Carvin' a Noggin Dr. Terry M. Trier

One of my favorite things to do in the woods (or anywhere, actually) is whittle. The nice thing about doing it in the woods is that you don't have to clean up the mess. On a backpacking trip to the dunes of Lake Michigan, I wanted to test out a few tools on a little whittling project. For this project, I used the Sawvivor, a Frost hoof knife, a Gransfors Bruks mini hatchet, and the Gerber Yari.I started with a block of wood (red oak) that I cut from a deadfall using the Sawvivor. This was pretty easy work for the little saw and an excellent tool for cutting saplings up to 5 or 6 inches.

I used the GB mini to work the block into shape. I have to say I was totally impressed with this tool. It is a very precise wood carving tool and most of the initial shape was formed using the mini. It was a tremendous pleasure to cut with and the pile of chips lying around the noggin were easy as pie to create with the mini. This is a really wonderful tool.

Scroll down for some fantastic art!      Sculptures of Native American scenes made out of paper by Allen and Patty Eckman   These stunningly detailed sculptures may only be made from paper - but they are being snapped up by art fans for tens of thousands of pounds. The intricate creations depict Native American scenes and took up to 11 months to make using a specially formulated paper Husband and wife team Allen and Patty Eckman put paper pulp into clay moulds and pressurize it to remove the water The hard, lightweight pieces are then removed and the couple painstakingly add detailed finishing's with a wide range of tools They have been making the creations since 1987 at their home studio, in South Dakota, America, and have racked up a whopping £3 million selling the works of art The pieces depict traditional scenes from Native American history of Cherokees hunting and dancing The most expensive piece is called Prairie Edge Powwow which sold for £47,000 Allen said: "We create Indians partly because my great, great grandmother was a Cherokee and my family on both sides admire the native Americans... ...I work on the men and animals and Patty does the women and children" explains Allen "I enjoy most doing the detail. The paper really lends itself to unlimited detail. I'm really interested in the Indians' material, physical and spiritual culture and that whole period of our nation's history I find fascinating. From the western expansion, through the Civil War and beyond is of great interest to me." Allen explained their technique: "It should not be confused with paper Mache. The two mediums are completely different. I call what we do 'cast paper sculpture'" ..."Some of them we create are life-size and some we scale down to 1/6 life-size" "These sculptures are posed as standing nude figures and limited detailed animals with no ears, tails or hair" "We transform them by sculpting on top of them - creating detail with soft and hard paper we make in various thicknesses and textures. "We have really enjoyed the development of our fine art techniques over the years and have created a process that is worth sharing. There are many artists and sculptors who we believe will enjoy this medium as much as we have." An Indian mother holding her baby is a favourite of many clients

Since we’ve temporarily lost the N Massapequa Community Center due to construction,  the meeting date is now the second Wednesday of the month. 

 Meetings will be held at the Special Activities Center in Eisenhower  Park.  We’ll return to Massapequa as soon as the project is completed.

Happy Holidays to all and a Happy and Healthy New Year! ... Ed Conti

December Meeting will not meet at the Massapequa Club House
The parking lot is being repaired.

December Meeting's

The next club meeting is set for Tuesday December 11, 2012 at 7:30 pm


The next Open Carving Meeting is set for December 19, 2012 at 6:30 pm

Buy Wood!

The only really good place to buy lumber is at a store where the lumber has already been cut and attached together in the form of furniture, finished, and put inside boxes.
                                                   -Dave Barry

Canceled !!!

The November 8th meeting of the club is canceled.

The Woodworkers show at Old Bethpage is canceled. November 10 and 11

If You Don't Like This Furniture, Just Throw It in the Barbecue

FREDERICKSBURG, Texas—People in the Lone Star State have long cursed the gnarled mesquite shrub as a pest on par with the mosquito, good for little except adding smoky flavor to barbecue.

It is thorny, forever thirsty and just plain unsightly. Ranchers hate it—they are losing the battle to eradicate mesquite to clear range for cattle.

