OK, I admit it. This is painful. I have not felt these muscles – ever. Muscles that one should normally never use, I have been over-using. Even after having my son help me with the carving the mass of wood away from the second shell, I can still feel the burn after working on detailing the shell yesterday and today.
But – ohhh – something about ending a day with a few moans and groans and complaints that satisfies the soul. A good physical day. Even if I complain, I have a smile on my face. I really do love my job. It always provides challenges and keeps life interesting.
Even sitting here typing, I am short-cutting it because I don’t want to hold up my arms longer than necessary. Anybody want to arm wrestle? Maybe tomorrow.
This is probably the first time in a long time since I used spoon bent gouges – I rarely have use for these. But they were invaluable for this project.
I am listing the tools I used in this project in the order that they are displayed in the photo. Many of these aren’t labeled with a size, so I am guessing, but here goes:
#9, 30mm spoon bent (great for carving concave sections further down the shell as it curves)
#4, 18mm spoon bent (great for getting into the area behind the center scroll decoration)
8mm v-chisel – spoon bent (not used much, but where the bottom edge scroll appears to curl around, this was very necessary)
#8, 10mm spoon bent (very good when getting to the smaller areas close to the center scroll design)
#7, 30mm straight (this was my most used tool for getting the mass of wood away and hollowing out concave sections)
#4, 35mm long bent (excellent for carving the final surface of the shell before carving concave sections)
#7, 6mm straight (good for carving the scrolls)
#3, 6mm fishtail (a tool I have for every project – just a great tool for detailing)