Making A Bunkhouse Stove

I came across this photo the other day while looking for Bunkhouse reference material. While I've made potbelly stoves in the past I'd never considered a box style. It's clear that the fellas gathered around this heater are not Cowboys but it would be an easy matter to make some substitutions and come up with a real interesting western scene.

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When making a scene I almost always start with the main detail and then work in the other parts and characters. In the associated photos with this post you will find the measurements of my stove along with pictures of the raw blank and the finished product. In sawing out the blank I left the overall block square and cut out the shapes of the legs first. Next I sawed off the bottom of the stove with the legs attached. This left the stove in two pieces. I did this so I could make an ash pan openin

g at the front of the bottom which extended back underneath the box. It also makes it much easier to carve.

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Once the bottom was complete I whittled out the top and then the box shape and finally the details. I didn't concentrate too much on the outside stove ornamentation as it just isn't necessary. What little I did will be enough. To make the circular lid opening I used two forstner bits: a larger one to make the retaining ring and a smaller one to make the actual opening. I then cut a thin wooden circle for the lid to match the larger hole and then made a metal handle out of some steel rod.

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To finish it up I made the front latch out of a piece of coathanger wire and a piece of wooden dowel. The stove pipe is just some scrap wooden dowel from what I have no idea but it works.

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With the stove complete I'll now just set and wait until some character or characters show up to tell me what to do next.

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More photos in the Gallery and your comments are always welcome.

Flying With Steve

My good friend Steve from Madison, VA paid us a long anticipated visit this past week and brought along his airplane, a 1946 Globe Swift. Steve and I worked together in Chile and the old USSR back in the 70's. He is on his way to meet up with a group of other Swift owners in Santa Fe. From there they're off to California.

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Naturally, we had to fly over the Out West homestead so here's a photo of our place off of the right wing-tip:

From the bottom-right is the Out West Gallery, my workshop, and the barn. Our house is just up the drive. That bare earth spot out from the barn is where my buddy Boomer is buried.

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While Steve and I always remained in contact we hadn't actually shaken hands for over 30 years. Needless to say it was great to be able to set down and exchange old recollections of some of the troubles and fun we used to get into. Those were experiences I'll always cherish as they are experiences that can never be repeated.

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Good friends are hard to come by so keep the ones you have close cause in your later years they become even more important.

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Have a safe journey Steve!

Bitter Creek Newcomb - Part 2

I got old Bitter Creek painted up and ready to face his ultimate end which in a lot of people's opinions is long overdue. I apologize for not taking more photos as I finished carving the final details. The camera was setting right next to me but I got so wrapped up in being able to carve again I completely forgot about it. I think you can see by the painted product just what I did. I did manage to capture a couple photos of the hat blank before I cut it out. It's carved just like we did the sombero in the "Pancho-Bottle Stopper" album. I just oriented the flipped up brim to the side a little go give this one a rakish look.

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Anyway, I hope you like him and your comments are always welcome. Lots of photos in the album.

The Chief's New Blanket - Painted

I'm thinking that that is one cozy piece of material! It may not be a Pendelton but it will do! The new WalMart over in Pine Ridge was having a pre-winter sale so the Chief made sure he was the first in line. That old thread-bare, flea bitten piece of quilt the boys from the BIA passed out last year was so drafty and full of holes he was worried he was going to be picked up for exposing himself!

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I don't know if you're familiar with Charles Russell's little modeled wax caricatures of Indians, some of which were later cast in bronze. If you're not you should look them up as they are terrific. This fella is modeled after them. I tried to locate a photo of some on the web but couldn't find any so I guess you'll just have to make the trip to the museum in Great Falls, Montana. You can also see a few at the National Cowboy Museum in OKC or the Amon Carter Museum in Fort Worth.
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This was a fun figure to put together and while the blanket might be a little plain from the front the design on the back makes up for that ... besides, I didn't want to distract the viewer from that smile! If you look close you can see that the Chief didn't even take off the price tag. Hey, mornings are cold up there along the Rosebud!

