http://127.0.0.1/discover/The Carving Path - All ActivityenThe Carving Path forum began in January, 2005 with the combined strengths of Donn Fogg, Jim Kelso and Janel Jacobson (myself). We felt a strong need to form a global community of carvers whose work was in the small scale like ours. The forum has served as a repository of answers to questions, demonstrations of techniques, tool discussions, and so much more. It also was a way that friendships were formed and nurtured. The forum, as many have found by occasional visits here, has been very quiet with very little participation and interaction. There may be many reasons for the decline in participation. It saddens me to be writing this message. Steps are being taken to close the forum to further posting by members, with the goal of creating an archive site for the content of the forum knowledge. The hope is to create this in such away that it will be easy to access and to be free to readers. We do not know if this goal is attainable, we are exploring the possibilities. With great appreciation for all who contributed to the knowledge contained and freely shared on the forum, I thank you. You each have given meaning to the work of this admin/owner of the forum over the past 16 years. JanelTue, 11 Jan 2022 18:39:48 +0000Thank you Bruce, Very clever! I am glad that you have the arm rests for better control, and the shut off well thought out. This setup reminds me of stone/glass cutter tools where the material is held in hands and the carving done with a stationary, mounted power tool. My brain might not be able to make the switch from moving the tool on a stationary piece being carved. I will ponder this for a while! JanelTue, 04 Jan 2022 18:12:53 +0000Hi folks, I built a roughing out tool from a drywall router. These are high speed, brutal tools for rough construction work. With the addition of a variac AC power supply, I could tame it so I had a low speed, but high torque motor. The vacuum cleaner is the loud part of the setup. The arm rests and work position were inspired by the glass blower's lamp working station. I have the mount leaning back at a slight angle to get a better view of the work. The on-off switch to the router is on the opposite end from the tool. The switch pulls out for on and there is a plastic stud exposed when the tool is on. If the cutter binds up or there is other trouble I just have to push my chest forward to turn it off. That way I don't have to take a hand off the work and I can have maximum control with both hands. The work position is relaxed. Like any new tool it takes a little getting used to, but it can remove much material quickly. Regards, Fox sends.Mon, 03 Jan 2022 23:35:58 +0000Dear Ed, It is rather sweet to see you as you are now. How we both have changed since you joined the forum and posted your smiling face on your account! I continue to be in denial about aging until I look at myself in the mirror or in photos. We have learned so much these past decades! Thank you for your sincere and thoughtful message. It means a lot to me to read it. I hope for you to be safe and happily busy in this new year. JanelMon, 03 Jan 2022 17:21:49 +0000Merry Christmas to everybody. Hopefully we all have a great New Year. have met many of great friends here and many fantastic Carvers. I thank all that I have met for sharing their talents with us and for their friendship. From the southern in me you all have a good day and a great Christmas and New Year.Wed, 22 Dec 2021 15:58:00 +0000Hello Pavel, I enjoy seeing these. They each have quite different personalities. JanelMon, 06 Dec 2021 20:29:39 +0000Fri, 03 Dec 2021 20:14:14 +0000The Carving Path forum will remain for reading and searching, but will no longer accept new registrations.Fri, 03 Dec 2021 00:17:02 +0000Hello, I'm Connor, based in UK. I'm after a private carving of a single bone. Mainly text inscription onto the bone itself, not large. If you have the ability, please do contact me or post here. Prices, shipping etc to be discussed privately. I will provide the bone. Easiest way to contact would be by whatsapp or email. I am willing to talk to someone outside the UK, as there are not many people I can find for this request. Looking forward to hearing from someone, this is my personal number for ease of contact, feel free to whatsapp me: +44 7877 527205. Thank you you Janel who was very welcoming also, this is an amazing place!Wed, 01 Dec 2021 10:43:04 +0000Thank you Ed for your message. If your son has some information to share with me, lets have him do it by email to me. If you need my address, private message me and I will pass it along to you. JanelTue, 23 Nov 2021 04:28:19 +0000Janel I wish I had a good answer for you. I am getting close to the 80 age with some painful health problems. I also have a son that builds web sites for a living and I know that there is a fairly high cost for them. Since