requires two ammo boxes. These are large wooden boxes with metal fittings and corner plates. They weighed approximately 250lbs.

These will be 1:10 scale and made of brass and wood.

The wooden boxes are made from poplar and the corners are held together with box joints. The box joints are made on the table saw using a fence with a guide pin to allow you to evenly space the fingers of the joints.

The hasp is probably the most difficult piece to make for the ammo box, a lot of filing and shaping on avery small piece. Anytime you are working on a small piece leave it attached to the longer stock piece as long as you can, this will provide you with extra material to put in the vise to hold the piece while filing. For the hasp it starts out as a 1/4 inch x 12 inch piece.

Additional photos of box contruction are in the photobucket below.

I'll add more photos as I make progress.

http://s289.photobucket.com/albums/ll224/2scale/Ammo%20Box/Ammo%20Box%20Build/?albumview=slideshow

Minature Scale Rifles

In early 2007 I had started thinking about making scale replicas of rifles. I searched the internet for information on how to do ti, however I didn't come up with much. There are a few sites but none seem to share much information about how to do it or where to get plans, etc.

I started collecting photos and patent drawings from the web, antique gun auctions seem to provide the most information, and necessary views. There are a few that show clear pictures of both sides, top and bottom views, plus close ups of any details they consider a sellng point.

Armed with hundreds of photos and some dimensions from the gun manufacture or replica websites I was able to craft a 1860 Henry Rifle and a 1783 Wincester in 1:10 scale.