Carving Deep Dive
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| The photos below show what was happening as the
work progressed. This was the first time I captured the
process along the way. I'll try to do more of this in
the future.
Each thumbnail image is a link to a larger version of the
same picture. Click on one to view the full size image.
There are navigation links associated with each full size
picture too, so please look around.
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This images shows the raw stone as I stored
it for several years before carving it. Note that the color,
while gray, is not obviously the richly veined color of the
finished piece. It wasn't until I turned this stone upside
down from the view shown here that I realized what the carving
needed to be.
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The raw stone on its side, showing the
thickness and what little layering is visible without
polishing - or water.
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Initial shaping is getting started. You
can see I've used both flat and toothed chisels on the
piece so far. The white paint that looks like "10" is part
of the stone's weight that was painted on it by the stone yard
where I bought it.
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Initial shaping continues. You can see
that I've also smoothed some of the stone down where I've
carved it here. I was probably trying to get an idea how the
stone polished and how much work I wanted to do with sanding
tools as opposed to chisels.
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Power tools have now been used. An abrasive
disk on my angle grinder turned out to be a very useful tool
for this stone. I used it to achieve the rest of the basic
shaping. This photo is - obviously - taken about half way
through getting that basic shape.
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The other side of the stone after using
power tools on half of the piece.
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Final shaping is about complete now. The
angle grinder made much faster work of this piece. The remaining
indents and the last of the shaping work will be done with hand
files.
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The other side once power tool work is
finished.
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Another view when power tool work was
complete, showing the thinner end of the stone.
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This shows the stone, after power tools are
done, but before hand files are used and before any polishing
is done. However, to show the color somewhat better, I've gotten
the stone wet. Note how the color is more distinct here, but
still much lighter than it is in the final piece.
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A close up of the wet stone. Again, note
how light the color is compared to the final, polished stone.
Here you can also clearly see the abrasions left behind by the
angle grinder.
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