I am plodding on with my foray into carving fan birds (see http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=83949&highlight=) and
am gradually getting better at doing the feathers but am not yet making much progress with getting the body smoothly rounded.
This picture from the thread above gives an idea of the scale:
It is on smoothing the head/body that I would like advice.
Even when not 'fanned out' the feathers can be quite delicate and so I am a bit concerned that if I try to do lots of hand sanding I will end up damaging them.
So I am looking for ideas.
I think the ideal solution is to be better at carving but that is probably some way off in my case.
One option might be to get a cheap dremel clone eg from Aldi/Lidl (when they come round again), or off e-bay. But I have never used one and before I spent £s I wondered what views people on here might have. Especially as I understand that the sanding discs/drums can become expensive eg see
http://www.woodworkingtalk.com/f8/power-sanding-small-pieces-curves-10365/
and there might be a better solution anyway.
So ... views please on what options/combination of options I might try to get a better result before I have to start spending money
am gradually getting better at doing the feathers but am not yet making much progress with getting the body smoothly rounded.
This picture from the thread above gives an idea of the scale:
It is on smoothing the head/body that I would like advice.
Even when not 'fanned out' the feathers can be quite delicate and so I am a bit concerned that if I try to do lots of hand sanding I will end up damaging them.
So I am looking for ideas.
I think the ideal solution is to be better at carving but that is probably some way off in my case.
One option might be to get a cheap dremel clone eg from Aldi/Lidl (when they come round again), or off e-bay. But I have never used one and before I spent £s I wondered what views people on here might have. Especially as I understand that the sanding discs/drums can become expensive eg see
http://www.woodworkingtalk.com/f8/power-sanding-small-pieces-curves-10365/
and there might be a better solution anyway.
So ... views please on what options/combination of options I might try to get a better result before I have to start spending money