Old men of the sea are often called “Old Sea Captain” or “Old Salt” as a way of romanticizing those rugged old timers who have salt running through their veins, an eye on the distant horizon and a memory of past adventure.  These three carvings of Old Salts are a study as to using a pose and posture to tell a different story of a similar subject.  All three are wearing the same basic clothing, the same curved smoking pipe and the same style of beard.  What makes each different from the other two is the positions of their hands. Read the rest of this entry »

Buckeye Carvings were carved in preparation for the recent Buckeye Round Up in July of some of the subjects that could be carved as a learning experience taught by the WOOD BEE CARVER.  Each one is carved out of an inch and half square by three inch tall block of basswood using only a knife to carve each subject. Read the rest of this entry »

                                                     FULL MOON

Art and music are the universal language spoken without words and yet understood with a sense of wonder and needs no interpretation.  Such was the case when the WOOD BEE CARVER first viewed a photograph of a bas relief carving entitled “FULL MOON” and carved by an artist from Poland, Mieczyslaw Wojtkowski. Click on his name to go to his blog to be amazed at an array of beauty in a variety of sculpture art including relief, in the round and chain saw works of art. An award winning artist whose art speaks to all languages without translation even though his blog can be translated from his native Polish into the reader’s language. Read the rest of this entry »

Rich Smithson of HELVIE KNIVES created a commemorative knife for the Artistry in Wood Show ~ September 3 and 4 at the Roberts Centre, Wilmington, OH ~ to be raffled off at the Dayton Carvers Guild table during the show.  The WOOD BEE CARVER carved a Whittle Doodle to become the knife blade holder to go with the special knife. Read the rest of this entry »

Dale Kirkpatrick is a very talented carver who takes on challenging projects in order to challenge himself to do his best while improving as he does so.  He carves a variety of subjects and may be best known for carving wooden thread spools. Read the rest of this entry »

Gnome Wizard is a subject that is often used as an instructional project with the first instructional description was done in a blog posting three years ago that can be visited again by clicking on the hot link entitled GNOME WIZARD.

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The WOOD BEE CARVER highly recommends the newly introduced HELVIE Signature Series Knife made by knife maker Rich Smithson.  Rich has made thousands of Helvie knives since he and his wife Holli became owners of HELVIE KNIVES many years ago.  After all these years and all the knives made for other people in the Signature Series of the Helvie line, Rich has come out with a knife of his own design.  This unique design has the straight cutting edge of a wharncliffe blade shape forming a reverse skew angle that enhances the slicing properties of the knife and the handle is aesthetically pleasing as well as being comfortable to hold for long periods of carving.  The blade design positions the cutting edge into a slicing mode as it approaches the wood as well as making very precise stop cuts.  While being primarily as general purpose carving knife it can also serve as a chip carving knife and is ideal for making precise detail cuts as the need arises. Read the rest of this entry »