Hand Carved Birthday Present

 

 

  “Happy Birthday Dad !”  

 

    My Dad has loved and collected knives for his entire life and always had a pocket knife of some sort with him.   I wanted to give him a nice, hand carved knife that was a little fancy but something he would still carry and use.   The classic Stockman style pocket knife above was my starting point. 

     The side scales on the knife are of white bone.   I started by adding jeweling to the bolsters at each end.  They were shiny brass but this always dulls up and gets scratched in your pocket. 

     I used a small round carbide burr in my air-driven Paragraver tool and just tapped the brass lightly to produce small carved dots in a random pattern until the entire area was filled in.   Brass is a soft metal so it takes a light touch.   The key is to do carve these little dots randomly or you will notice lines through the jeweled metal.       

     I drew out the leaves and the wording on pattern material and applied the pattern to the knife scales.   I then etched it in the bone with a very fine point burr.   This is done in Scrimshaw style so I  just scratched the outline into the bone.  

     Then I rubbed a little “burnt sienna” oil paint (directly out of the tube) on the bone with my finger to get it in all the etched areas.   It doesn’t take much paint.   Then I wiped off the excess, buffed the bone with a paper towel, and let is sit and dry for 24 hours.  

     I also got a Bonus!   By buffing the oil paint into the bone, it had the added effect of making the bone look like actual aged Ivory knife scales.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

     This knife is on the way to him as I write this.   I hope he likes it, carries it often, and that he actually uses it, even if it’s just to cut an apple.

 

     Personalized Knives like this make great Birthday or Graduation presents, Gifts for Father’s Day, and Groomsmen Gifts.   If I can help, contact me and we can talk about your ideas.

 

 

 

Thanks for stoppin’ by ……

Lance Larson

 

 

 

Thunder’s Hand Carved Memorial

 

       You never know when or how it will happen – when that special dog  – your dog of a lifetime, will come into you life.   It seems like just a couple years ago when I adopted that Big Blue Weimaraner from the rescue here in Phoenix, but it was actually 12 years ago on January 2nd of this year – it was back in 2000.    He was a three year old “puppy” at the time and 85 pounds of dog with a quiet and goofy personality.     Weimaraners tend to be puppies for the first five years of their life.   I swear, if I had known what his personality was going to grow into, I would have named him Scooby Doo !!  

 

       We renamed him Thunder because there was some abuse in his past and we didn’t want the old name to cause problems (he sometimes crindged or cowered when you said his old name).   He caught on quick to his new name and after an obedience class, he  was a well mannered companion that would always stay with me.   He slept on the bed and was on the couch with me when I sat down.    When he first came home and got used to me, he would slowly creep up on the couch like I couldn’t see him, or feel his 90 pounds (he gained a little weight) slipping up by me to put his head on my lap.   As he got more relaxed in our home he must have thought he was a 15 pound lap dog because he was always climbing in my lap, even when I was in a chair!

 

      Thunder was my shadow.   He was up and with me no matter where I was going.   I say he was my shadow because he always seemed to stand directly behind me.    We went to the Dog Park every weekend and each time there was a point I’d be looking for him and he was standing directly behind me.     Even when he was playing, hunting, or just looking around, he never was over 20 yards from me.  

 

     When he was about seven years old, I had the opportunity to take him with me and go help at a Youth Pheasant Hunt.   Thunder seemed to love kids so I thought he would be a “Goodwill Ambassador ” even if he was not a trained hunter.    Yes, he was a great ambassador, but I found out he was also a hunting dog.   The first time he saw a pheasant flying and then get knocked down, he was tugging at the leash to get it.    We put him on some birds that day and he pointed and retrieved.   He was never trained – it was all instinct.    One problem – he would point for about 5 seconds and if the bird didn’t fly, he leaped in a grabbed it and brought it to me.   Either he wanted to help me save ammo, or he knew I was a bad shot with a shotgun.   Since he would grab the birds, we made him official retriever of birds that were wounded and running.   The Youth Pheasant Hunt became a yearly trip for us.

 

   After that, I started bringing him with me dove hunting and he would stay by me (sometimes) and when, and if I got a dove, he retrieved perfectly.   They were given to me pre-chewed some times, but always given to me.    If I was missing them, he had no problem retriving any birds my hunting buddies shot.  Thunder would just go over and sit next to them for a spell and get their birds – the traitor!   But, He always was back in a few minutes to his friend that couldn’t shoot straight.   I did one of my very early carvings of Thunder on my own 16 ga. Ithaca shotgun.   It was just his head carved in the lower right area of the buttstock.   He’s still with me on every bird hunt.

