The year was 1992 that this carving of a cowboy was carved. He represents the beginning of a series of carvings named “Whittle Folk ‘Pokes” that began in 1996 and were carved until 2003 and just recently four more ‘Pokes were carved as a commission for an old time carving friend from Texarkana, Arkansas. “Barrel Johnson,” as he was called because he was so bow legged a barrel could be rolled between his legs, returned home as a Father’s Day gift from my wife. Read the rest of this entry »
“Wood carving is more the journey than the destination,” and an important part of that journey is learning to sharpen one’s carving knives.
There is no magic formula or method as each have their own way of sharpening. However the “KEY” is to practice to develop what works at this particular time and place on the journey because sharpening is an ever learning process that will be improved upon further down the wood carving journey. Read the rest of this entry »
Ralph E. Long of Kemersville, North Carolina has been making wood carving knives for over 15 years. His knives have become favorites by many in the South who purchased knives from him at wood carving shows in the South or who had heard of his knives by word of mouth from satisfied customers. I first became acquainted with REL Knives through my good wood carving friend, Mike Sullins from South Carolina who gave me two as a gift. Read the rest of this entry »
The fine art of “tinkering” is one of those activities that travels down another path of creativity often trying to make something with a hands-on trial and error experimentation of making something useful. Some may consider “tinkering” as a waste of time for old geezers “to putter” at their work bench. But for the honest to goodness “tinkerer” there is nothing that is ever a waste of time as there is also the slim chance of making something better even if it is in the “mind of one who tinkers.” Every “tinkerer” is a genius incognito waiting for the acceptance of normal people and a little appreciation for being more than eccentric. Read the rest of this entry »
The WOOD BEE CARVER begins with a block of wood carving the subject to its basic form without any detail. His rule is: “Form Follows Function – Detail Follows Form,” meaning that before any details can be carved the proper form or foundation must be established in order for the details to fit.
All his human figures begin by carving the rough form of the head covering of the subject being carved, the reason being is that the head fits into the head covering rather than the head covering sitting on top of the head. The head covering could be a hat, a head dress or simply hair. If there is no head covering then the head is the first thing carved to the basic form of a head. Read the rest of this entry »
The WOOD BEE CARVER begin whittling as a farm boy in the late nineteen forties and early nineteen fifties. Every farm boy had a pocket knife and if one had a pocket knife one tried to whittle. So when wood carving became a passion in the early nineteen seventies it was natural to use pocket knives as the main carving tool.
So much of wood carving and its related activity is to learn by doing along with reading books on wood carving and talking with other woodcarvers. It was at this growing interest in wood carving that I read over and over again Andy Anderson’s book “How to Carve Characters In Wood.” In that book Andy described how he made his own carving knives out of old straight razors by mortising in a piece a wood an area to receive the tang part of the razor and glue a matching piece of wood to complete the handle. Read the rest of this entry »
The WOOD BEE CARVER occasionally will teach a class on his style of “Whittle-Carving” or carving only with a knife. Two recent classes were conducted in which students survived a class in “Whittle Folk Art” by whittling away time.
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Members of the Frankenmuth Michigan Carvers Guild who participated in a Whittle-Carving class at their club house on April 23, 24 and 25 were: Ed Kopka, Jim LaPan, Kurt Sherwood, Ron Nielson, Ed Sowulewski, Bob Thurston, Diane Reed, Jim Grohoski, Tony Simone, Raleigh Draper and LeRoy Dunn.
Whittle Folk Relief carving has been done as the handle of letter openers and as jewelry pins.
The strip of wood used is bass wood a little thicker than the proverbial yard stick and about as wide. Quarter inch thick basswood an inch and a quarter wide and eight inches long is the actual size cut. A letter opener can be carved out of the eight inch long blank with the head carved on one end and the letter opener blade carved on the other end. Read the rest of this entry »