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I hope you like the Chief. There are lots of photos in the Gallery and your comments are welcome.

Bitter Creek Newcomb - Part 1

I don't know if you've ever heard of George "Bitter Creek" Newcomb. He was a outlaw who rode with the Doolin Gang and was eventually gunned down by his sweetheart's brothers. The Doolins and Bitter Creek conducted most of their "business" out in what was called "No Mans Land" in the unassigned lands of western Oklahoma. Theres a great movie starring Randolph Scott titled "The Doolins of Oklahoma" in which John Ireland plays Newcomb.

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Each time we drive to Tulsa via Adair, Oklahoma, a town robbed by the Dalton Gang, we cross a very small little stream called Bitter Creek. While it is in no way the origin of Newcomb's nickname it always reminds me of him so, as we just crossed over it a few days ago I thought it about time I commemorated him with a carving even though it might be a small one.

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As my wrist is not up to doing a full figure yet and as I have a number of heads laying around the workbench, I thought I'd use one of those and just do the lower half of a bust and a hat. Hopefully I can manage that. As you can see by the photos in the associated album I started out with a rough pencil sketch. I did the lower part a little different just to be contrary but I think when it's finished you'll agree that it sure makes the piece look good. Once laid out on the wood I did as much whittling with the bandsaw as I could to save my poor wrist. This first part just takes us up to the initial roughing out. In the next installment we'll do the details and then the hat.

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As always your comments are welcome. Oh.....and here is poor old Bitter Creek laid out with his equally unfortunte buddy Charlie Pierce.

Lookin' For A Winner!

I guess you can tell that I'm into the "L's" now. This is a really pleasing little scene. It stands about 11" tall including the base. I completed it back in '99, again during my "closed eye" period. The figure is small...about 8" tall if he were standing.

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I used an old trick or rule that I learned from art composition classes by having the figure look toward the larger area of the scene. This makes you do the same thing and by doing that focuses your attention toward the saddle. Had I tipped his head a little more to where he was looking directly at the saddle this would draw your attention even more to that area. Just as a painter does when composing his picture a sculptor or woodcarver must take these rules into account. I've seen so many good carvings that were ruined simply by not being oriented in the correct way.

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I made the fence out of scrap out of the woodbox. Once I had the seperate pieces cut I whittled them to give some texture and then doweled and glued them together. Prior to gluing I made sure that the figure sat securely on the fence and that his feet matched the rail they rested on. He was doweled to the fence on both rails. The saddle was just doweled twice on the top rail.

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Hope you like him and your comments are always welcome. More photos in the Gallery.

The Line Rider

While this guy doesn't really show it, the Line Rider was one of the worst job handed out on the ranch. As the early ranches seemed to go on forever someone was needed to ride the far reaches to make sure that things were in order and especially to keep any nestors from moving in and setting up camp. Remember the movie "Will Penny" starring Charleton Heston? That was a good example of what a Line Rider was. Showing up looking for work only to find that the only job open was riding the line, housed in a far off shack and expected to stay out there for the duration of the winter.

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I know the first question that some of you thought when seeing this photo was when is he going to finish that Cowboy on a horse tutorial. Well, not right away but I promise I haven't forgotten about it. The horse is still setting on my worktable waiting for his rider.

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Just a couple of photos on this fella in the Gallery but your comments are still welcome and appreciated.

The Winter Robe

Finally!!! I'll bet that although he might be standing out in the snow he's at least glad to get off my workbench! He has been hanging around down there for the past three months!

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The Chief is just another example of why I enjoy doing Native Americans. Such a large opportunity to do a little research and a lot of painting not to mention coming up with the various designs.

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This guy stands a little over 14" so he's pretty impressive. I did the snow as I have before, i.e., finish painting the figure completely, mask off the face, then use straight white and a toothbrush to splatter paint from above. I came back with a brush to dab on a little more white on the more exposed parts. I also dabbed on the white around the bottom of his moccasins so it looks like he has snow on his feet.

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There are a lot of photos in the Album and your comments are always welcome.

I Ain't Gonna Do That Again!