 

     He caught a bad case of Valley Fever when he was about nine years old but was lucky and beat it.   It left him with bone growths in both his knees which lead to arthritus.   He was never much of a runner after that.  We still hunted but he just walked everywhere.   He was a real world class couch potato his last fews years and I didn’t mind at all.  Quality time spent together on the couch are fond memories I enjoy.   It was on old leather couch and when people came over I told them that it was his couch and they had to ask him if they could sit there.   He would get off his couch with no problem, but I didn’t ask him to do that very often.

 

       I lost Thunder the day after Christmas - he had been with me one week shy of 12 years.   I laid him to rest on a friend’s land just a mile from my home, and just a few yards from a dry creek bed that a large Gambel’s Quail covey follow every morning and evening.   I thought he would have liked it because he and I had enjoyed exploring there many times.   The marker is a 2×12 I cut in the shape of an old western headstone.   I took a torch to it to bring out the wood grain and then carved it with his name, a dog pointing, and an epitath.    I stained the carving and finished it with several coats of outdoor semigloss spar urethane.   I also built a small bench for the site with carved oak leaves and pheasants that I put near him for visits. 

 

      Thunder’s epitath was simple -     “Good Dog”

 

     I heard once that   “Dogs don’t live as long as we do because we can bear their loss, but they couldn’t bear losing us”.    I’m not so sure … 

 

     I miss ya boy, we’ll enjoy walking and huntin’ together again……..

 

 

Lance Larson

and thanks for stoppin by and reading this.

 

 

 

 

Custom Carved Hunting Dogs on a Jewelry Box.

     A customer contacted me about carving a top of a jewelry box for his wife for Christmas.  The plan was made to ship the box to me right away and work on a design while the box was shipping to save time.  The customer wanted to have their two dogs on the cover and have both of them pointing a covel of Quail.   The box was constructed of Oak and since it is a very light colored wood, the carvings need to be stained when completed.

 

Their two dogs were a Golden Retreiver and a Brittany.

 

     Oak is a very different kind of hardwood to carv because of the variations in wood density in the grain.  the lighter areas ar very dense hard wood while the darker stripes of the wood grain are more porous and much softer.   If you are not careful, it’s easy to carve too deep and actually dig a hole with a power carver.   You have to have a light touch to make your carving even over both the soft and hard areas in Oak.

 

The Completed Carving.

 

     I stained the carving in variations of earth tones mixing different hues of brown, yellow and red to bring out a Autumn color scheme for the carving.

 

Completed Jewelry Box.

 

     This Jewelry Box was shipped off in time to be under the tree for Christmas.   It’s now a Family Heirloom to be passed down.     If a project like this interests you, drop me an email.   Lets discuss it.

 

Thanks For Stoppin’ By,

Lance Larson

  

Scrimshaw Carving on Simulated Ivory Grips.

     You can personalize your simulated Ivory grips.  They can’t be actually carved but they can decorated with a style called “Scrimshaw” which is etching the surface of the grip then adding color, usually black.  

     This can also be done on real bone; or Deer, Elk, or Moose Altler knife handles.   I recently scrimshawed a set of simulated Ivory grips on a revolver.   Since they were added to look like Ivory, an Elephant was etched into the grips on both sides.

Other Scrimshawed Grips & Knives.

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

     This can be a great way to make your firearm or knife different from the rest.    If the Scrimshaw style interests you…drop me an email.

 

Thanks for stoppin’ by …

Lance Larson

 

 

 

Custom Carved Rossi Lever Action Rifle

     While at a gun show recently, a gentleman came to my booth and asked about carving a stock for a rifle that was to be a gift for their Pastor at his church.   Over the next couple weeks of email communication we worked out a design  for the stock.   It featured leaves, western boots, a sentiment for the Pastor’s 25 years of service to the church, and the church’s logo.   The Rifle was a Rossi Lever action rifle in 30-30 caliber.

                                        

 

         

 

 

 

     The Church was very happy to present this rifle to their Pastor and it will be displayed with pride.   I do hope it gets shot a few times too.

     If you have a gift like this you need personalized for you needs or to commemorate some event, drop me an email and we can talk.

 

Thanks for stoppin’ by……

Lance Larson