Woodcarving

Hi All,
I've been doing a bit on my lathe although I have also spent some time making a bench to do some wood carving on. I like to keep learning new stuff, so although I will keep doing the woodturning, I will hopefully add a bit of carving into the mix.

I recently turned a small pot from a piece of rosewood. You can tell how it got its name because it has a beautiful dark red lustre.

I think it came out really well.

Regarding the carving, I have always been interested in the subject but have never been able to find the time to do any. Anyway, I recently came across a book about carving netsukes, which are very small Japanese carvings. Kimonos, the tradditional dress of the Japanese, have no pockets, so they used pouches that are attached to their belts via a netsuke. The carvings are very intricate so I thought I'd have a go and to that end I built this bench complete with dust extraction.

You can see the grid that is the intake for the dust that is sucked out via the camvac that also services my lathe. I have a quick grip connector that allows me to change the hose over very easily.
You can also see on the bench my dremel flexible drive which I think will come in very useful.

You may also be able to see under the bench a foot operated button, when I press that, it turns on the dust extractor and the dremel at the same time which is very handy.

Another reason for taking up carving is that I'm finding that come the afternoon my legs are getting tired from doing lathe work. I know I'm only in my mid sixties but I think the heart tablets are slowing me down a bit. Anyway, the plan is to do woodturning in the mornings and carving in the afternoon. I have sent for some woodcarving chisels so I will let you know how I get on, I hope I like it because the chisels ain't cheap.

My other bit of news is that the blade on my recently purchased bandsaw just snapped for no apparent reason. I was just sawing a very small piece of wood and it suddenlty went bang. The first thing I did was coun't my fingers and I'm pleased to report that I've still got a full set.

If anybody knows why a blade should just break I'd be pleased to hear about it. Bandsaw blades aren't cheap, so I don't want it to happen again. Keep tuned for my next post and I'll show you my first netsuke carving.