Walnut carving

[Mark Yundt]

This is the first of two pieces I’m building. Here it’s a long narrow coffee table. Not finished yet but you’ll get the idea. Stain , finish and a piece of glass will complete it. Here are the templates I made for the legs, some initial cutout of the panel and carving.

[Mark Yundt]

Plus while getting the walnut I couldn’t resist grabbing some basswood (6/4, 8/4 up to 12’ long) since it’s so dirt cheap.
have another project coming along. Sure I’ll need more. Lots of carving!

[Warren West]

Good stuff Mark. I've been drooling over walnut a lot lately. My teacher just finished an iconostasis made of Black Walnut and is in the process of setting it up in the church over the next week. So I've been seeing that come together whilst I work on my own project.

Walnut, especially Black Walnut is special to me as my grandfather and father were gunsmiths and especially my Grandfather used a lot of Black Walnut for stocks and did hand checkering. My father built custom guns for target shooting so many of those had no wood as wood's propensity to swell and shrink don't tend to do much for accuracy at the levels required for match rifles.

Is there going to be any carving on the feet of the table, ball and claw or lions foot? I think I like it just as it is now though.

[Mark Yundt]

Thanks. Sounds like an interesting history. As you can see there is no stock left where a ball and claw would be carved. The legs will have a cleaner look to them as is. My client didn’t want it over the top as I could have done that as well as carving the skirting. Now it’s centered on primarily the top with a bit of carving on the leg.
thanks !

[Chuck George]

I kinda like it the way you did it, without carving the skirting or feet. That is going to look really swell once the finish is on!

[Mark Yundt]

Thanks. Yes. Less is more. Why too much? Direct your focus into what’s important. And keep the rest clean.

[Richard Yates]

Beautiful and elegant table Mark! You do great work. Regards Richard

[Mark Yundt]

Thank you Richard! Very kind words.

[Patrick McCarthy]

Mark, I really enjoy your posts, and appreciate your talent. Thank you much, Patrick

[Mark Yundt]

Thank you Patrick! I’m glad you enjoy them.

[Frederick Skelly]

Such a beautiful table!
I really like it!
Fred

[Phil Mueller]

Mike, that is an amazing piece of work. I look at pieces like that and can’t believe that someone actually did that by hand. You have a wonderful talent. Please post the finished piece!

[Mark Yundt]

Thanks Phil! Glad you like the piece.

[Martin Wallen]

Hi Mark -- That's a fabulous table top! How much have you progressed on it since March? In the one picture I can see some of your gouges, but I wonder exactly which ones you used on the acanthus leaves.

Martin

[Mark Yundt]

Thanks Martin. This isn’t s rush project but one I work on in between others. It’s basically done except for the finish . I’m also doing another piece for them so I’m waiting to stain/ finish them at the same time.
As to gouges there is a variety I use depending on the cut. A #2 is useful initially to remove a lot of stock and roll many areas. After that #’s 5,7,8,9 and of course V’s do the rest.
I did a story where I listed the 20’or so chisels I used for years when I started as a full time carver. You don’t need many.

I also did a greenman , my avatar ,which is overloaded with acanthus , as a tutorial and limited my chisel selection to just 6. If chosen properly you can carve nearly anything with that few tools.