News, Uncategorized

Custom Carved Presentation Pistol Case

The Case of the Custom Carved Elk

 

       This is a wooden box designed to be a presentation pistol case that was build by a young man in a woodworking class in High School.   He plans to give the completed case to his Dad.   Maybe for Father’s Day?    It is made from poplar wood with brass corners, hinges, and locking clasps.   The case will have a bugling Bull Elk scene in the center of the lid, surrounded by carved pine boughs and pine cones.   The pine cones and branches are being carved in an inlaid style while the mountain meadow scene with the bugling Elk will be carved in full relief.   

 

     I thought it would be interesting for you to see my starting point for a relief carving.   It starts as just as an outline and then my fun is to take away everything that doesn’t look like an Elk.   Poplar wood is a light colored wood, so the case has been stained and finished.  The carving will be bringing back the light color, so staining the finished carvings with oil paints will be needed after the case is completed.

 

     I will be show you the completed carving of this Presentation Pistol Case soon.    Feel free to subscribe to my updates on the upper right side of this page so you don’t miss the update on the finished carving.

 

Thanks for stoppin’ by ……

Lance Larson

News

Lance Larson Studio on the road..

Custom Carving on the road – The AZ Game & Fish Outdoor Expo

     This weekend I will be displaying my work at the Arizona Game & Fish Department’s Outdoor Expo.   This is being held at the huge Ben Avery outdoor shooting facility north of Phoenix.   They had over 30,000 people attend this Expo last year and expect a bigger turnout this year.   Both Admission and Parking are free (unheard of in the Phoenix area) so if you are in Arizona, bring the family, take a daytrip this weekend, March 26th or 27th.

    I will have gunstocks, pistol grips, knives, antler, and bone displayed.   All will be Custom Engraved and Carved to help you envision what you would want your own heirloom to look like.

 

Here is some Expo info from the AZGFD website: 

2011 Outdoor Expo:  

Mark your calendar for March 26-27, because you and your family won’t want to miss the Arizona Game and Fish Department’s FREE Outdoor Expo at the Ben Avery Shooting Facility in north Phoenix.

This crowd-pleasing event offers dozens of exciting, hands-on outdoor recreational activities:

  •  Test your skill at archery;
  •  Take your kids to the huge catch-and-release fishing tank;
  •  See live wildlife demonstrations (hawks, owls, snakes, more);
  •  Hike a nature trail/field course;
  •  Try target shooting with different firearms on the range;
  •  Learn about outdoor skills, firearm safety and more;
  •  View exciting shooting demonstrations by the cowboy mounted shooters, cowboy action shooters and more;
  •  Attend informative workshops on fishing, hunting, wildlife conservation;
  •  See off-highway vehicle and boating exhibits;
  •  Visit with more than 100 exhibitors— sportsmen’s organizations, conservation groups, shooting clubs, wildlife agencies, and commercial vendors and exhibitors of outdoor products and services.

This is a great event to experience or learn more about the amazing outdoor recreational opportunities in Arizona. Activities such as camping, fishing, hunting, wildlife viewing, shooting sports, off-highway vehicle recreation and boating recreation are great ways to spend quality time with family and friends.

So you don’t miss a thing, trolley transportation is available throughout the 1,650-acre shooting facility, which is located on Carefree Highway, 1/2 mile west of I-17.

Admission to the Expo and parking are FREE, but bring a little cash for snacks and drinks at the food court or to purchase ammunition (nominal fee) if you want try out firearms on the range.

To get to the Expo, take I-17 to Carefree Highway (Exit 223). Go west ½ mile on Carefree Highway and follow the signs. Admission and parking are free – bring a little money for food and beverages, or for the nominal ammunition fee if you want to try out firearms on the range.

Admission and parking are FREE!


     While you’re there, stop by my table in the Exibitors Tent, say hello, and handle some of my gunstock carvings.  

     You can meet my pup Mauser too.

Thanks for stoppin’ by…

Lance Larson

News, Uncategorized

Custom Carving for NRA Fundraiser.

