Bill's Smile Spirit Face

Sometime ago a friend of mine passed away. He had a marvelous smile and so I carved a spirit face walking stick depicting his smile. I presented this stick to his wife at a memorial service.












The stick was carved from a small dead aspen tree. I would like to explain how to carve this particular walking stick using Dremel power tools. I gave up using a knife sometime ago because of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. I did have surgery in both hands and lost some strength in them.

If you live near a supply of aspen trees, you can find small dead trees to carve this walking stick. The top of the stick should be about 1 and 3/4 inches in diameter and tapered down to 1 inch at the bottom of the stick. If the stick has some small knobs, cut these off with a band saw before you strip the bark from the stick.

Use a draw knife to strip the bark from the stick. Put the stick in a vice to hold it while removing the bark. You can purchase a draw knife at the hardware store or use a good carving knife.  




After the stick is stripped of the bark, use the mouse sander and start with 80 grit continuing with 100 grit, and finish with 120 grit. Use denatured alcohol to raise the grain, so that you get most of the imperfections out of the wood.




When the stick is sanded smoothly, I am going to grind the grip in with  a dremel tool using an 80 grit disk and smoothing out the grip with 120 grit disk. Put in 8 or 9 grooves for the grip. The grip should be located where the hand comfortably grasps the stick. Think of gripping a ski pole.



The grip should be at least 6 or 7 inches below the top of the stick. Drill a one quarter inch hole just about the grip for a piece of leather. OK, you now have the stick ready to go. The next step is to begin the face.

The next step is the face, but remember, if this is new to you, it will take patience and some study. The face is carved just below the top of the stick. The face is 3 demensional and not flat. When I carve into the stick, I want to see the depth of the face from the front and also the side view. Remember that we are using a moto tool using burs. These are little less forgiving, if you make a  mistake.

This is the first part of the project, carving Bill's Smile Spirit Face Walking Stick. The next blog will be called carving Bill's Smiling Face at the top of your walking stick.