First Chainsaw Bear

[linus69]

I got a book about chainsaw bear carving and this is the first bear project. I used maple which was a bitch, most carvers use pine or spruce.
The author says this bear is the one I should master well before moving on to a full body bear, he calls this one a bear cub peaking up out of a hollow tree stump.





Paul

[GuglioLS]

Fantastic Paul your a regular Michaelangelo! Nice use of the maple log other than burning it for heat. Keep it up, before you know it the misses will have you carving wood pumpkins for year round display! How long did it take?

Larry

[linus69]

Thanks Larry, the maple is rough for carving, hard on the arms and the chainsaws, all of mine are "long in the tooth" and prone to break down. It took way too long to make this bear, longer than I want to admit, saw breakage was part of that.
Put it this way, if I did this for a living I`d starve to death.

Paul

[3RRL]

Hi Paul,
Looks like you are starting to have some fun in between all the work you've been doing.
I've seen those carved bears, buffalo and even Indians especially down here. If I remember to take my camera, I'll take some shots of the guy down the street who has large carvings. I guess he is quite famous locally for his work.
Since I started my furniture projects, I too have been thinking about chainsaw carving. Still not enough time though, so maybe in the future when things settle down a bit.
Thanks for sharing your cool project with us.
Rob-

[studor]

Nice Work -- after trying maple for a few small carvings I switched to basswood - much easier on tools and me - I have not tried out the chainsaw as a carving tool yet but always thought the end result was neat
regards -- Steve

[linus69]

Thanks Steve, you said it, the maple is very hard on the saws and my limbs. I`m gonna have to get something softer like pine to experiment with. Trouble is I burned any pine that was lying around and now I will have to hunt some down, the maple I have piles of stacked up.
I like your`re furniture projects Rob, very nice work you are doing there.

Paul

[linus69]

I `ve made some more bears, every one of them comes out a little different, as before the wet maple is a pain to work with. I`m drying them out prior to applying some deck waterproofing. The maple is cracking like crazy in all directions as it drys, even with the relief cut up the back of each bear.
It looks like a police lineup,








Paul