I had to chop its head off - xTool P2

"Hydra" - the Hammerhead shark.
Carved in Ash wood.
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In this video I try a new woodcarving technique to create a blank for a Hammerhead shark sculpture.
This was done by cutting slices with a CO2 laser cutter provided to me by xTool. They approached me and asked if I was interested in a commercial collaboration. After a little bit of research I thought the machine was worth giving a try. I was not disappointed ! The machine itself is made of good quality materials and even though I don't know much about laser cutting I think I can say that the performances are pretty good. Here I cut in 12mm ash wood in one pass (settings were: power:100%, speed:4mm/s).
Their software, XCS, is quite simple to use but lacks a few functionalities that would help tremendously with workflow. Good news is that the xTool team is very available and open to any suggestions users might have. I have compiled a list of things that I think could be improved and will send it to them in a while.
Please enjoy this video and I hope you'll like what I created.
Cheers :) .
Chapters
------------------------
0:00 - Intro
0:08 - Wood prepping
01:25 - Cat !
01:38 - Blank prepping
05:38 - Carving
11:37 - Final reveal
11:44 - Plot twist !
12:06 - Final reveal (for real this time!)
Credits
------------------------
3D Model: Hammerhead Shark by AL DEZEL : sketchfab.com/Al-dezel
Creative Commons - Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
creativecommons.org/licenses/...
Hip Hop Rap Instrumental (Crying Over You) by Chris Morrow 4
/ chris-morrow-3
Creative Commons - Attribution 3.0 Unported- CC BY 3.0
creativecommons.org/licenses/...

[@MekwokStudio]

Beautiful!

[@SylGAUTIER]

Thank you!

[@ArbortechWoodworking]

Way to go, Sylvian! We had a mini heart attack when you went all 'head and tail off' on us, but the grand finale was like a magic trick! You nailed it! Thanks for using our Mini Carver too, you definitely did it justice!

[@SylGAUTIER]

Thank you, I'm really glad you liked it :)

[@sandraleenerts6805]

I appreciate all the time and attention you put into these videos. Your final results always amaze and fascinate me. Both skills are top drawer!

[@SylGAUTIER]

Thank you. It takes so much time to create these videos, I really appreciate it when someone notices this. Happy holidays :)

[@sunsetpark_fpv]

Wow that is absolutely beautiful. You went mad at the end! I couldn't believe you sawed the head and the tail off! Amazing work!

[@SylGAUTIER]

I couldn't believe it either. It took me a whole sleepless night to gather the courage to do it.

[@photografiste]

Magnifique 👍

[@Mrpiz-art]

ทำมาเรื่อยๆนะครับชอบ

[@misterdealprs523]

Super boulot comme d'hab ! Tu m'épates de vidéo en vidéo 🤩

[@SylGAUTIER]

Merci beaucoup :)

[@invaderoz]

i want to see the underside of that work bench ;) All the glue ;)

[@SylGAUTIER]

I consciously avoid looking under there !

[@KhasisLieb]

Très très beau

[@SylGAUTIER]

Merci

[@angelramos-2005]

Great work.Thank you.

[@SylGAUTIER]

Thanks for watching!

[@solarcanum]

Awesome!!!!!!!!!

[@louispoulain]

Le résultat est magnifique ! Bravo !

[@SylGAUTIER]

Merci

[@HampusSvallfors]

Good process! Do you think you could have done it in solid basswood or linden? Maybe glued on fins...

[@SylGAUTIER]

Yes, definitely

[@jakubmagdziarz5746]

Piękna faktura drewna, słoje w drewnie dodają takiego piękna rzeźbie - coś niesamowitego. Pozdrawiam z Polski. ❤

[@SylGAUTIER]

Thanks a lot from France :)

[@MarkMcCluney]

Ah! Sylvian walks among us again! Thanks for showing us this mate, very enjoyable. I assumed at first that the segmented design meant one of your wonderful articulated automata. Incidentally, is the grinder/sander you used an complete tool or is it an attachment for a regular angle grinder. I'd like a tool like that but the goose neck models are a bit expensive - can you or anyone suggest a budget alternative? Cheers Sylvian, that was fantastic.

[@SylGAUTIER]

Glad you enjoyed it! :) I will eventually apply this technique to automata making I think. The mini grinder I use here is from @ArbortechWoodworking and I haven't heard or tried any other alternative, sorry

[@MarkMcCluney]

@@SylGAUTIER Thanks mate, and I apologise for spelling your name incorrectly! (I usually blame the spell checker but it's innocent this time.)

[@SylGAUTIER]

no worries@@MarkMcCluney

[@rorodsr300]

Superbe, comme toujours !!😍 Et donc, retour sur l'expérience du laser: Un vrai gain de temps ? De précision ? Merci

[@SylGAUTIER]

Comme c'était la première fois que je m'en servais, pas vraiment un gain de temps sur l'aspect préparation du bloc de base. Mais pour la partie sculpture, totalement. Cette technique permet une prévisualisation des formes très facile et une économie de matière aussi !

[@rorodsr300]

Merci pour ta réponse

[@MrQuickLine]

I'm curious why you just put a + for the alignment holes and not just have the laser remove a small hole.

[@SylGAUTIER]

A laser cutter leaves an edge that is not really squared so I thought I would be more precise this way. I also wanted to avoid burned marks inside the pieces in case I would reach the hole while carving the tail or base of the head. In the end I think it might have been better to laser cut most of them and just drill the few that were sensitive to the issue I mentioned.

[@andygunning4292]

Annoying

[@SylGAUTIER]

Cool thanks for wasting your time with me