Bird Whittled Thrush.

This Thrush has been in my collection for many years, and attracts customers from around the world. and has been the talking point at demonstrations and WI talks, and I have been asked many times how I whittled it.

I looked back and found the following photos at various stages of whittling it, if you are interested. Take a look.

You see below the lime block I used for the Thrush and the outline of the shape, ready for cutting it out on the bandsaw.

After cutting the Thrush out on the bandsaw, I can now see the challenge ahead using a Stanley knife.

Below you can see how a center line has been drawn around the Thrush block and a shape to follow.

Now you can see how I am whittling around the bird, working on the head and body.

By using reference photos, you will see below how I start to work around the bird, mainly working from the top and side of the head and then down the body towards the tail.

See, the excess wood has been whittled off the body with the Stanley knife.

After continual whittling and shaping of the bird, I was able to remove the knot, and you can see an example of this below.

I do recall I decided to remove the top tail part, but unfortunately I have not got any photos to show that. From this stage I would have sanded it down and then sealed it with 3 to 4 coats of varnish for a smoother finish and then used acrylic paints.

See below After painting, the Thrush was going to be mounted onto an example of a gatepost, but after looking at the portions, I decided to mount it onto a piece of tall driftwood, and to this day the thrush still looks like a nice whittled piece. 

An example of the driftwood the Thrush is perched on today, and still in my collection and admired by many.

The Thrush was going to be sold, and many times I have been asked by customers Can I buy it off you, But disaster struck on one cleaning day, and it was knocked off the shelf, and the tail broke off, and just recently it happened again. And over the years, I am so glad it did, as this is the most talked about whittled piece on display. and will always stay in my collection. 

Thank you to the people who asked about the whittled Thrush and prompted me to do this post, and look out because I decided to add a thrush to my whittling list.