wood carved musky

Hi Guys, I just finished this last night and wanted to share some photos. Turned out pretty cool..
I carved it from an old elm tree that we had to take down at my brothers cabin… We made some benches out of it for the fire place and carved a snapper shell out of another piece. It was my 1st attempt at carving and looked great. There was one piece of that elm left in his garage so a couple weeks ago I brought it home and made a 50 inch musky out of it.. The eye is from the taxidermist but the rest of the color is all minwax stain and burn from a pencil torch.

Attachments:

1. 

   musky-carving-color-burn.jpg
   

2. 

   musky-carving-final-coat.jpg
   

3. 

   Musky-carving-day-one.jpg
   

4. 

   musky-carving-pre-paint.jpg
   

here is a picture of the fish that I tried to replicate. Not the best picture but gives an idea.

Attachments:

1. 

   musky-carving-reference-fish.jpg
   

Wow! Nice job on it!

Well done sir, well done!

HRG

Nice work of art there, Joe !

-J.

wow nice work!!!!!!!!!!! wonder how soon BK sends ya a catfish to duplicate??????????

I could do that! Ya right, in some alternate life some how some where.

Nice piece, I’d be happy to hang that on my wall.

Very cool

If that’s your first attempt at carving, you must have a ton of natural talent. How many hours did you spend working on it? Looks great.

Wow, Joe – That is fantastic!

Dude. You’ve got skills! That looks really awesome.

That looks awesome!!! Have you been carving for a long time?

Thanks guys, I appreciate the complements.

I don’t know how many hours to be honest.. I started on Sunday the 3rd and finished yesterday. I would poke away at it about every evening after the kids when to bed. So would say a good 20+ hours.. It was my first time trying this so spent some extra time just looking it over with a beer in my hand and making small adjustments. The burning was the only process I could really say I stuck at straight through.. Took three hours to burn all the spots and sand down to the color I wanted.

I did carve a Turtle shell for my brother last year. So had a little practice.

Here is a picture of that one next to the real shell.

Attachments:

1. 

   Turtle-shell-carving.jpg
   

You are good! The one of the left if the carving correct? I had to look really hard and I think it was the light streaks on the left that makes me believe that one is the carving.

That’s one good looking piece! Just wait, you’ll have all sorts of IDO’ers asking you to carve their trophy fish!

How’d you do the fins?

Awesome work!

BigWerm wrote:

How’d you do the fins?

I was wondering the same thing?
Maybe you should consider quitting your day job. Have you done anything that you have sold?

WOW! That is a great job !! ! Congrats….

Both of those are great carvings. I think you have a new hobby besides fishing.

I had issues with the tail and back fins because this wood had a lot of old grub holes. So had to leave them thick. The pectoral fins and abdominal fins were glued on. I drilled holes for dowels and used wood glue to attach.
Next time want to slot them in. Build the body cast up and just leave a skinny tab on the fins to slide into the body I think.
I used a demel and sanding bit to run heavy lines in the fins for the cartilage veins. Then finished by running a wire brush along fins at the ends
This is a practice piece and the final pieces I cut before wire brush and stain.

Attachments:

1. 

   image-9.jpg
   

2. 

   image-8.jpg
   

I am glad you guys enjoy the pictures. I have always wanted to try this. While the walleyes were busy I decided to take a couple weeks off and do this. It was a lot if fun playing with a piece of it each night. My intentions are not for profit. I just thought I could do it and tried it. It is rewarding hearing you guys enjoy seeing what I had in my head to do.

I asked my wife tonight on the hours deal and was corrected. She said double it. Haha. Here are pictures of the other side. I was going to do one finished side but my dad talked me into doing both sides last weenend so came over and helped run the sander so I could take a beer break.
This is the reverse side.

Attachments:

1. 

   image-11.jpg
   

2. 

   image-10.jpg
   

buschman wrote:

I asked my wife tonight on the hours deal and was corrected. She said double it. Haha. Here are pictures of the other side. I was going to do one finished side but my dad talked me into doing both sides last weenend so came over and helped run the sander so I could take a beer break.
This is the reverse side.

Well ya, you did confess earlier that you spent a lot of time just mulling it over with a beer in your hand. And like most of us the beer in hand was not limited to just one. And that’s how time just joyfully carries on to another dimension. The wife just thinks you’re out in the garage drinking beer again all night, and you’re creating the next model for the “Muskie Capitol” of the world claim.
BTW, where’d you catch the “motivational” muskie that inspired you to this now legendary sculpture?

That is a heckuva first attempt! I carve a lot of small stuff (decoys) and I will be the first to tell you that many of mine end up in the wood stove to give me heat while I attempt the next one….lol.

Great work and thanks for sharing!!

T

Walleyestudent Andy Cox wrote:

BTW, where’d you catch the “motivational” muskie that inspired you to this now legendary sculpture?

Andy, fish came out of Leech a couple years ago in November.. No better place to get a big spotted phase Ski!

Very nice work! Good job on the fins,they look great! I started carving last fall and did a big muskie over the winter. The abdominal fins on mine look stubby,kinda like T-Rex arms! they are out of the same piece of wood. I used basswood from a tree off our land. It’s very soft and easy to work with. The dremmel is a great tool for that. I’ll take some pics this weekend and post them here.

I got some info here on airbrushes but have yet to buy one. I’ve always enjoyed woodworking and think carving will be a great hobby.

Again, very nice looking work!

Very nice. I like the way you painted it. Very invent-ful. Painting can sometimes be the hard part of the project. When I painted my carving I study them for several hour to get it right. You have done a very good job.

I still say we NEED a art category. There is many good artist and lure builders on this web-site.

belletaine wrote:

Very nice work! Good job on the fins,they look great! I started carving last fall and did a big <strong class=”ido-tag-strong”>muskie over the winter. The abdominal fins on mine look stubby,kinda like T-Rex arms! they are out of the same piece of wood. I used basswood from a tree off our land. It’s very soft and easy to work with. The dremmel is a great tool for that. I’ll take some pics this weekend and post them here.

I got some info here on airbrushes but have yet to buy one. I’ve always enjoyed woodworking and think carving will be a great hobby.

Again, very nice looking work!

My wife’s family have a dairy farm out in Wisconsin and mill a lot of their own wood. He said they have some big sections drying of 10-12 inch basswood pieces. I believe 8-9 ft long. I can wait to get up there and pick one out. I wondered about using this wood and apreciate the advise. I read basswood works well but was worried about moisture. They were cut last spring so have had some time but don’t know how dry it has to be.

I have an air brush that I use for painting/refinishing crank baits. They work great but that paint business is a whole different deal. I hate to paint wood unless it is needed and that why I went with burning. Paint needs a good primer.

An arts and crafts forum would be awesome. Absolutely right. There are a lot of good tips and advise but no central point for the information.