Wooden Dummy Construction Photos?

mvbrown21

Yellow Belt
Joined
Mar 27, 2011
Messages
54
Reaction score
1
Location
Tucson, AZ
Hey guys, anybody have any good pics of their homemade wooden dummy and how they did it?

Here's mine. We've only gotten the body done so far but we did lamination with Country Maple wood. And once we cut the holes I'm going to have my friend Carina over at Little Raven Studios Raven Studios - Wooden practice swords and wooden dummies. make the arms and leg for me

IMG_20101218_212933.jpg

IMG_20101222_214230.jpg

IMG_20101224_164159.jpg

IMG_20110206_151243.jpg
 
OP
mvbrown21

mvbrown21

Yellow Belt
Joined
Mar 27, 2011
Messages
54
Reaction score
1
Location
Tucson, AZ
Thanks guys for all the nice comments and yes, a lot of sandpaper did go into play there! :)
We used a hand planer to shave it down to the basic shape, as you can see in that one photo, and then the Gods opened up the heavens and introduced me to someone who was able to 'turn' it for me!
 

izeqb

Orange Belt
Joined
Sep 9, 2010
Messages
70
Reaction score
1
Thanks guys for all the nice comments and yes, a lot of sandpaper did go into play there! :)
We used a hand planer to shave it down to the basic shape, as you can see in that one photo, and then the Gods opened up the heavens and introduced me to someone who was able to 'turn' it for me!

Nice...!

I've tried to get someone to "turn" a body for me as well, but noone seems to have such a large bench in my area :(

What kind of glue did you use to make all the pieces stick together?
 

geezer

Grandmaster
MT Mentor
Joined
Oct 20, 2007
Messages
7,373
Reaction score
3,588
Location
Phoenix, AZ
Nice...!

I've tried to get someone to "turn" a body for me as well, but noone seems to have such a large bench in my area :(

What kind of glue did you use to make all the pieces stick together?

You could round it the "old way". Cut the corners legthwise with a big saw (or whatever tool you have) to make an octogon, then use a large, sharp, plane to shave it down to nearly round, then fine tune with a belt sander.

If you want to laminate the trunk out of good hardwood, make sure to run the planks through a joiner first so they fit up well, use wood glue and big clamps. It doesn't look difficult, but it does look like a lot of work. I speak as a spectator. I used to do metal sculpture years back and had a roommate who was a woodworker. If you're not a woodworker, check out any universities in your area that have a woodworking program. Nothing like finding a starving grad-student with undervalued skills to help you on the cheap. 25 years ago that was me! I even welded a wooden dummy once. Used 10 in diameter steel tubing I found at a scrap yard, cut square holes for the arm-sockets and inserted square steel tubing to line them so I could use wooden arms. Since it was hollow, I threw some sandbags inside to give it the same weight and mass as wood (they didn't slide through since they were held up by the cross slats). Later after finally getting a teak dummy, I lost track of the old metal-bodied one. Too bad. It was quite functional and would be cheaper and quicker to make than a wood one... if you have metal working tools.
 
OP
mvbrown21

mvbrown21

Yellow Belt
Joined
Mar 27, 2011
Messages
54
Reaction score
1
Location
Tucson, AZ
Nice...!

I've tried to get someone to "turn" a body for me as well, but noone seems to have such a large bench in my area :(

What kind of glue did you use to make all the pieces stick together?

Just regular ol' Titebond, I believe it was the blue bottle, the premium stuff, but I know you can use the regular, I just wanted to use the best stuff I could get though, spending all that money!
 
OP
mvbrown21

mvbrown21

Yellow Belt
Joined
Mar 27, 2011
Messages
54
Reaction score
1
Location
Tucson, AZ
Hey guys,

For those who were interested, here's my latest progress on my dummy. Finally tracked down a drill press big enough and have started chiseling the arm holes. Country Maple is incredibly difficult to chisel through too!!

IMG_20110506_142541.jpg

2011-05-04_19-43-21_285.jpg

2011-05-04_19-43-38_739.jpg

2011-05-04_19-43-06_981.jpg
 

izeqb

Orange Belt
Joined
Sep 9, 2010
Messages
70
Reaction score
1
If possible, try with an electric chisel... It'll speed up the process :)
 

profesormental

Brown Belt
Joined
Jun 12, 2006
Messages
416
Reaction score
6
Awesome!!

Makes you want to own a light saber to make this easier and faster... guess we'll have them in 3 to 5 years. :D

Again, awesome work! Looks like fun!
 

Domino

Black Belt
Joined
Apr 14, 2009
Messages
519
Reaction score
1
Location
Preston
It looks well, make sure you get the arm placement and position correct.
 

simplewc101

Yellow Belt
Joined
Dec 17, 2011
Messages
48
Reaction score
1
Location
California
wow that really turned out nicely!
I've been thinking about different body ideas, and this seems like a very plausible option.
only issue for me would be turning...
thanks for the post
 

Latest Discussions

Top