This is the Lowdown page

From time to time I will give you the lowdown on a particular carving that I've done and how I achieved it.

The Dragon's claw staff was a challenge to say the least. The brief was to make a 6ft plus staff, in Ash, the Dragon's claw had to hold a crystal ball, and the whole thing had to stand up to being used as a weapon when Carl was fighting in the re-enactment society.

I started by ignoring it for a while, I have this annoying habit of leaving things to the last minute, then I panicked for a while, then I got started.

At the time I was attending evening classes for woodcarving, so I decided to take it there as my term project. I had (and still have) the most wonderful teacher called Greta Chaterly, I think I wouldn't have finished the staff, if it wasn't for her.

The first step was to make a clay model of the claw, this is a good idea for any carving, it helped to get a 3d perspective on what I was attempting. The clay was only for getting the size right so there was no great detail involved, just the basic shape.

Next came the part I didn't enjoy but, as it turned out, was one of the most important. Greta suggested that I carved the claw out of MDF to see if I could get the ball in and the claws on, without any problems. It sounded like a good idea, but I hated carving that MDF, even though I was cutting into it, there still was some dust. I think it was Medite MDF, which is a "not so dense" medium density fibre board. Anyhow that said, I managed to work out the best method of fixing the ball in and attaching the claws. I carved out a hollow to take the ball, drilled out the fingers to take the horn and checked that the overall proportions were right. Again this was only prototype so no real detail as such. Anyhow I'm the sort of carver that likes to make it up as I go, not sticking to my original idea, my carvings evolve.

Now came the fun stuff, I'd finally get to carving the damn thing. I was starting to get a bit fed up with it by this time. Thankfully Ash carves fairly well, otherwise I think I might have launched it out of the window!!

The carving went by rather uneventfully, although it did take quite a bit of time (evenings again). Now I had to find a stick to put it on. Well because I'd left it so long and not prepared for the job in hand, I had nothing suitable in my stick rack, and it was pointless cutting something and using it green. So I trotted of to a fairly local garden tool suppliers that I knew sold pitch fork handles and the like. To my relief they had an Ash pole (7ft long) and of the right thickness. The fixing method was to be the insert variety so no problems there.

The staff had become one and now the time came to attach the various elements. The fingers had all been pre-drilled to take the horn claws and the hollow had been made for the ball. I use Epoxy resin for all my joints (usually the rapid one, due to time constraints!) so that was straight forward enough. There had been talk about making the ball rotate but that was soon disgarded. The claws were made from the tips of African cow horn, as you can see from the picture, it was a good colour. I had to heat up the horn with my hot air gun (electric paint stripper) to gently bend it to the right form.

The staff was, by this time, almost finished all that remained was to colour and seal the stick. I use acrylic paints for all my coloured sticks. Being a model maker, I use the small tubs that model shops sell. Mine come from Games Workshop, they have a good range including metallic paints and washes. I basically paint all my heads the same way, black base coat, dry brush on white, this gives you highlights and shade. Finally apply colour washes over black and white to give you colour in various shades. I then use an acrylic sealer, this sets rock hard and won't chip. Last but not least a good clear wax over the entire stick, not so much for protection, but aesthetics, it smells nice!

The finishing touches were a leather grip, engraved with a Norse style pattern and a bronze ferrule to protect the bottom.

Well I hope that was clear, please don't hesitate to mail me if you need further information.

Mik

© MIK 2000