But a hardy band of woodworkers has higher aspirations for mesquite: turning the twisted trees into objets d'art. And after two tool-busting decades spent carving misshapen mesquite trunks into rocking horses, golf clubs and tables, they have achieved a bit of fortune and fame.

Enlarge Image

Miguel Bustillo / The Wall Street Journal

Stan Austin carves rocking chairs for sale

The Texas Mesquite Art Festival, which celebrated its 20th anniversary last weekend, drew 9,500 visitors eager to see what a stubborn person can make out of a warped "trash tree."

Next Open Carving date is

Oct. 17.2012 Wednesday 6:30-9:00 PM

October Wood Chips...

Next Meeting: Tuesday, October 9, 2012
At 7:30 PM


At the September meeting, Ed Conti informed the members that Frank Barry has stepped down as President of the Club. Andy Umreicko and I have volunteered to serve the Club as interim presidents for the ensuing year.

Frank Barry has served the Club well for the past nine years. I spoke to him during the week and he told me that additional work responsibilities prohibit him from staying on as President. He assured me that he will continue to be an active member of the Club and he will promote the “Club Circus” at shows and perhaps display it at libraries to gain new members. The circus was Frank’s idea and I’m sure we all agree that it is a success.

At our October 9th meeting, Frank Napoli will be our guest speaker. Frank is an accomplished carver. He has won awards for his creative carving. One carving that comes to mind is the cane he carved with a Corian octopus that won in the Woodcarving Illustrated competition.

Frank is a member of the Suffolk County Woodcarvers and the Secret Society of Woodcarvers. He is planning to give a demonstration in addition to his talk on woodworking

A “thank you” to Roger Schroeder for his efforts in getting us a fine speaker, Frank Napoli, for our next meeting.

I hope we will provide a good turnout for Frank. See you at the meeting!

Regards,
Joe Passalacqua & Andy Umreiko
Interim Presidents

14 Free Pumpkin-Carving Templates

Make pumpkin carving easy and fun. Download, resize then print one of these patterns. Attach it to your pumpkin and trace the pattern onto the surface, then start carving.
14 Free Pumpkin-Carving Templates.... click here

14 CREATIVE HALLOWEEN JACK-O'-LANTERNS

Break away from tradition this Halloween by integrating some humor and creativity into your pumpkin carvings. From golf-ball eyes to succulent witch hats, these unexpected jack-o'-lanterns are sure to spice up your seasonal porch decor. Find out how...CLICK HERE

Beaver's brother Tony Dow now an abstract artist

By JOHN ROGERS | Associated Press  Source: Click Here

TOPANGA, Calif. (AP) — He is, and likely forever will be, best known as good old Wally Cleaver, the big brother who had to bail out a goofball sibling facing one dilemma after another on the classic TV series "Leave it to Beaver."

For the last dozen years, though, Tony Dow has been carving out a new career, as a sculptor with pieces that have shown at numerous venues, including what is arguably the world's premier art museum — the Louvre in Paris.

Steve Aguanno's Find

Below is the information Steve Aquanno supplied on the carving catalogs he found

http://www.leevalley.com/us/

E-mail
customerservice@leevalley.com
Phone
To Place an Order Customer Service From USA:  1-800-871-8158  1-800-267-8735 From Canada:  1-800-267-8767  1-800-267-8761 From other countries:  1-613-596-0350  1-613-596-0350 Our telephones are staffed Monday to Friday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. and from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday (Eastern Time). Answering machines are used outside these hours.
Fax
From USA: 1-800-513-7885 From Canada: 1-800-668-1807 From other countries: 1-613-596-6030 Our fax machines are on 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Letter Mail
From USA: From Canada and other countries: Lee Valley Tools Ltd. P.O. Box 1780 Ogdensburg, NY 13669-6780 Lee Valley Tools Ltd. P.O. Box 6295, Station J Ottawa, ON K2A 1T4

Catalogs: FREE https://www.leevalley.com/US/home/CatalogSelect.aspx

An Introduction To Pyrography

And so it happened that we stumbled upon the magical world ofPyrography – the art of burning images into wood. If you’re new to this technique then prepared to be mesmerized. Not only is the work quite beautiful, there’s plenty of new equipment to be discovered and techniques to be explored  Read the rest,  click here…

Tampa Bay woodworkers come together give veterans proper burials

By Danny Valentine, Times Staff Writer

Tom Jones was disturbed.

