Squirrel wall hanger chainsaw carving

[@BassOfMolag]

Really cool, Mathieu. I love how that blowtorch technique adds a nice texture to the piece. I hope you're well. Lookin forward to what you got for us next. 😎👍

[@MathieusChainsawCarvings]

Thanks man, appreciated :) the fire always works great highlighting the details, Have been slacking a bit recently, depressing wet weather so didnt get too much done carving wise, but other then that doing alright :). Should have another video uploaded soon! thanks a lot for the support 👊🏻

[@pietklusser1896]

Mathieu, in het begin dacht ik even dat het een Paashaas zou worden.🤔 Maar al gaande groeide de eekhoorn uit je kunstige handen.😉 Mooi gemaakt en weer prachtig afgewerkt.👌 Groetjes en tot de volgende video.🙂

[@MathieusChainsawCarvings]

Hallo Piet! weer eens wat anders proberen he, wel vaker een eekhoorn gemaakt maar dit is de eerste voor aan de muur te hangen :) Best aardig gelukt voor een snel sculptuur. altijd even zoeken naar de eindvorm, tot die tijd zie ik er zelf ook vaker andere dingen/dieren in. 😅 Bedankt voor het kijken weer, en tot de volgende! Groetjes.

[@wood-psyche]

Nice seeing a squirrel. They can be quite crafty. Do you use photo reference when you carve or is it just from memory?

[@MathieusChainsawCarvings]

I generally make it mostly from memory, what it thinks it looks like. afterwards looking at it more etc i will probably see some some things i cant try to do differently on the next one after that. i sometimes use pictures too if i want to be more carefull with like bigger or special pieces of wood to avoid maiking mistakes, but a little 3d example seems to work a little better for me. i have been looking at some pictures now as well and already saw something i would try to change on the next one. so i guess it is sortoff my system at this time. I have stopped selling my first time carvings as well for this reason, u start to see a lot wrong with it if you keep them around for at least a while. Dont see squirrels very often unfortunatly but they are some nimble little guys :) i do enjoy watching them when i see them.

[@SoeCarpeDiem]

@@MathieusChainsawCarvings That's the question I was asking myself! You don't draw, so your visual and your visual dimensions are always right, I'm jealous! 😂😂😂

[@MathieusChainsawCarvings]

@@SoeCarpeDiem I do kindoff draw lines thinking about it. i tend to make a shallow cut as a reference here and there before i dedicate to the cut, i suppose that is kindoff drawing :) For the owls i devide the piece in 3 parts, the head is about 1/3rd, then the body is 1/3rd as well and that is where u want to put the talons, the last third flows into the tail feathers, if that makes sense :P And trust me when i say i have made plenty of carvings with wonkey dimensions :)

[@woodcarvingart-dh3gd]

❤

[@MathieusChainsawCarvings]

Thank you 🙂

[@SoeCarpeDiem]

Mahieu, I have a question... Why aren't your sculptures splitting? Yet you work from a log? I created a bear, poor him, he's all split and the same for a mushroom... 🙄🙄 Thx !

[@MathieusChainsawCarvings]

Hi Sophie, My work sometimes splits. some designs always split in the same place as well. but it depends on the species of wewd too. Sorry about the bear :( my mushrooms always crack as well, it is because of the stem, it dries to fast compared to the cap so it will always crack in my experience. I try to work with seasoned wood, but that is not always possible, When it is freshly cut i stack it outside first, It can help to paint the butts of the logs to seal them. i almost never do it though. The wallhangers wont crack ofcourse because there is no pith left in that part of the wood, so those are always great. after carving a piece dont bring it inside or anything, and definetly dont put it in direct sunlight, this is very important! and also dont forget to seal the bottom of the log as well. I use my linseed beeswax mix wich does a really good job sealing the wood, you could look into anchorseal as well. wich should also help a lot, i do think it leaves a white waxy layer on the wood though so maybe its better to use for rough cut stuff to let it dry some more before detailing. I tend to keep the carvings inside the garage for quite a while after carving and they dry really slow, esspecially around this time of the year. There are some tricks to prevent cracking or to decide yourself where the crack will form. these tricks basicly need you to make a crack (or rather a cut) yourself so that isnt much of a solution in my eyes. most of the times i dont mind the cracks anyway, Im going to repair my cracked sculptures from the previous year that didnt sell, planning to make a little video on it, maybe ill add some crack prevention tips as well. we will see. Hope this helps so far, please ask away if u have more questions or if i have left something out. this has turned into a small novell :D Take care!

[@SoeCarpeDiem]

@@MathieusChainsawCarvings Thanks for taking the time to explain it to me! It will be very useful to me!

[@MathieusChainsawCarvings]

@@SoeCarpeDiem You are welcome, when i started even though chainsawcarving was getting more easy to get into i still had to figure out a lot of things on my own. so yeah, i like to share what i know, in the end everyone does develop their own ways of doing things but its always nice to be able to help out :)