Tag Archives: leaf accent carvings

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Finders Keepers – A Hand Carved Story

Finders Keepers, or “How a Grizzly gets your Elk”.

 

   When I built and completed a solid Walnut sideboard table a few years ago,  I had a huge left over chunk of Walnut that over two feet long and eighteen inches or so wide.   It would make a great carving so I had saved it for just the right carving subject. 

     There has always been competition between predators for food in the wild.  This carving shows just such a stand off.  A hunter in the Rockies got his elk, went back to camp for his pack horses, and finds that that it my not be his elk anymore.  His pack hourses seem to agree since they are heading for parts unkown as fast as they can.   Hence the title “Finders Keepers”.   

 

Finders Keepers image

     I did use the grain of the wood to decide how the design would be laid out.   The right side of the wood grain swirled and swept up like a tree trunk so that’s what it became.  You can see the many shade variations in the grain in the sky background.   I left that area natural for just that reason.

     As an  outdoorsman and hunter, Grizzly bears have always fascinated me.   When we hunt, fish or just hike in the northern Rocky Mountains, we have to realize that humans are not at the top of the food chain out there.   It not a park, it’s not Disneyland, it is a majestic, harsh wilderness and this kind of confrontation can happen.  I tried to show this in my carving of this stand off.

Grizzly image 1

 

Grizzly close up image

 Carved leaves image

      I entered this carving in my first juried art show on October of last year.   Having practiced and worked on my carving skill over the years, I had always competed in carving competitions, never art shows.  

     I was not sure what to expect, or even if my work would even fit in their competition.   I entered in Sculpture as this was the closest division they had to my work – they accepted it into the show.  

     It was a nice opportunity to show my work to a wider audience and though I didn’t win, it was nice to be recognized with an “Honorable Mention”. 

 

Thanks for stoppin’ by,

Lance Larson

 

 

 

 

 

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Custom Carved Rifle for a Church

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 

 

 

 

 

 

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Custom Carved Mule Deer Rifle

Monster Desert Mule Deer Buck     

     This trophy desert mule deer relief carving on the Mauser rifle is completed.   The relief carving features a huge Mule Deer buck jumping over a downed Saguaro cactus skeleton.  The desert mountain backdrop with more Saguaros and a rocky foreground with Prickly Pear cactus complete the scene.    The harsh landscape of the Southwest Desert produces some enormous Mule Deer.   Like this one.  

 

     The forearm and grips were carved in a basketweave pattern.  Hand carved oak leaves accent the basketweave on all sides.   I also carved a nice 4×4 Mule Deer antler shed on the opposite side of the buttstock just below the cheek piece.   I took a photo of an actual shed that the client had and carved an exact copy of that shed antler.

 

     When I completed the carvings, the staining was done by using oil paints diluted down to work as more of a stain than paint.  The more coats I put on an area, the darker it became.   This allowed me to blend the light colored rump and belly of the Mule deer with the darker brown of the back and sides of the deer.   This brings in a more natural look.   The carvings were finished with a couple of coats of Tung Oil finish.

 

     This custom carved gunstock is ready to be both a rifle for hunting and a family heirloom for years to come.   The client and I spent quite a bit of time designing what he wanted in his custom carved rifle.   If this interests you, contact me, you and I can design the perfect carving for your rifle, shotgun, or handgun. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for stoppin’ by……

Lance Larson

 

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Custom Carved Mauser Model 98

Mauser 98 Custom Desert Mule Deer Carving

 

      As I mentioned in an earlier blog, the owner wanted a Mule Deer buck in a southwestern desert landscape carved on his Mauser rifle.   The design the client and I came up with is a Mule Deer buck with Large typical  4×4 antlers jumping over the skeleton of an old Saguaro cactus with the normal desert surroundings including rocks, Prickly Pear cactus, and giant Saguaro cactus in the distance.   The Mauser 98 is not manufactured by Mauser anymore but older rifles can be great choices for custom rifles and are still very popular.