As he sat in his Land O'Lakes home this spring, he listened to reports of a Florida veteran who was buried in a shallow grave inside a cardboard box.

"It felt so disgraceful," said Jones, a 64-year-old Army veteran.

He took it upon himself to ensure that no veteran would ever again be buried in such a manner.

The amateur woodworker started crafting wooden urns.

The first two were simple, but well-made. He took them to his Tampa woodcrafting club, of which he is vice president, and to a club in St. Petersburg to enlist support.

Club members loved the idea.

Club members have now made 17 boxes. Jones hopes it is just the beginning.

"It's our hope that we'll get woodworking clubs around the country to do this," he said.

From Light to Wood...

Woodcarver Ed Sesack On His Artistic Projects
Ed Sesack was interviewed by FiOS Push Pause series, see the results CLICK HERE

Draw Better Patterns

Fun With A Pencil is an online pdf file "an E book of sorts" an out of print book, that will take acrobat reader to view, but the book is revered as among the best educational, instruction art sketch and a great aid in teaching cartoon drawing, which lends its self directly to pattern making for carving. this book pops up online occasionally then its gone, about the legality of the book as I under stand it if its out of print its public domain, download yours CLICK HERE.

A Smile...

 Whats the difference between a novice and professional wood carver? 
A: The amount of scar tissue on their fingers and hands.

Ed Sesack helps "Eagle"

Earlier this summer I received a request for help is restoring a statue of Christ. I found out it was part of a project undertaken by Philip Massaro, Jr. for the completion of his level as Eagle Scout.

 I forwarded the request for help to another Eagle Scout, Ed Sesack and he volunteered to help Philip out. Philip was refurbishing a shrine to the Blessed Mother at St . Philip and James Church in St. James, NY.

Ed Sesack worked on the restoration of the Christ figure. as can be seen by the pictures below is was challenging.

The fully completed project can be seen at:
Saint Philip and James Church
359 Clinton Avenue, St. James, NY

(631) 584-7896 ‎ · sspj.org

Wood Carving Tip

NEAT WAY TO HOLD YOUR INSTRUCTION SHEET SO IT IS NOT IN YOUR WAY!

Ed Sesack participated in a story about wood carving on Long Island

 See it

Monday,  13 August  2012   

air times: 11AM, 12:30PM, 4:30PM, 9:30PM; 

FRI 11AM;  

SUN 8:30AM, 8:30PM

Woodcarver Ed Sesack 4:13 Syosset, NY title: From Light to Wood

Push Pause L.I. on FiOS1/501 will air new shows each weekday at 12:30AM, 4:30PM, and 9:30PM.  For a complete listing of shows airing weekdays and weekends, visit the website: http://www.fios1news.com/

Selected Push Pause stories are available on FiOS1news.com/Long Island. You can now access the Push Pause shows via the website, on Video On Demand (VOD), and see repeats of the show on channel 1/501.  

It will air on Channel 1/501.

WOOD BUTTER!

Wood Butter?  What?  You’ve heard of regular butter, peanut butter, almond butter, apple butter, but wood butter?  Sounds tasty, eh?  Well, you probably don’t want to eat this stuff.  Have you ever eaten dutch oven mutton?  Actually , it is one of my favorite meats but it has to be almost burned to a crisp.  It’s pretty tasty but you need one of those rubber spatulas your wife uses in the kitchen to scrap the grease off the top of your mouth.  Hey, I didn’t say it was healthy, just good!  I’m sure wood butter wouldn’t be as tasty and you would definitely have to use the spatula after eating it.

All kidding aside, wood butter is used to keep those wooden spoons and bowls in your kitchen treated so they sparkle and shine and don’t dry up and crack.  I’m sure some of you have built a cutting board and used mineral oil on it.  Well, wood butter is an even better treatment.  My daughter brought the recipe to my attention and pinned it on Pinterest.  Click here for the recipe!  This is a great treatment for woodworkers who want to put a shine and preservative on those turned bowls, cutting boards, or other woodworking projects.

