"The Goofy Hockey Player"

This piece will be headed home with a Buffalo Sabres Hockey team fan. Goofy "fit the bill" for the character because Phil (the recipient) is tall and lanky as well. Besides, I also think hockey is one of those sports where it helps to be just a tad "goofy" to be able to play a good game!

Here's how we turn a 4" X 4" X 12" piece of Tupelo wood into a lifelong keepsake for a friend.

Sketching out the template there's always that hope that you can "stay within the lines." No matter how hard I try, my carvings always turn out to appear not exactly as I draw the piece.

 

First, the center lines

 

Then the outline.

A few minutes on the band saw.

 

Now to transpose the depth/side view of the piece. Of late, I've come to notice that I spend a great deal of time developing the front view, then I seemingly, haphazardly sketch the side view.

On this piece and several others I manage to cut the front view from the block as a single piece. Cutting the front view off the piece allows me to repeatedly align and place it back onto the piece for reference points.

 

The tricky part... to maintain the protruding features as you reduce the piece.

Sometimes one just has to make a correction! A miss judged slant of Goofy's muzzle called for a minor "surgical" procedure. 

  

That's better! And, no, those are not sunglasses on Goofy's forehead. That feature will become his eyebrows.

 

As Goofy begins to take shape you'll notice the one major issue a rotary tool carver has to deal with, the texture of the piece as you work it down with burrs.

 

Working with a rotary burr on Tupelo means that there is a great deal of "smoothing" out the piece to keep the wood from swelling when you add the finish. I must admit, I spent a great deal of time "smoothing" the surface on this piece. I ended up running 600grit burrs over all surfaces. I dedicated an entire morning just on smoothing this piece out.
But, it was worth it!

At last the piece is ready for sealing.

 

 This piece taught me another lesson.  The Florida heat and water based paint caused a bit of panic for this carver. The "ice" Goofy is standing on began to warp when I glued the "ice" to the base. I ended up clamping the piece and fortunately, the glue was still soft enough to be pressed together. After being clamped overnight the piece was ready for its final protective clear coat.

Here's "The Goofy Hockey Player," #1 Pilarz.

 

(I know, the low numbers and zeros are typically reserved for the Goalie, however the recipient is a number 1 kinda guy!

 

Take your best shot Goofy!