Here's My Woodcarving!
by Carl Lehman
Tecumseh, ON
Click on any picture to see a larger version.
I made three rocking cycles for my grandchildren. I just let my friends and family think they were difficult to make, the truth is that they were one of my simpler projects and I had a lot of fun making them. The first one I made I entered in a wood carving competition and won first place in the Carousel Horse-Novice category and first place overall for People's Choice-Novice. My grand kids love them.
There are a couple of unusual techniques I incorporated into the cycles. The first was I used spalted wood for the seats as it made them look a bit like leather. I also used a light coloured wood, ash or maple, to make all the traditional "chrome" components of a real bike, and likewise used the same wood species for the typical "tin" components. The handle grips were made with veneer wrapped around a dowel and then worked to imitate knurled grips. The cover plate for the transmission for all of the bikes was fashioned from a highly figured piece of wood lying around the shop, in one case cherry flame, another was spalted butternut, and the third lacewood.
You can email Carl at
clehman@hotmail.ca
Would you like to see your carvings in this column? We invite you to
SEND US PHOTOS
of your
favorite woodcarving projects along with captions and a brief history of your woodcarving. (Email
photos at 800x600 resolution.) Receive a $50 store gift card if we show your carving work in a
future issue!
Return to
Wood News
front page