 

   Mauser model 98 information courtesy of Wikipedia:

Mauser was a German arms manufacturer of a line of bolt-action rifles and pistols from the 1870s to 1995. Mauser designs were built for the German armed forces. Since the late 19th and early 20th centuries, military Mauser designs were also exported and licensed to a number of countries, as well as being a popular civilian firearm.

   Mauser Model 98

Mausers were readily adapted as hunting rifles. In Africa, so-called Safari rifles were often made from Mausers. These rifles were often rechambered in larger rounds up to and including .50 cal (12.7 mm). The adaptations usually consisted of shortening the foregrip and barrel, rechambering to popular British rounds, and minor alterations to the action, although the rifle was left fundamentally Mauser-designed. In the late 19th century and early 20th century, companies that made alterations were generally Commonwealth-based and developed several proprietary big game rounds specifically for hunting large and dangerous game. Today, large and small bore Mauser-derived rifles are made all over the world for the civilian market and are popular with hunters.

 

As you may remember, the first step was the design:

The second step was the out line cuts of the drawing:

Then I move to the roughing out and shaping of the artwork.

 The shaping continues:

Then you start working on the details – mountains, rocks, cactus shaping, antlers, body shape……

 I put a coat of Minwax Prestain conditioner on the carving – now it’s ready for staining and finish:

     I still have quite a bit of work to do yet.  The forearm and grip checkering will be removed and replaced with Basketweave and Leaves as accent.   I will post again on this project.

     If you have a rifle that you believe would look great with this type of carving, call or email me.   Let’s discuss the options.

Thanks for stoppin’ by ……

Lance Larson

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Carving a Gunstock with Pressed Checkering

Gunstock Carving – Replacing Pressed Checkering 

 

     A few weeks ago I received an email from a gentleman from Georgia that wanted a custom gunstock carving done to commemorate the one year anniversary of his business, a website and forum dedicated to the outdoors.   You can check out his website and forum at www.theoutdoorstrader.com

     He had a pump action shotgun he was going to give away for the anniversary and wanted it customised and his logo carved in it also.  After sending a few drawing back and forth via email regarding what we could do with the old, uneven pressed in checkering (take a look at the forearm below), we decided on a design and he sent me the stock.

 

 

    The design he decided on was replacing the pressed checkering with a basketweave pattern with maple leaf accent carvings.    I noticed when the stock arrived that it was a solid walnut stock.   Because of this, the carvings were only going to need a nice Tung Oil finish when complete.   The first step was to draw out where the leaves would go and carve those areas.   Then to remove the checkering where the basketweave would go.  Removing the checking is a slow process  – once you cut out the checkering and even out the area, it has to be sanded smooth and a finish applied.   I always apply a light finish at this point so the pattern will stick to the area to be carved.

     The areas that had the checkering were darker because of the pressure indentations used to make them and the oil from years of hands holding the grip and forearm.   It is also caused by the oiling of the shotgun for general upkeep over the years.   Once the finish coat dried I applied the pattern and cut the basketweave into the prepared area.  I also cut out the leaping deer which was the client’s website logo.

      As you can see the areas between the weave is removed and then the weave itself is shaped and carved to look like a rattan weave.  The leaves are carved and shaped after the basketweave is complete.   When carving leaves it is important to give them depth and give them some texture.   Having dried leaves to look at help you in this – many different types of leaves to look at – Photos, Drawings, Artwork, Actual leaves to put your hands on – they all help.   The true key to carving leaves is Practice, Practice, Practice.

     The carving area seemed a bit light colored in the leaf carving areas and darker in the areas that had been checkering so I chose to give the entire carved area a coat of walnut stain.   Before I added the stain, I coated the carving area with a coal of Minwax pre-stain  to make sure the wood stain would be taken in evenly by the wood.  

     By the way, the deer carving was just an outline cutout and I removed a bit of the depth (about a 1/16th of an inch) and stippled the entire area.  Stippling is just tapping the entire area with a small round headed burr.  It’s very time consuming but it has a good look.   I finished the carvings off with two coats of Tung Oil finish and it’s ready for the field. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

     If you have some checkering you would like to have replace on an old  cherished firearm – give me a call – drop me an email – lets talk.

Thanks for stoppin’ by……

Lance Larson