Wood Carving Slides

[CubsRgr8]

Anybody out there have experience with the BSA wood carving slide kits? Are they appropriate for Webelos (AFTER they earn their Whitlin' Chit)? Are some "easier" than others? I'm looking for something fun for my den to work on over the summer, but nothing too challenging. Thanks in advance.

[Twocubdad]

No experience with the BSA kits (except for a couple I carved at camp 30 years ago), but while Bears my den carved slides from "kits" I roughed out on the band saw. We made either a boot or an arrow head. I cut the basic shape of both from soft, 3/4-inch white pine on the band saw. All the boys had to do was round over the square edges and give some definition to the sole of the shoe or leave the appearance of chips in the arrow head.

 

One thing I did which was really helpful was to leave a long "handle" on both. I left a 3- to 4-inch stick attached to the top of the boot or the bottom of the arrow head. This gave the boys a place to hold the piece while keeping their hand back from the knife blade. The last step of the project was to cut the handle off the slide with a small craft saw. After sanding both were stained and finished with poly. Some of the boys used a marker to blacken the sole of the boot and to draw the laces.

 

We hot glued a piece of 1/2-inch plastic pipe to the back for the slide. If you scratch the pipe with sandpaper, the glue bites better.