Whale doorstop

Gifts for grandparents are always difficult – by the time you get to older age, you already have pretty much everything you need for hobbies and interests, plus a limited amount of space for anything new in your house. So when it was time to think of something for my grandfather’s birthday, I thought I would make something both personalised and useful. My grandfather is a retired marine biologist specialising in whales, so I knew that had to figure somewhere in the design!

I started sketching out some ideas in my woodworking notebook and came up with the idea of a whale-shaped doorstop. My grandparents have several internal doors in their house which are almost always open, so a doorstop seemed a very practical choice. And of course I had to make it in the shape of a whale! I have made several animal-shaped doorstops before (a cat doorstop and a bird doorstop), which I used to plan this design. So after quite a bit of sketching and figuring out the dimensions, I started sorting through my lumber selection to find a suitable piece.

I selected an off cut of pine left over from a previous project and using the planned dimensions, I drew out the design onto the block (plus a smiley face!). It was then just a case of cutting the block down to the right length and ripping to the correct height before the more intricate sawing with a coping saw to cut out the curved sections.

Once I had the rough shape cut out I lay the workpiece down and figured out the shape for the tail. This was the most fiddly bit to do as not only did the tail have to curve correctly on both sides so it looked right, but it also had to get thinner vertically towards the end of the tail too, to act as a doorstop. I took my time with the coping saw and used a rounded file to help get the shape for the sides of the tail right. The shaped fins on the end of the tail were quite small, so I used a circular file to get the right indents either side of the centre line.

Once I was happy with the overall workpiece shape, it was time for lots of sanding. I did a small amount using my random orbit sander on the top, base and flat sides, but the majority was done by hand to make sure the curved surfaces were retained and the body kept the correct proportions. I increased the grits as I sanded, resulting in a lovely smooth finish, as well as rounding over the sharp corners to the body to make it more comfortable to hold.

I was very happy with the look of the sanded workpiece and wanted to use some finish to provide a layer of protection to the wood and help bring out the grain a bit. I chose some linseed oil as I like the look and wanted to keep the pale pine look to the workpiece.

After applying the linseed oil, I left the whale to dry overnight in the workshop and then brought it inside to acclimatise to the warmer temperature of the house. I then wrapped it up in bubble wrap and wrapping paper, ready to be given as a gift for my grandfather’s birthday!

So overall I am really happy with how the finished workpiece has turned out and the linseed oil finish not only will provide a bit of protection to the wood but highlights the grain of the pine too. And my Grandfather was really happy with the personalised gift, so a very successful project! 🔨