Some work with a chainsaw

[brianh]

First on site job this year the trees in this yard had been snapped of last spring from a tornado not something we get much of in the Catskills NY. The wood was hemlock it holds up fairly well in the weather compared to pine.

My saw that does the detail work has a special solid bar a few years ago I started making my own out of A2 steel it holds up better than the available hard tip carving bars.

Here it is on the saw

The other saws I use are pretty standard I do get 7 tooth sprocket nose bars for my saws 20" and under they are good for shaping and have less kickback danger.


The bear is 7' tall not including the base I forgot to take beginning pictures the scaffolding was a pain to set up on the grade.

The next project was owls on a double trunk Hemlock.

 

[FishingMan]

Nice work. How long did the Bear take to carve?

 

[brianh]

Nice work. How long did the Bear take to carve?

The bear took around 9 hours not counting setting scaffolding up. the Owls were around the same. But I have a half day in time getting all my tools I need together and loaded up before setting out.

 

[LXCam]

You're just amazing at that stuff, I'm always blown away by your skills. How do you price this type of work. A set price or by the hour? I'd imagine by now you can look at something and know approximately how long it would take. And with that said do you find yourself eating much of your time? I build a ton of one off car stuff and give away a lot of my time. An example might be some simple billet bracket that took me an hour to make but I can't justify to even myself charging someone a hundy for what started life as a 1" square carved away to a 1/4" thick 90degree bracket. Just wondering.

 

[Bad Habit]

Awesome work, always liked seeing trees carved. Obviously different species will have different durability in the weather, do you do any kind of treatment to the wood to help it last?

In rough numbers, what does something like that cost?

 

[brianh]

LXCam Jobs like this I price per day 600 a day with 25 for any chains ruined by metal. If it is a large job with multiple carvings I will give a fixed price. Once in while I come out ahead but usually about even with daily rate. I have lost money on some jobs doing that but I will not cut corners because of my mistake in time estimate.

I do best on the carvings I make at my shop all my tools are organized and I have an efficient setup for carving I then sell most of my work at art shows.

The custom furniture I make is all over the map on making money its hard to make money on one off pieces. Multiple piece jobs are good.

Bad Habit, The trees were Hemlock its a fairly rot resistant wood. The coating I like to use is CWF deck and siding preservative it holds up well and does not peel. Sometimes I will cut the carving right off the stump, spacer it and fasten it down to prevent water migration from the roots.

 

[TimeWarpF100]

Very nice work!


Sent from my iPhone using The Garage Journal mobile app

 

[SJK2]

Very nice work..........

 

[bugnut]

sweet

 

[Bretny]

Great work. I grew up in stone ridge.

 

[brianh]

Great work. I grew up in stone ridge.

I grew up in Long Island, always liked the Catskills hated LI when I moved back to NY after the army I bought a place in Kerhonkson just down the road from Stone Ridge. Got married and moved to Grahamsville in the middle of nowhere and I love it.

 

[Bretny]

Sounds perfect. Im near poughkeepsie now yet in a very private rd.