Christmas presents…

[steve_g]

The horned frog is for a TCU grad with a collection of horned frogs. I took the school mascot/logo and puffed him up to 3D and added a texture. The wood is Texas Mesquite which is appropriate! I re-sawed a ¼” off the bottom of the blank, rotated it 90° and glued it back on… this made it so the legs and tail aren’t quite as fragile because they have grain running in two directions.
The Running horses sign is 17” X 32” and carved out of Western Red Cedar… This wood is the worst possible wood for carving! It wants to “fuzz” and chip. After my rough 3D pass, I treated the wood with MinWax wood hardener. The 3D finish pass turned out beautifully! No sanding at all on the horses, The dish shows some “lines” I think from the material shrinking while I was cutting! Next time I’ll add a texture of some sort that will help disguise machining marks.
SG

[Bob Eustace]

Very clever thinking Steve!

[Joseph clements]

What software do you use? And would you post files. I live in Houston Texas, I do work with Mesquite.

[scottp55]

Steve, "Horned" critter came out beautiful:) Excellent job on grainmatching on the horses(bookmatched?), but it never seems to "flow" quite right on glue-ups I've noticed.
What happened on second horses neck? (seems abrupt)
Beautiful work and thought beforehand as usual!:)
Thanks for Minwax tip- still have done virtually zero 3D here.
scott

[steve_g]

Joseph…
These were both modeled in Aspire… I don’t own Aspire but had a chance to spend a few weeks with a friends version. Since V-Carve Pro is a subset of Aspire, The learning curve was almost non-existent! I’ve also used Solid Works and Rhino, and while they each have their advantages, Aspire seems the best choice of the ones I’ve used for relief modeling.
Normally I’m a very sharing guy… BUT, The Horned toad was modeled on the TCU logo that I don’t own. I don’t have an issue making a one-off for my own use, but I don’t feel free to share it. (others will chime in about the rightness or wrongness of my attitude…)
The horses were bought from a seller on eBay
http://www.ebay.com/itm/3d-model-for-cnc-stl-relief-artcam-vectric-aspire-001-/261320543472?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3cd7eb0cf0 (http://www.ebay.com/itm/3d-model-for-cnc-stl-relief-artcam-vectric-aspire-001-/261320543472?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3cd7eb0cf0)
Mesquite is a fantastic, underappreciated wood! It carves well, holds detail and is very stable. I even like the yellow sapwood, especially when you can use a piece that has both heart and sap! My favorite supplier is:
http://www.mgsawmill.com/product.htm (http://www.mgsawmill.com/product.htm)

SG

[Joseph clements]

Yes I buy from M&G saw mill. A clock from them. Thanks for the eBay tip

[Joseph clements]

The candle has a magnet under the veneer so it dose not fall off it burns oil

[steve_g]

Nice Clock! I often combine Mesquite and Birdseye also… I enjoy the contrast, not only of color but of reputation! A “ranch” and BBQ smoke wood with a wood often reserved for royalty and RR dash boards!
SG

[Bob Eustace]

Steve the Ebay link is just brilliant - thank you! Darn high quality at an unbelievable price!

[steve_g]

When in eBay, do a search for “3d model STL”, you get 1174 offerings! Most are very high quality but some… not so good!
SG

[elcar903]

very nice, looks great