Woodworking in Honduras

Dodgy Loner · August 10, 2007, 01:28:50 PM

My dad was on a business trip in Honduras recently. He came back with some awesome photos. My favorites were from a one-man woodshop he visited while he was there. I thought I would share them with y'all, so you can gawk at them too

.

Here's a picture of his shop. Looks about like mine when I'm in the middle of a project ;).

This is his stash of Spanish-cedar, which is the only wood he uses.

And here is a door in progress. How would you like to have something like this greeting visitors to your home!

And this is a finished chest. The man averages one chest per week. The cost of one of these one-of-a-kind masterpieces? About $200

. My dad wanted to buy one very much, but he still had two more weeks to go in his trip, and the cost of shipping it back home was prohibitive :(.

He even owns a small store where he sells his work, as well as the work of many other artisans throughout the area.

Fla._Deadheader · August 10, 2007, 02:54:36 PM

Lots of shops down here that look the same. 8)

mike_van · August 10, 2007, 05:10:51 PM

I hope there's a "No Smoking" sign in that shop ! :D

Dave Shepard · August 10, 2007, 08:54:28 PM

I really like the carving on that chest. I don't think I'd want a carved chest though, but it would look really nice on a door. It really is amazing work, I don't think I could scratch my name on a board with a nail in a week, nevermind carve that chest in a lifetime.

Dave

SwampDonkey · August 15, 2007, 03:49:42 PM

Someone just reading this thread, should go back and look at the chest again. A lot of stuff going on in the scenery. Awesome work. Takes more than knowing how to build stuff that's for sure. I don't know if I could get that carved in 6 months even. ;D

Cool stuff, thanks for showing it off.

Larry · August 15, 2007, 04:11:21 PM

Thanks Dodgy. Some in the US will argue for hours about which table saw is the best. Those pictures put us back in touch with reality. I've toured woodworking shops in SE Asia and Mexico that were even more primitive but the work was still of the same high standard.

crtreedude · August 15, 2007, 04:39:22 PM

I see this all the time - sometimes too many tools get in our way. It is the skill of the user that is the most important. Better tools give you better speed - but not necessarily better results.

flip · August 15, 2007, 06:00:15 PM

Either someone has a NICE CNC mill :

or they have waaaaaaaaaay too much time on their hands. :D That is very nice work.

Fla._Deadheader · August 15, 2007, 09:37:31 PM

Flip, you would be amazed at how fast the work goes, when you have the 'sperense.

I fooled around with relief carving, when we lived in Arkansas. Doesn't take that long to get fairly good at it. The "eye" is the most important tool. ;) ;D

flip · August 16, 2007, 10:47:59 AM

smiley_dunce I'd be in big trouble then. I can barely see a board in a log. :

Fla._Deadheader · August 16, 2007, 12:06:58 PM

:D :D :D

Just keep looking ;) ;D :D

Dodgy Loner · August 16, 2007, 01:39:31 PM

I saw several carvers while I was in Brazil. They weren't making stuff of this quality, but their speed and efficiency was really a site to see. I know one thing, if I lived in Central America, I'd much rather be carving intricate chests than doing the backbreaking work that most of the folks down there do. Heck, I'd rather be doing that here, I'm just not talented enough :

.

Larry · August 16, 2007, 08:54:31 PM

While in SE Asia I visited one shop where they carved figurines. Carving tools were broken glass...they kept an ample supply on hand and just picked out a new piece of glass every now and than.

Dodgy Loner · August 17, 2007, 01:06:13 PM

That's incredible (incredibly stupid?). I guess it worked for them, but I'll stick to high-carbon steel for my carving tools :D. Where in SE Asia was this shop?

Fla._Deadheader · August 17, 2007, 02:24:07 PM

DL, you would be amazed how quickly broken glass will remove wood. Best thing in the world for smoothing Gun Stocks for refinishing. Works equally well on figured-knotty type wood.

Larry · August 17, 2007, 04:20:29 PM

Thailand...all expense paid vacation some 37 years ago. ;D

Haytrader · August 17, 2007, 06:21:58 PM

:

R&R

How many was in the lineup?

;)

Dodgy Loner · August 18, 2007, 11:56:36 AM

Quote from: Fla._Deadheader on August 17, 2007, 02:24:07 PMDL, you would be amazed how quickly broken glass will remove wood. Best thing in the world for smoothing Gun Stocks for refinishing. Works equally well on figured-knotty type wood.

I've heard of using broken glass for scrapers, but never for carving tools. But again, I'll stick with my HC steel. I spend enough money on Band-Aids already ;D