Please note:  Housewives, I assume no liability for your husbands making and bottling this in your fruit jars in your kitchen.  You might want to help him out.  Source: CLICK HERE   

Wood Butter Recipe : Click Here

Quotes...

Have thy tools ready. God will find thee work.
                                                   -Charles Kingsley

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Anybody can become a woodworker, but only a Craftsmen can hide his mistakes!
                                                   -Walter Blodget
_________________________________________________________________

Remember, a chip on the shoulder is a sure sign of wood higher up.
                                                   -Brigham Young

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It is better to be the hammer than the anvil.
                                                   -Emily Dickinson

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He that is good with a hammer tends to think everything is a nail.
To the man who only has a hammer in the toolkit, every problem looks like a nail.
                                                   -Abraham Maslow

Soap Carving from Ivory soap:   CLICK ON PICTURE BELOW

Source: https://www.facebook.com/Ivory

Wood Worth Seeing!

Woodcarving Exhibit

During the month of June there will be a Woodcarving Exposition featuring many woodcarvers, and in particular Helmut Schilling of the Long Island Woodcarvers Association. If you have the time check it out!

Brentwood Public Library

34 Second Avenue
Brentwood, NY 11717
 631-273-7883

LIBRARY HOURS

Monday-Friday 9AM-9PM

Saturday 9AM-5PM

Wood Carving Illustrated Index

To get your copy of the Wood Carving Illustrated Index click on the link below:
CLICK BELOW \/
Wood Carving Illustrated Index - Free

Thank you Yorkarvers of York, PA!

This is a video I think you will find interesting:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxVElGPpG48&feature=youtu.be&a

keep carving...Ed

Master Modeller Builds Unique Matchstick Armada

79-year-old Phillip Waren has spent the last 62 years of his life creating incredible ship models out of old mtachsticks and the wooden boxes they used to be packed in. He started building his amazing matchstick models when he was just 17, using the things around him, and since matchsticks were much more common back then, finding large supplies was a very easy task.
The master modeller, from Brandford, Dorset, has created every ship built in the Royal Navy since 1945, as well as 60 other ships from the US navy and other impressive floating fortresses from 18 other nations. One of the largest ships in his collection is the famous USS Nimitz, the largest aircraft carrier in the world.

Ironwood's toxins help it outlive termites

Today's question: Reprinted from The Arizona Republic
I do woodworking and use native Arizona ironwood sometimes because it is similar to rosewood and quite beautiful. But it is highly toxic and I must wear a respirator to keep from inhaling the sawdust. What makes it so toxic? Is it safe to burn in a fireplace?
Ironwood is pretty interesting stuff. Did you know it's a legume? I didn't until I started looking into this question. Being a legume means it enriches the soil with nitrogen.
Anyway, about its toxicity. Do want to know how toxic it is? It is so toxic that it takes 1,600 years for a hunk of ironwood to decompose because the termites and other critters that might chew it up can't handle the chemicals.
I couldn't find a full list of ironwood's toxins, but they seem to mostly be toxic alkaloids that probably are hard to spell.
On top of being toxic the leaves of some varieties are hallucinogenic.
As for burning it in your fireplace, that doesn't sound like a good idea.
Ironwood is just about the heaviest, densest wood you can find, so much so that it doesn't float in water.
On the Sonoran desert it serves as a nurse plant. That means its foliage protects the seedling and sapling of some other plants from extreme heat or cold and from solar radiation. The oldest known ironwood was determined to be around 800 years old, but their average age is about 200 years.
Ironwood may grow as a multi-armed shrub or as a tree. The largest known ironwood tree grows near Gila Bend. It is about 49 feet tall and 14.2 feet around, according to the Arizona Register of Big Trees.
Reach Thompson at clay.thompson@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-8612.

 More information: http://www.azcentral.com/members/Blog/claythompson/