Following the Arnot Craft Fair I was asked to donate a carving of a police dog for a fundraiser. It sounded like a great challenge, so I accepted! Here is a pictorial history with comments my thought process along the way. By sharing this I am hoping to give back to the carving community I’ve gained so much from.
My projects always begin with an internet image search, where I look for many angles in the desired pose, along with the color scheme. I like to mix in some of carving images, so I can see how others have interpreted the basic forms (the one in the upper right is by James Elliot, but I’m having trouble tracking down the other credits). These images were printed onto a clipboard so I could refer back often:
If the subject is new to me, I’ll often try it in a bar of soap first. I’ve carved a lot of bears, and I just wanted to prove to myself that my version of a German Shepard would not turn into a long-nosed bear!
Log selection was next, and I really regret not getting a picture of this log when it was still lying on the ground with all its bark. It came from a pair of trees growing in tandem next to a creek bank, so it was a little “compressed” rather than perfectly cylindrical. I’m glad for that, because the curves and dimensions of this log somehow naturally suggested “dog” to me. It was also a very “clean” log, with no rot, and it’s shape also makes it resistant to cracking.
The main problem with this log was it was sort of a “C” shape, and I needed more of an “S” shape, in order to allow for the high ears and long nose extending forward. Here it is after de-barking (you can see my clipboard on the tree in the background):
To change the “C” shape to more of an “S” shape, I cut off the top 3rd so it could be rotated, pushed slightly forward and reaffixed. For gluing purposes I needed to plane both surfaces so they would mate perfectly in their new position. Here is my router sled jig, and the two pieces placed together loosely:
Added two wooden pegs for stability in the gluing process. My clamps weren’t long enough to encompass the log, so I screwed on some boards for them to hang on to:
Now that my canvas was in the shape I needed, I started block-cutting with the chainsaw. Being new to this, my blocking process is tentative and very slow. The mark of a pro is to block things out quickly and confidently, but I’m not there yet. I apologize to the earth and my neighbors for the fuel I consume and the noise I generate! Here are a couple of shots from carving day #1:
Next steps involved my electric chainsaw and various power tools for refinement. In the middle image you can see some of the fuzz that the chainsaw leaves behind, and the solution is burning and sanding. Normally the burning is done towards the end, but there were still some issues to fix. For example, the harness was looking more like a cape to me, and I wanted a K-9, not “Super Dog”. This bothered me.
Don’t ask me how, but I somehow forgot to include the belly strap for the harness, and this made all the difference! Thankfully, my tentative carving style had left behind enough material so I could add this strap as an afterthought. On advice from Cody Stosz (an awesome carver on Facebook), I also cut in the top strap some more, allowing some fur to flap over it. In this picture you can also see a small crack in the base. It’s the only crack I needed to repair, speaking very well of the quality of this log.
Last comes painting and polyurethane. Here you can see the color layers:
Here’s a neat before-and-after shot:
And of course a final photo shoot, before sending my creation on it’s way:
