Anri Nutcrackers!

Anri Nutcrackers!

Mar 09

 

Got a big box from Arlene Wagner from the Leavenworth Nutcracker Museum.

 

It’s chock full of Anri nutcrackers in need of repair.  Nine to be exact, Awesome!

 

 

Stay tuned for updates as I cover each one in more detail as I repair them and get them ready to be sent back to Arlene at the museum to be put on display for visitors to enjoy!

 

—– Brandon

 

 

African Mahogany

African Mahogany

Mar 05

 

 

Picked up a great piece of African Mahogany at Woodcraft this week.

 

African Mahogany is beautiful, but is very acidic and requires dust control when working with it.

 

As you can see from the pictures, Rough sawn 8/4 Mahogany doesn’t sit in my shop for very long before it gets turned into something cool.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stay tuned for updates as I get these pieces together for the Nutcracker Collectors Convention in May.

 

—– Brandon

Progress

Progress

Feb 27

 

Still plugging away.

 

Skull #4 is finally done.

 

I normally make these out of Black Walnut. I decided to make this one out of Mahogany, and it came out great!

 

 

 

 

 

Also made some progress on the new skull screw type nutcracker.

 

Still a little rough, but getting there.

 

 

 

 

 The weather is supposed to be pretty mild so I plan on spending a lot of time out in the shop this week.

 

Stay tuned for updates.

 

—– Brandon

 

Skulls

Skulls

Feb 21

 

 It’s been a really nice weekend here in Ohio.

 

It was in the 60’s yesterday; I can get used to that!

 

Got out in the shop a little and made progress on the skull nutcrackers.

 

Here’s the screw type skull nutcracker I’m working on. Making something that doesn’t exist is always challenging because you always run into weird issues that take more time than you expect to figure out and overcome.

 

 

 

 

Here’s the more traditional style which isn’t giving me as much trouble. This is skull #4 of this type so I have most of the kinks worked out in regards to carving these. This one is almost done.

 

 Just waiting on clear coat. Didn’t have any in shop so I have to pick some up on my lunch break tomorrow. No worries, had plenty of other pieces to work on. That’s a good thing!

 

 

 

 

Once these two are done I have a few more ideas and am hoping to get a few more cool pieces done and ready for the Nutcracker Collectors Club Convention in May.

 

 Yeah, I really need to figure out how to make clones of myself to help with all this carving and stuff.

 

Stay tuned!

 

Improvise

Improvise

Feb 07

 

 

Sometimes you just have to improvise.

 

I needed a dowel for the Skull Nutcracker I’m making, but didn’t have any Mahogany dowels. Plenty of others, but none mahogany.

Yeah, that toothpick isn’t mahogany either and just isn’t going to cut it.

 

 

I cut a chunk of Mahogany:

 

 

 

I took the rough edges off at the Disc Sander:

 

 

I chucked it in the Drill Press. Used a flat riffler file, sanding block, and sand paper to shape it:

 

 

Wallah! A dowel that will match the piece perfectly. Awesome!

 

 

This is a good example of the level of detail that goes into making the pieces I create.

 

Everything on this piece is hand made, even the dowel now.

 

Nice!

 

My Workbench

My Workbench

Jan 24

 

 

 

This isn’t staged, this is honestly what my workbench currently looks like.

 

I’m working on one of my signature skull nutcrackers to take to the 2016 Nutcracker Convention which will be held in Virginia this year. I’m also working on a new skull nutcracker which will be a screw type. I’m making it from an older blank that’s too big to be a lever type (far right).

 

In the foreground (front center) is a repair in progress for one of the Nutcracker Club members. The rest of the pieces are there for reference as I carve the skulls. I switch from piece to piece as glue dries and each is ready for different stages of carving, repair, etc…

 

Everything is sitting on a downdraft table I built years ago that pulls all the dust down and into the dust collector at the back of the shop. This keeps my shop clean and the dust away from me. It works very well.

 

 I decided to take a picture and share it because I was working in another area, looked over, and realized my workbench probably doesn’t look like most people’s workbenches. What I see every day and consider normal, might be unique and interesting to others.

 

I love the unique pieces I get to get to work on and the cool stuff I have the opportunity to create.