Ice carving can be used to create a sculpture that is realistic or abstract depending on where you are going to be placing your carving. There is several ice sculpture competitions held around the world. If you have any desire to start this as a hobby yourself, there are a few things you will need to add to your ice carving toolbox.
Ice Tongs:
First things first, you can’t do much ice carving if you can’t move your ice blocks around so you’ll need tongs at some point. You want to pick just the perfect sharpness because they have to be sharp enough to hold the ice firmly, but if they are too sharp you risk them sinking too deeply into the ice.
Nailboard:
This is a vital tool you will need to use in ice carving for every sculpture. It’s fantastic for quickly flattening a surface so you can make a level wall for a castle or a flat slab for your ice sculpture bar.
Small Nailboard:
When you need to clear off a little snow from a sculpture during set up for ice carving, a smaller nailboard will do a more precise job.
Electric chainsaw: with a long bar
A Craftsman with an 18 inch bar, or a Stihl, either a MSE-220, or a long bar on a MSE-140 is an essential ice carving tool. This saw is usually used for splitting blocks, for making snow and for making long straight cuts. Tip: leave the chain a little loose because it isn’t cutting curved surfaces. A loose chain will cut more aggressively, but it will also come off the bar more often if the chain is pushed laterally during turning cuts.
Electric chainsaw: with a short bar
When just starting out you can use one saw, but eventually for ice carving it will be handy to have more than one. The variety will allow you to perform more precise maneuvers with the ice.
Flat Chisels:
Select some flat chisels from a specialty ice carving store and at the same time pick up some tools for keeping them sharp.
Small Flat Chisels:
These are the simple narrow wood chisels that you can get at any hardware store. They are used for ice carving to clear out small sections of ice while doing white-on-ice engraving or removing small amounts of ice from three dimensional pieces.
Dremel Tool with Ice Needle:
The ice needle on a dremel is a fantastic tool for the fine, intricate details of ice carving.
Ice Pick:
You can find these at all shops which sell ice carving tools and they are useful for removing large, rough pieces of ice.
Bits and Pieces:
There are a few little tools that are also helpful to get you started when ice carving: Syringes, brushes, butane torch, handsaw, magic markers and small aluminum plates to perfect the flat surfaces.
This article was written by Vernie Pipher, on behalf of ISA Attractions, offering amazing displays in the frozen Ice kingdom. To know how an ice sculpture contains more energy, you may visit Wiki.answers.
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