# Cat on Dog on Horse.



## twoclones (Jul 12, 2015)

Occasionally a wood carving project becomes an adventure. This one taught me lessons in design, joinery, preparation, adhesives, finishing, contracts, customer relations, handling design change requests (demands), and generally to NOT accept any more commissions. 

This was to be an 8 foot tall carving of the customer's *cartoon logo*. About 2 days before completion, the customer's wife visited and INSISTED I carve hair on the horse _(it looked like fine furniture at that point)_ and she wanted to change the design to be realistic.

I did what I could to appease her but, in my opinion, it ruined a really great sculpture 

Quick specs:
I used 6 sycamore logs.
Horse is 4 feet tall from feet to withers.
The horse is held together with West System Epoxy, 8" Timberlok screws, and a 3/4" bolt running the full length. (see drawing in slideshow)
Penofin Hardwood finish used for UV resistance.
Dog and cat carved separately.
Dog and cat feet are reinforced with hardwood dowels and 2 1/2" steel brads.
Dog and cat will be mounted with TimberHead screws.
64 square foot assembly floor was build for this project.
Time is irrelevant...

Slide show at
http://woodhacker.com/images/HorseAdventure2015/slideshow/phpslideshow.php


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## hanniedog (Jul 12, 2015)

That has tobe close to a five figure job.


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## twoclones (Jul 12, 2015)

hanniedog said:


> That has to be close to a five figure job.



Yet another lesson learned,,, *"Do not talk to yourself when the customer is listening."* 

When visiting the customer; I really did not want to land this job and I hate putting a lot of effort into calculating a price that will give the customer a heart-attack. So I said something like, when I bid these kind of jobs I'm usually way out of the customer's ball park. He asked how big the ball park was and after a moment's thought, I mumbled, "There is no way I could do this for under $5,000." I was actually thinking about what my expense would be. 

Before I knew it, my hand was shook, the contract was signed and my initial deposit was in the bank! At that point it became exciting. I was excited to have a $5,000 contract. Excited to be building such a large project. Excited to start learning how to do this. 

If I count only the time I spent carving this, I made OK money. If I count _(as I should)_ the time spent researching methods & materials, sketching and sculpting in clay, playing nice with my customer's wife, working on the wife's design changes, etc,, the money barely covered expenses. 

I choose to look at it like this. 
Someone paid me to learn how to build a large wood sculpture and they bought my assembly floor, laser level, and a few other small tools. Plus I now know how to bid the next big horse and how to deal with the next unreasonable spouse.


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## hanniedog (Jul 12, 2015)

So do you think the person would have bit if you had said $10,000?


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## twoclones (Jul 12, 2015)

I really do not know. They may have negotiated at that price. (?) 

I still have to deliver the piece this week. The original plan was for them to prepare a location. Now they want to try displaying it in a couple of places before deciding on a permanent location... I'm not sure if they understand that the price does not include me coming back to help move the sculpture... 

Pallet Mounting Detail: Counter bored, hot-dip galvanized bolts back filled with epoxy and wood fiber. Textured with Eder Trog.


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## imagineero (Jul 13, 2015)

Amazing work, eagle in the slide show looked fantastic too. Were the logs green? Do you offer any kind of guarantee against cracking/splitting?


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## ChoppyChoppy (Jul 13, 2015)

How many hours do you have into that?


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## twoclones (Jul 13, 2015)

imagineero said:


> Amazing work, eagle in the slide show looked fantastic too. Were the logs green? Do you offer any kind of guarantee against cracking/splitting?



Logs were dried for at least 1 year (desert conditions) and my guarantee is that wood cracks. However, sycamore isn't easy to split so large cracks are unlikely to form.


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## twoclones (Jul 13, 2015)

ValleyFirewood said:


> How many hours do you have into that?



Impossible to say. 
It was done over 2 months in short sessions (up to 6 hours) along with other projects. I watched Samodusky's 1 hour video on horse joinery 6 times. We sanded for more than 2 days before being told to change it to carved hair. Several hours went into building the assembly floor and display palette. 

After assembly we had 118 F weather and got an extra turn on the length bolt as it dried more. 

I'm anxious to make a smaller, multi-log piece with more detail. For inventory! Not for commission.


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## buzz sawyer (Jul 13, 2015)

twoclones said:


> Yet another lesson learned,,, *"Do not talk to yourself when the customer is listening."*
> 
> When visiting the customer; I really did not want to land this job and I hate putting a lot of effort into calculating a price that will give the customer a heart-attack. So I said something like, when I bid these kind of jobs I'm usually way out of the customer's ball park. He asked how big the ball park was and after a moment's thought, I mumbled, "There is no way I could do this for under $5,000." I was actually thinking about what my expense would be.
> 
> ...


Nice work!
I've been woodcarving for years and your statement in bold is about par for the course. It's almost impossible to keep an accurate account of time regardless of the size of the project. Your last sentence says it all.


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## twoclones (Jul 14, 2015)

The beast has been delivered and they bought my Ozark Minuteman too


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## bluesrhino (Jul 15, 2015)

twoclones said:


> The beast has been delivered and they bought my Ozark Minuteman too
> 
> These are really good. Thanks for posting them. That Minuteman is awesome. You're very good. How long have you been doing this?


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## twoclones (Jul 16, 2015)

Thanks. I think I've been carving for about 8 years. _(I went Pro when Obama killed my job.) _


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## bluesrhino (Jul 16, 2015)

twoclones said:


> Thanks. I think I've been carving for about 8 years. _(I went Pro when Obama killed my job.) _


Really happy you're skilled enough to get past that kind of crud. Do you have a website , where my wife and I can see your carvings?


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## twoclones (Jul 16, 2015)

www.WoodHacker.com


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## bluesrhino (Jul 16, 2015)

twoclones said:


> www.WoodHacker.com


Ok, and proving once again what a small world we live in, My wife and I are traveling to TC next week to visit my brother and our cousin, Jerry Todd. He loves eagles.


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## bluesrhino (Jul 16, 2015)

twoclones said:


> www.WoodHacker.com


We're in Texas by the way.


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## rarefish383 (Oct 14, 2015)

Where is the Squirrel on the cats back? As always, very nice work, Joe.


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## USMC615 (Oct 14, 2015)

Very nice work...raw talent indeed. Checked the website out...man that is fine work.


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