Custom Carving of Squirrel on Ruger 10/22

    I am starting a new carving for a rifle that will be auctioned of at a NRA Fundraising banquet.    The carving is currently in the design stage and I wanted to show the rough design drawing I have for the but stock of this Ruger 10/22.  For those of you that are not familiar with Ruger’s model 10/22 rifle, here is a photo of the rifle.

    I thought it might interesting to show the starting point for a gun stock carving – the design stage.    The pencil drawing below gives you an idea of the design plan.  You can’t just sit down and start carving, the design ideas take some time.    In this Squirrel carving, the Squirrel sits in the fork of a maple tree enjoying a meal.   The maple leaf carvings will work their way along the entire stock up through the forearm.   Drawing all the leaves so they are not just the same leaf over and over is a bit of work.    The leaves will be stained to show the beautiful fall color palette.   The final staining of the individual leaves will be the part that will really sets this carving off.   This Custom Carved Rifle will be a featured rifle at the Pinal County Friends of NRA Banquet Auction on April 30th.   

I have to go now, I have a bit of carving to do…………..

Thanks for stoppin’ by,

Lance Larson

News, Uncategorized

Custom Gunstock Carvings in the Arizona State Fair

My Arizona State Fair carvings update


     This year I submitted three custom carvings in the wood carving division of The 2010 Arizona State Fair and was very pleased with the results.   I really tried to stretch out of my comfort zone into areas that were new to me.   Using oil paints and stains to augment the carving is an area I needed to improve upon so I worked hard on this with these entries.

     In the Gunstock carving division, my “Dangerous Game” rifle stock that had carving of “Africa’s Big Five” dangerous game animals took first place.   The African Big Five are the Cape Buffalo, African Lion, Leopard, African Elephant, and Black Rhino.  

   I made is a point to try and give each animal individual traits or scars.  If you look closely, you can see the cape buffalo has  scars across his nose from a lion attack.   The big Bull Elephant is covered with caked on reddish colored mud to protect the skin from the harse African sun.   The Rhino has a very long horn that I copied from a circa 1920’s photograph.   I gave the Lion a mane like the MGM Lion in the movies.   And well, all Leopards have spots and rosettes, so I tried to give my cat a different look – like he is casting one more backwards glace before melting into the bush.  

It is carved on an old Monte Carlo style stock for a 1903A3 Springfield rifle.  The wood is a light colored walnut that was very popular in the 1960’s, as was the Monte Carlo stock style.  

      



 

 







 





















    

     In another carving division, I entered my “Leaf  Rifle” stock featured in an earlier blog.  This carving earned the Blue ribbon in it’s division.   The stock was completely covered with Oak Leaves and Acorns.   This was a undertaking that had a huge design phase.  The leaves all had to flow down the stock, not just lie in a pile.  Also each leave had to be an individual, not just copies of the same leaf.  There were over 125 Oak Leaves on the rifle stock and 25 or more Acorns added to the carving.  

     The stock was a light colored hardwood so once again staining and painting of the leaves to give them true depth, variation, and contrast was a real concern.   The photos show the completed rifle complete with scope, flashlight, and laser sight.   This is my personal rifle and so far, it has turned out to be a fine small game rifle.

 












    Finally, I entered a Wooden Wall Hanging made of solid Hard Maple and inlaid with a Simulated Ivory carving.   Once again I was fortunate to take first place in this carving division.   The size of this wall hanging is about one foot by three feet.   It is a carving of a sheer mountain cliffside with a pair of Mountain Goats, carved in the Ivory, walking along a almost nonexistent trail up to a waterfall.   The border was carved to look like rocks and boulders.   

     I did find that hard maple is not the best choice for carving.   Although the wood holds detail well, it dulls the fine carving burrs unbelievably fast.  Since the Mountain Goat is one of my favorite North American game animals, this carving hangs in my own den.






















 

 

Thanks for stoppin’ by…..

Lance  Larson