there is less use and more going to social media and many on them and using instagram, Facebook and YouTube. My son helped me build a free website firewoodstudio.com even that I use less and less as time goes by. I do not know what to say to you. I have used the carving path in the past and made some friends on it , but I have seen that my participation has decline and some of the older members have moved on, including me, my time on the site and the internet has decreased, even on my own site. If it was me I would close it or transfer it to a free site if possible. I will ask my son to look at and see if has an answer or maybe an idea. Will let you know,as soon as he gets some free time to see what we have here.Tue, 23 Nov 2021 01:10:54 +0000Janel, Archive.org is a nonprofit international archiving service funded by donations. I haven't archived anything but I think they have a pretty simple method for uploading sites. I have accessed things others have archived. It's pretty impressive. Mike Be safe, Be Well, Be KindMon, 22 Nov 2021 17:13:20 +0000Thank you Justin! Your positive thoughts are comforting. I do hope to make the many years of shared information be available and searchable. Your ideas are things that I had not thought about yet. Much appreciation to you for your responses. JanelMon, 22 Nov 2021 14:35:20 +0000I have found the Carving Path to be a very helpful resource of rare and specialized knowledge. It would be a shame to lose it, but I do understand the costs not making sense when user traffic is so low. The most useful information to me has been in old existing posts on techniques, tips, how to's, etc. An archive of all that knowledge would be very useful, but unfortunately I don't really know how to achieve that. I would be willing to donate directly, or to some sort of GoFundMe to help fund converting the site into a permanent archive. Perhaps international netsuke society members, and netsuke facebook group members would be willing to contribute as well. Thank you Janel! -JustinSun, 21 Nov 2021 01:38:19 +0000Fri, 19 Nov 2021 15:17:02 +0000It is a slab so it was cut to thickness but the edges are still the natural outer partSun, 17 Oct 2021 13:59:08 +0000Hi Jacobsw, I am not a stone person, but to me it looks like the little broken chert pieces that I find in the gravel here in Minnesota. There is no way of telling what it is without knowing its hardness and other characteristics. Others familiar with stone ID might be able to give you a better idea of what it might be. Was it cut to this thickness and to this shape? JanelSun, 17 Oct 2021 03:50:48 +0000Hi Jerome, How are they working for you? They look like a useful array of tools! Are you carving bone now with them? JanelSun, 17 Oct 2021 03:47:29 +0000The picture below is a stone slab that was given to me and I would like to figure out what it is and how could I possibly cut off chunksTue, 12 Oct 2021 22:47:33 +00007 years later, here are some of the tools I was able to finish, sorry it took so long.Tue, 12 Oct 2021 19:07:07 +0000I apologize for being so late to respond, I have been recovering from a broken wrist and surgery. Power tools can be useful but at most speeds can generate heat from friction, causing the material to burn. Take care with capturing the dust generated as well. There are several ideas, from simple to elaborate, for dust capture systems posted in earlier years here on the forum, which can be found using the SEARCH option. I would not use water while cutting or working tusk, fearing cracking upon drying. If others have used this method successfully, it is outside of my own experience. Water for shell working yes, tusk and bone maybe not. My history with carving I have preferred hand tools for most of the work after the roughing out with burrs using a micro grinder, for the development of careful shaping and detail work. There are discussions on the forum about preferred tools that we have all made for our chosen use, since there has been a lack of availability for specific use small tools commercially. SEARCH and learn a lot from the wealth of information waiting to be discovered here on The Carving Path forum. JanelSat, 02 Oct 2021 12:56:31 +0000Thank you for your nice comments. 😊 PavelSun, 26 Sep 2021 09:15:06 +0000Wow! This is amazing! thanks for all the detail and pics of your process. It's gorgeous. That copper looks exactly the color of a bullrush Also I see Mr Kelso gave it a thumbs up, so strong work!Sun, 19 Sep 2021 20:53:35 +0000This is so beautiful! Your daughter will love this for the rest of her life....Sun, 19 Sep 2021 20:44:21 +0000This is such a great idea...and your carvings are awesome. "studies" he says.....😂🥺 I've been carving approx. the same size heads out of ebony and Blackwood for a few years. If I had taken the time to carve some studies, I'd have saved myself a lot of grief. A lot.Sun, 19 Sep 2021 20:41:34 +0000