Phillys Fist
Philly’s Fist was a commissioned by my brother and was requested around October 2018. The size of the piece requested was 8”x 8”x 10”, which meant that the oak block I needed was going to have to be unseasoned timber and I would have to carve it slowly to let it season over time. Carving in the green has its pitfalls of the wood splitting as you carve sometimes leaving you with an unusable block of wood.
I was helped out by the chaps at British Hardwoods after a chat we had at the Harrogate Wood Workworkers show in November 2018. I managed to get a couple of pieces of the right size from them to try and I set to work. The first piece had a few shakes in it and a couple of knots on the top, but I felt once the fist was cut out, it shouldn’t affect the finished article. There is a lovely set of flecked grain around one of the knots where the palm would be and by drying out slowly I thought I should be able to use this effect.
I roughed out the fist on the bandsaw and redressing it in the offcuts and wrapping it in masking tape. I left it to dry out slowly in the workshop over the next year. In August 2019 I set to work and the oak had split in a couple of places, but nothing drastic. I was able to fill these with offcuts I had kept and the only other splits were around the knots in the knuckles at the top of the fist which I left because it just added character to the wood. I worked on getting the shape out first and that took time. The oak was hard and needed constant sharpening of my tools to keep it moving on. Undercutting the fingers was tricky as I didn’t want one falling off. There were a couple of recarves around the fingers as I changed the angle slightly and the tightness of the grip.
It took a month to get the overall shape sorted. I had to decide if it was going to be a sculptural piece or a more detail one with a palm print and age lines. As the model picture was of my own hand then there were many more lines there than I had planned and the decision was left to the end.
By the beginning of November, I had decided to go with some detail but not the full works. I’ve gone with having the fingernails in place with a few natural creases at the sides but left out anything Gypsy Rose Lee could foretell anything off. The finished Fist has been polished with 15 coats of Danish oil sanded with 600 arbanet after every 5th coat. I have placed it on a Beech branch cuff and base as the bark acts as a sleeve finish and I know Phill likes that effect. It has a lovely colour for oak and I have left the knots in the knuckles unfilled as it is part of the character of the wood. The other cleaned out knots on the palm have left a wonderful shift in the grain and I’m pleased with the outcome, with a coat of beeswax polish, it shines. I just hope Phil has space to place the brut.
Power to you All!!!!
