Post #813329 by TikiAno on Fri, Jul 12, 2024 3:44 PM

Hamo looks great!

From looking through the original Witco "How To" book, I decided to follow the directions and try to chainsaw up something as per instructions. (Spoiler, I'm not that great with a chainsaw (though I read that they suggested counterweighting a chainsaw as a way to handle it more easily in the book which sounds like something Mad Dog would certainly do- and do very well. Though I worked as a rigger in film production for many years in the past, I had no block & falls/ pulleys around, and it seemed like way too much work in the middle of the day when I should have actually been working. But, I digress....

This was the "Primitive Mask" I was trying to replicate...

The initial design was to use a 36" long piece of 2x10, but I figured that would be a bear to mail, so I used a piece of 2x6 I had. First I tried to freehand the design but then for accuracy I printed out a copy to size and traced it on (somehow my carbon sheets are missing, which would have been a whole lot faster and more accurate....)

The book has pretty specific details. Here are some pages that I printed out to work from....

Is this cheating for Art Swap? I'm not sure but I was/ am going for authenticity direct from the Westenhaver's mouth and am intrigued by the process...

I sharpied the lines out, and did a few test chainsaw drops. I knew control was going to be an issue....

(this is a huge understatement)

I dropped in a few lines, but finer detail was tough (I admit to being used to a small router bit) and it was pretty frustrating, even after practicing a bit. I tried to dig out the mouth area (shown in above pic) but found it tough to get it as even as I had wanted- though it was "primitive" I didn't want anyone to bleed while handling...

So, I grabbed the router, went deeper than I would normally go to simulate the chainsaw cut.

I re-routed a bit in the mouth area but decided to leave it 'rough.' Wire brushed it afterwards, need to wire brush some more, then will burn and stain. Just noticed that I need to remove some other sections of wood and will do this tomorrow. Thanks for looking.

[ Edited by TikiAno on 2024-07-12 15:47:47 ]