Making Some Tampers, Take Two.

[nevadablue]

The other thread had some issues that made it impossible for me to see the posts properly. Let's try this again.
I am slowly realizing that my past hobbies can be incorporated into the current one... pipes.
Some years ago I took up wood carving. Another of my forays into new territory. I am no expert, but it is fun to carve bits of wood into rustic and yet useful items.
I modified one of my grandpa's pocket knives into a specialized carving knife. All of the blades are razor sharp, and the one shown in this pic is flat on the back side, tapered on the front, for a right handed carver... ME.

I am going to try carving some wood sprite tampers. I found this example of someone's work on the net, thanks to the unknown owner of the pic for the inspiration.

And then I found this tiny, blurry pic.

And decided, why not? Should be a fun exercise. This is the start...

 

[mikethompson]

Jerry Garcia? Santa Claus?
Could be a new income stream for you Ken

 

[nevadablue]

Closer to Santa I think. Maybe the real wood sprite will come forward... 8)
No, no income... that ruins hobbies, IMO. This and the others will be for members of the forum and for me.

 

[usrkain47]

I really can’t wait to see how this turns out. I love the examples!

 

[mikethompson]

I know, I was only joking. A churchwarden in that guys mouth would really set it off in my opinion

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Looking forward to seeing these! Reminds me of a guy at my old college town, a retired miner, Mr Tingle, who carved all of the deadwood on trees in the

Local park. The whole park is full of these carvings that he does just to pass the time. It makes for a great place to lunt about.

 

[weezell]

The image of the man is/was?? I think a member here...Now will drive me crazy trying to think who it was....

 

[nevadablue]

Hint... something about Christmas, but not Santa.

 

[anthonyrosenthal74]

Awesome! I've seen wood sprites carved into walking sticks, canes, trees... but never a tamper. And a woodsprite tamper would be awesome! Looking forward to seeing this one finished ::

 

[fitzy]

Those would be Jason Robards tampers.
http://www.hedgerow-crafts.com/pipe-tampers/
His name here is Klause.
This is the one I got from him:

 

[nevadablue]

Thanks for the link Fitzy. I hate using pics I can't give credit for. Now it is proper. I found the pics on a link with no credits.

 

[weezell]

His name here is Klause.

BINGO, thanks for saving me the insanity!!...

 

[scrooge]

I know who it is. :rofl:

 

[nevadablue]

:nana:

 

[nevadablue]

I got brave and started carving. This wood (unknown limb from beside the road) is fairly good carving stuff, but hard. I had to stop to study the carving and sharpen the blade.

 

[winton]

I have made many tampers, but never carved like this. I have a book on carving wood spirits. Perhaps this is what I need to do, now that the days are getting cold.

 

[nevadablue]

I worked a bit more on the carving after sharpening the knife blades. I sharpen them on a hard Arkansas stone that I 'made' myself. I was a geology student at the Missouri School of Mines in the late '60s and collected a nice piece of Novaculite on a trip to Arkansas. Novaculite is the stuff that Arkansas stones are made from. This one is a good one for sure. The stone and a drop of ancient Buck honing oil, will put a razor edge on a blade. Then strop on leather.
Novaculite: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Novaculite
Anyway, a bit more carving has been done. I need to 'push' the face back into the wood a bit more, and that is the scary part for me. As my nice sunshine waned, I worked on the stem of the tamper. Direct sunshine is nice for carving, makes old eyes see better.

 

[mikethompson]

Nice work Ken!
That face reminds me of someone ...

 

[nevadablue]

You know many wood sprites?