Testing my attention span: Cabriole Legs

[Matt Bickford]

A quick look into my basement.

These are the back two legs of a dressing table on which I'm working.



There's still quite a bit of work to do on this pair.

[Dave Anderson NH]

Beautiful Matt. If those are the back legs, I can't wait to see the front ones. I was going to say hello at Phil's a couple of weeks ago but you were busy wiuth customers at the time. Catch you next time.

[Lupe Duncan]

Those are pretty cool Matt. You do beautiful work..

[Dan Andrews]

Wow Matt. Those legs are very impressive. Will you post a pic of the drissing table when done?

[Johnny Kleso]

Big is Better AWESOME!

[Mark Stutz]

Beautiful job Matt! Can't wait to see the final table. Still trying to figure out how to get those snipe bills to do this!

Mark

[David Weaver]

Question from someone who tries to avoid carving (and is generally successful, and who has never done anything remotely like that)...

How do you clean up all of the little details? Sand, or scrape? Looks great so far, really great.

[Jim Koepke]

It would sure test my attention span. Don't think I could take my eyes off of them long enough to stop drooling.

jtk

[David Keller NC]

Question from someone who tries to avoid carving (and is generally successful, and who has never done anything remotely like that)...

How do you clean up all of the little details? Sand, or scrape? Looks great so far, really great.

Can't answer specifically for Matt, but generally sanding is a huge no-no for carvers, as it obliterates fine details. Scraping with shaped scrapers can get one out of a jam, but you typically want to leave a finished surface straight from the carving tool.

[Matt Bickford]

David,
Generally speaking, I scrape the convex portions and leave the concave areas off the gouge. I have not done much carving, but I feel I'm leaving a better surface.

Sandpaper will not touch the knees. I find it very difficult not to sand the balls. I was able to restrain myself with the front two balls.

Matt