16,533 and 10,984

[Mark Yundt]

What do these numbers mean?
Well the carving project I posted earlier in the year was completed last night.
For the 3/4 inch strip which was 684 ft long I carved 16 leaves per foot which yielded 10,984 leaves needing to be carved not including the mitered corners.
For the second strip which was 501 ft long I carved 33 leaves per foot which gave 16,533 leaves carved.
All total that was 27,517 leaves over nearly a quarter mile of moulding.
Phew!
I'll be happy not to see this moulding again for some time. But then again if it shows up, I have a good idea what it will take to carve it.
Here are a couple of pics to keep you from having to search the forum.
As you can see I built a vise to hold the two mouldings for ease of carving. I also believe the hydraulic swivel base I had it attached to was simply a life saver.
If you would consider the time had I used my old mechanical screw base and just moving positions several times during the carving of each piece would have added up to quite a few hours devoted over time to just moving the carving.
For example with nearly 1000 pieces of moulding , and moving it 4 times, each requiring say 30 seconds each would total ( if my math is correct) 33 hours of just positioning the work.
In 33 hrs I could have carved a lot of moulding! That's nearly a week of work in itself.

[Ryan Mooney]

Wow Mark, that's kind of crazy, I can't even imagining starting a project like that!

I bet you had the knack of those down pat by the end. What do you reckon was your rough time spent/foot by the end?

[Mark Yundt]

Yeah, a bit crazy I guess in a way.
It depended on the moulding. I first did all the larger (3/4 ") and there I was averaging around 3 ft an hour. Remember these were precut to specific lengths so it was changing up pieces along the way.
The smaller 3/8 moulding I was able to knock out up to 35 ft a day.
Granted this pace wasn't maintained throughout the carving.
Time would have stretched out had I not have had my wife doing all the template work for me. She was a life saver. Just the time it took to do that was amazing.
Glad she works cheap!
Taking her out tonight. And I'm doing a new kitchen for her so she really can't complain too much about the lousy pay!!!

[Ryan Mooney]

Taking her out tonight. And I'm doing a new kitchen for her so she really can't complain too much about the lousy pay!!!

Having someone around to talk to, etc.. seems to make it go easier as well.

[Bruce Page]

Phew? I can't even imagine the amount of fortitude it would require to complete a job like that. How often did you have to resharpen your tools?

[Mark Yundt]

Two, maybe three times. Stropping goes a long way. I seldom regrind.

[Roger Strautman]

Way to go Mark!! Now the big question is, if this sort of thing comes around again would you take the job on again? If you listen to music while carving I'll bet you listen to the same songs more than once. LOL! Did you make the door company's time frame? You may have to take some time off just to give your fingers a break. I'm glad to see someone can make money at carving. Job well done! Thanks for sharing.

[Mark Yundt]

Thanks buddy!
If it came around again I'd do it in a heartbeat!

I can't stand commercial radio. You can set your watch by what song they're playing. Same thing every day and if you listen long enough as I do you'll hear the same songs 3-4 times in a day. For the past 25 yrs or so I can only listen to Classical.

I did push their time frame a bit but nothing too drastic. It was almost expected in a way. But they never did give me an actual date. This Co has done such big carving jobs for so long they seem to know. And I mean big.

My fingers are just fine. I was carving anywhere from 8 - 14 and sometimes 16 hrs a day. I'm used to it. Only real evidence is a rather large callous in my one finger where I rest (and press ) the chisel. Sort of a depression backed by a lump.

I've done well carving. My wife was able to be a stay at home mom all along. Worked well while kids were young. Sent them to Parochial grade and high school then college all paid for and done. And hopefully with more jobs like this I could realistically work 4-6 months and make a very nice living by most standards,
But carving has been good to me with the opportunities and experiences it has allowed me to be part of.


The only real down side to a lengthy job like this is all the other work I had to put off . I did squeeze a few out along the way. And that's what extended my time frame a bit. Besides the usual parts of life that get in the way. But they have another job they want me to do starting in the spring. This one too will require MANY months of carving and be an even bigger pay day with what I do know about it. We'll see.

Till then I'll catch up on other projects. Remember the tree I did arching over the entertainment unit? It just came home for a redo!
i had to put it off for 6 mo. But it's here again,

[Mark Yundt]

Well I can add an additional 3,600 leaves to this project as they sent some more pieces to carve. Just today I carved 420 of the small leaves.
These pieces are a bit more interesting to do as some of the sticks are 3 and 4 ft long.

[Bud Millis]

Mark, I'd like to see more of that specialty bench. That looks very good. Hope you'll post a picture of the finished project.

[Mark Yundt]

Bud.
Im only working from my phone so I'm a bit limited. There are 3 posts on page three if you scroll back related to this job. I tried bumping the thread but it hasn't moved to the first page yet.
The thread is titled " leaf molding and project clamp" that shows my vise. And I added some pics as well.
The others are "Molding job starts" as well as " carving templates "
which is related to how I did these.
I also have covered a bit more on my blog.