Carving Cedar 107: Third Cuts

The shaping of Cedar 107 continues! Thank you for continuing to read. When we last left our intrepid proto-wand, I had completed the initial shaping of both the hilt and the shaft.

While those two major features are fairly close to the original design, the angled ring at the junction of the hilt and the shaft did not turn out as I'd planned. Instead of having sharps angle on either side that crested in a clean line, the middle line is too rounded and it doesn't feel like I enough wood to create the imagined angles. Also, the grip on the hilt doesn't fit right in my hand. It might, if there wasn't a broom-like feature below the handle, while moves the balance forward.

I decide to reshape the center ring from a high angle to a wide, flat ring with two additional thin lines dividing the ring into three parts -- a wider center band with a thin band on either side. On the sketch, I plan for four small round gems in the center of the wide band, evenly spaced. I change the shape of the grip from a shallow curve to a shallow slope that descends from the bottom of the grip to the middle and then runs straight into the wide ring at the top of the hilt. The width of the top of the grip should match the wide of the bottom of the shaft on the other side of the middle ring. At least that's the plan.

I draw the lines to indicate the width of the middle band.I turn the Dremel on high and put the sanding bit to work.  Before leveling off the ring, I trim back the wood on either of the ring so that I don't get lost. I sand down the top of the hilt until it's a straight line from the middle of the grip up to the ring. The shaft side of the ring is already thinner but I trim it down even further. A lot of the shaft needs to be thinner but I leave a lot of that work for after I get the ring in shape.

Once the ring is flattened evenly, I continue trimming the grip and the shaft until both sides appear even on either side of the ring. The sanding bit, however, has left a definite softness to the ring where the edge meets the shaft and the grip. I pencil a line to indicate the desired edges and use the Dremel's cutting disc to cut away the excess material. I cut the ring's lines a little deeper into the wood to use as a gauge for how far I need to trim the shaft and the grip.

I sand down to the shaft and grip, then use the 100- and 120-grit sandpaper to smooth the surface. I already feel better about the design.

Looking more closely, the shaft and the grip on either side of the ring are not even all the way around. I added red lines to the picture below to illustrate exactly how much I still needed to trim from the hilt side.

In reality, I roughly pencil-shade the biggest section I need to remove from the grip. I use the sanding bit to trim that area down further.

After another round of sandpaper, the grip is even all the way around. However, I can tell that the middle ring that I've just formed isn't wide enough to divide into three section as I had re-designed -- or, to be more specific -- I wasn't confident enough in my line-cutting skills to get the job done. I decide instead to cut notches on either side of the ring, similar to the notch I cut between the base of the hilt and the broom-shaped handle. I make the notches slightly wider than the width of the cutting disc, and use an engraving bit to smooth the the notches by hand (holding the engraving bit with my fingers to carefully file back and forth in the tiny space).

Cedar 107 is looking good at this point. I continue using the 100-, 120 and 220-grit sandpaper to refine the shape. I also lightly sand the broom-shaped feature, because its edges and points continue to stab at my forearm. After the sanding, the broom is much easier to handle, almost pleasant.

Next steps are to continue sanding down the wider sections of the lower shaft and add the gems around the ring.

But for now, cupcakes!