Category Archives: Woodworking

Killer Whale Fence Sculpture

Posted on by

If you follow my blog, you know that I am interested in marine animals.

Killer whales or orcas, are very social animals. They are known as “The Wolves of the Sea,” as they hunt in packs.

I saw this amazing Pacific Northwest tribal orca hanging on the back of a log cabin. I knew that one day I would make a similar orca sculpture. Last month, that day came.

I began by gluing up some scrap lumber from a floating shelf project and some old plywood.

While the wood was clamped, I began to sketch out the design.

Once sketched, I used my saber saw to cut it out. In the process, I broke off one side of the fluke. No problem – glue and a clamp to the rescue. The orca is 28″ high and 46″ long.

When painting the body, the black paint reacted to one of the boards that was stained. Careful when applying one type of paint over another. This bubbled up. I consulted the web on what to do and easily corrected the problem.

With the body painted all back, I used chalk to outline the areas that I wanted to paint.

Here is the finished piece.

Orcas are the guardians of the sea. I am honored to hang this in the yard!

Ogham Post Yard Art

Posted on by

While visiting ruins in Ireland, I learned of an early Medieval (4th to 10th century) alphabet called “Ogham.”

Ogham, which originally consisted of 20 characters, are formed by parallel lines on either side of a continuous vertical line.

I decided that we needed an Ogham post in our front yard. Here is my sketch of what I hoped the finished post would look like.

I acquired an old 6″ x 6″ post while traveling in Washington state. The post is 2 feet high.

I sketched out our names in Ogham on two sides of the post.

I carved out each representative letter, and then filled them in with black paint.

Here is the first completed name. Normally, each Ogham symbol is connected to the next via the vertical line. However, I chose not to do that in my design.

I’d planned to mount the post on a flat stone, but while drilling it out it cracked in half. Still okay, I just set the post on the broken stone.

I wonder what the local Druids will think?