This years mash paddle

Ryan Mooney

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The Gorge Area, Oregon
As is sort of the tradition (I guess 6? 7? years in a row starts to count as tradition) I carved another mash paddle for third prize (third prize is best prize ;) ) in the yearly homebrew competition.

Went off in a slightly different direction this year. You could say its BBbbbaaaddd Bbaddd to the Bbbooone :D

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Some progress pics.

First up was the layout, this required rotating the rotator cuff much further than would be comfortable in real life but hey its already been removed so we've good here. This also got me a bit of a concerned look when I was measuring LOML's arm while muttering "where are the ends of the bone here.. ok rotate so I can feel where the joint is" :rofl: Her arm is quite a bit shorter than mine so I used the dimensions from it for the arm and then put my much larger hand on the end.
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Next using some transfer paper (carbon paper) and a ball end stylus (these are super handy for this - and fairly cheap on amazon)
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The rough it out on the bandsaw.
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Then its just remove all the bits that don't look like they belong while leaving the bits that do.
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Cutting cross grain with a deep flute gouge is a good way to knock off a lot of volume.
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Have you ever really looked at how your thumb works? Its pretty crazy. Also note that it has one less phalange than your other fingers!
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Removing more of what shouldn't be there. Going for more tendons and less bones on the back of the hand, both from a practicality (carving wise) a strength perspective. The art vs strength issue is always a bit of a tradeoff on these...
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The rest was just cleaning up some details and putting some finish on it.

Since this one was done in Alder which is a bit soft and prone to tearout I put a coat of General Finishes Endurovar on it before doing the final cuts. That sort of plasticized the top layer of the wood and made getting the details a lot easier. I wish I'd had another day to do a bit more cleanup but.. it was "due" for the competition today and I kind of putting off starting on it for quite a while until it had warmed up some here (which it finally did last week).
 
Very cool,and inspirational. Had never thought of skeleton for subject matter for a carving.
Thanks for showing your process, I am going to steal the coating idea see where that takes me with bass wood.
Man thats a creative idea for its purpose, next year is going to be even tougher you set a bar with this one.;)
 
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