mjolnir

mjolnir,
originally uploaded by char111.

Working on Christmas presents finally!
Since I won't be working by December, I am definitely going to have to get off my arse and make presents. I have two more cheques to come, but I'd rather conserve as much as I can.
This Mjolnir is for my brother. Making a Mjolnir out of wood only makes sense if I give the background. We had a tree in our yard that was hit by lightning twice. It finally fell down this year and my brother wanted me to make him something from it. Since mjolnir is the agent of lightning, that is what I decided to make.
I had no idea how hard siberian elm was going to be to carve, or even how to carve it, but after browsing the web I decided I needed an angle grinder-this was what everyone seemed to use. We had an old one that my brother picked up at the neighbours when they abandoned their place (they also left weapons like crossbows. Fun for the neighbourhood kids!) Anyway, the cord had been destroyed so I had to get a new one. I actually asked for an angle grinder for my birthday just to do this project-I got a nice one-dewalt with a removeable handle sos I can make it left handed. Leftifiable tools are always good.
I had to figure out what I was doing, Mjolinor suffered a little for this-it started out quite a bit bigger, heheh. But once I learned how to handle the angle grinder, it got much easier.
So my first piece of wood carving. I'm actually pretty pleased with it. The small size actually works for me (it is only about 3.5" tall)-pocket sized. :c)
I still have to make a twin for my other brother, but it did not take as long as I thought it would, maybe three or four hours all together. Yay for angle grinders!
(BTW Mjolnir means lightning. It is the hammer of Thor, the Norse god of thunder.)