Well, I took the Surgeon at his word about being able to resume doing the things I did before I became a "dirt dart"! WRONG!! I cut out what would normally be an easy blank and took it with me to the Tuesday woodcarving circle down at the Community Center. I had done the head of the piece prior to the accident so I thought doing a simple blanket covered body would be a snap. WRONG AGAIN!!! Around 2 a.m., I woke with the most pain I've experienced yet and still haven't fully recovered 2 days later. I just held the blank with the bad hand but that pressure of pushing against it with a hand tool really took its toll.

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Considering this I've prescribed no more carving for myself for the immediate future. Unfortunately, this really torpedoed my plans for kicking off my first carving college event which I had hoped to do in October. So, after giving it lots of thought this afternoon while manipulating the tractor and mower around the field I've come up with this idea:

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I will invite one person to act as my Out West Guinea Pig to see if my idea holds promise. It would probably last at least 3 days and the project would be fairly simple....say the "Horse Wrangler" that I recently posted on the WCI forum and is also in the Picasa Gallery. It would be one-on-one instruction with whoever is chosen doing ALL the carving while I stand close by in my wounded condition ready to wack the knuckles if I see the project heading off-target. It would be pretty intense 8 to 5 instruction to get it complete in the three days as I would want the piece painted and Gallery ready when the vehicle departs down the driveway heading home. Sound like fun?

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Now I would prefer that someone fairly local be the first choice in case things fall completely apart and a early departure becomes necessary. However, some might not think that fair so I'll leave it open to everyone. The tourist season will be over after Labor Day so finding a cabin or motel should be no problem and I'll help you with that if necessary. Like I said originally...there will be no charge for the instruction but all the other costs will be the responsibility of whoever shows up.

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Again, when deciding whether if you're up to the challenge the main requirements are that you be fairly experienced in carving, NO BEGINNERS, a photo of your current work will be ask for, and you should be willing and eager to accept new technics without question. I'm not a dominatrix but you will be coming here to learn how I do things not to share war stories. I'll ask that you sign a Statement of Non-Liability. Oh...you'll also be asked to bring a piece of good quality Basswood to work from.

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I'll give several weeks advance notice of the date we will begin and when I post the announcement of the date on the Blog THE FIRST ACCEPTING COMMENT POSTED will be the one who is chosen. That way everyone can see who responded first and who was selected.

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If everything works out as I hope it does I'll gradually increase the number attending any future classes until we reach the magic of 6. I'll look forward to your comments and suggestions.

The Gold Nugget Saloon

This is the first and largest scene I've done. It was completed back in 1997. As you can see in the associated photos there is a lot going on at the Gold Nugget. From Diamond Lil beckoning and newly arrived Cowboy to come up and test her brass bedsprings to the cheating cardshark reaching for the Ace stuffed in his pants cuff. Chang Li has the shirts all pressed and is making his delivery while the nester and his wife from out west of town are on their way home after completing their monthly resupply trip. The Banker doffs his hat to the Mayor;s wife while the chickens peck and scratch and dodge the traffic on Main Street. There's lots to see no matter where you look.

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One thing you might notice from the early photos of the construction is the disappearance of the Outhouse. While it was a neat little scene in it's own right I thought it was just too much for the overall project. It's removal also allowed me to square up the shape of the footprint which really made it a lot easier to transport and we ve carted it just about everywhere in the country. It now rests permanently in the Out West Gallery.

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Large scenes are fun to make but they take a long, long time. This one moved around the shop for over a year as I kept adding new pieces. There are a lot of small details which could easily stand alone, i.e., the Free Lunch setting on the bar. The leg of ham, the loaf of bread and chunk of cheese was really fun to put together. Even the painting above the door was fun and when it was finished I decided to add the transparent cloth over the lady as there was just too much detail to be Family Friendly. Oh well......I know whats under that gauze so I guess that will have to do.

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I'll go down and take a photo of the descriptive sign so you can see just who the characters are. Just remember, this was carved quite a while ago so I hope you'll admit that my carving has improved a little.

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Until then, your comments are always welcome.