Christmas is over, I'm back

  I wrote about carving knifes in a previous posting so I thought I would show you a strop and a diamond stone. Both of these are used to keep your carving knife sharp. A sharp knife is very important, a dull knife is more dangerous then a sharp knife, with a dull knife you naturally use more force to make your cuts. A sharp knife will cut through the wood like a stick of butter.

  The picture below is one of my strops if you strop on a regular basis you won't have to sharpen on the diamond stone as much, and if you strop instead of sharpen your knife will last longer. My strop is just a piece of leather glued onto a piece of wood. If you look at my strop I have some of the leather overhanging the wood this is so that you can strop your gouges. When you strop a knife you should keep the knife flat on the leather and lift up without flicking your wrist, when you flick your wrist you round the blade changing the angle of the cut.

Next you have a diamond stone for when your knife is just to dull to strop. You can tell when a knife is dull when looking at the blade if you see a smooth spot like a butter knife your knife is dull. This picture is 2 of my diamond stones I have more it seems like woodcarvers are also collectors, I have diamond stones, water stones, ceramic stones. I have 20-30 knifes, 30-40 gouges, I don't know if I will ever use all the stuff I have but I will try. Anyway I got sidetracked these diamond stones are great the one on the right is an extra fine which is the one I use the most the one to the left is a fine occasionally I use this one but my knife isn't usually that bad. If you put a little water on the stone when you sharpen it will stop the knife from getting clogged with the metal shavings.

Well that is enough for now I got to get back to carving. Happy carving!!

Can't carve quick enough

 I figured I'd take a little break from carving, so here I am! Today I will try to stay away from the insert key. It is hard to believe that this is December 1st, I get so involved with carving that the days fly by. This has been my best year since I started carving I have carved 172 carvings so far this year. My best year before this was 142 carvings. At the rate I'm carving I should it is about one carving every other day. I am getting faster and I think my quality is going up also. The more time you spend carving the better you get, but in my opinion there is always room for improvement.
 Just like in live you can keep trying to better yourself but there is always room for improvement. If you think you are the best that you can acheive well guess what you are at the best that you can acheive and you won't ever get better. If you know that you can get better then you will find ways to improve. You should always have goals for yourself. In carving I am trying to carve more movement in my carvings also put my carvings into mini scenes with 1 or more carvings in the scene, I don't want to carve realistic I want to keep the carvings caricature style but maybe carve a scene that is funny and accentuates whaever feature maybe enlarged or shrunk on the caricature.
 I don't know where I am going with this post, since I started carving 19 years ago it seems like my mind wanders all over the place something on the radio triggers a cerebral reaction, next thing I know I'm envisioning a future carving in my head. I don't know if the last statement I used is even written correctly nor do I care you get my drift. My imagination is always going wild I wish there was a way I could take a picture of these creations that appear in my head so that I could carve some of these.
 My goal for this blog is to maybe inspire some people to try carving or do something creative, in future blogs I will incorporate some easy patterns and some pictures and try to explain how I get from a simple drawing to a finished product. It isn't easy to explain my thought process as I'm carving because I get ideas as I'm carving then I go off on all these tangents. That is why all my carvings even if they start off with the same pattern sometimes look tremendously different from each other. Carving is a great hobby but really doing anything creative gets these creative juices flowing, whether it be writing, woodworking, painting, drawing, whatever you choose to do or have a desire to try. If the desire is there it doesn't matter how good you are at it, just do it, is that the Nike line, Just do it, I might have to send them a penny for using it. But anyway try doing something creative if you aren't to good at it then looking at the positive side you have plenty of room for improvement, take a class or talk to people, your people you will be surprised how many people may have a desire to do the same thing or might be doing it already. Today is as good as anyday to start your journey, letting your creative juices flow is a journey unlike any other. Soar with the eagles! Don't let anything or anybody steal your dream!!

Busy time of year

 I haven't wrote anything in about a week, I don't know about any other carvers but this time of year is extremely busy for me. I sell some carvings on Ebay, ornaments and Santas are very popular this time of year, and I have to carve to fulfill some orders. My wife usually grabs some of my ornaments to hand out to some of her clients and there are a couple of charities that I carve ornaments for. So you probably won't be hearing from me too often, maybe that's a good thing, I heard you.

 My goal for this blog is to share some of the knowledge I picked up over the years. I've been carving for 19 years now, I see you looking at my carvings shaking your head, I know from looking at my carvings it doesn't look like I've been carving for 19 years. But in reality, a place I don't frequent to often, I'm a decent woodcarver, there are carvers who could blow my socks off, they must have good lungs, and there are some carvers that I am a little better then. The amazing thing is you can learn from everybody, when you think you can't learn anything new you stop growing, if you stop growing then you might as well hang it up.

Have you ever hit the insert button on your keyboard I never knew what it was for now I do it wipes out everything you already wrote what a pain that is. See I learned something today.

 I've had people ask me why don't you do some seminars, well I can be outspoken at times, but being in front of a group and showing them how to carve something stresses me out. My carving instructor Pete LeClair loves to go out and do seminars, he meets new people. You can see when he has a new student he is excited, he shows people how to carve step by step and come out with a nice carving. When I carve I'm all over the place, I don't follow steps, if I'm carving a full figure I can be carving the feet one second and the nose the next. I start carving one thing and the next thing I know I have a different carving in my hand. I can't focus on just one carving I usually have 15 - 20 carvings going at all times.

 I got into carving because it relaxes me, when I have a piece of wood in my hand I can feel my creative juices flowing, wow my seats getting wet, dam insert button is messing with me again, there goes my calm, remind me to never hit the insert button again it doesn't relax me. But I'm rambling again! See that is why I can't do seminars. People pay good money to learn something and I keep going off in another direction, it's amazing that I ever complete a carving.

 Creating something that brings a smile to someone, sometimes a laugh, is special. It does the heart well to bring a little joy to someones life and my heart needs all the help it can get. I love it when a little child comes up and sees a carving and their eyes light up, I don't know how many kids got a free carving for doing that, do they teach that maneuver in school these days, the last carving show I was at this cute little girl came up to my table and looked at one of my Easter ornaments and said I really love you bunny carrot, she owns it now, but a little while after she did this to me she went over to another carver and told him I really like this and she got another carving. But again I am rambling. Cute kid I know I will fall for it again, love the kids.

 Oh yeah, I forgot why I was writing this posting, I was telling you my faithful follower, that you may not hear from me much because I will be busy until Christmas, does anybody out there know how to shut off the insert button, this is starting to really bug me.

 I quit, have a great Holiday Season, there goes that insert button again, see you next time.

Basic carving knife

If you are interested in carving but don't know where to start you need a good carving knife. For your first carving knife you don't have to go out and buy a fancy, expensive knife. These 2 knifes are Murphy knifes, the bottom knife is about 19 years old and the top knife hasn't been used too much. The bottom knife looked like the top knife 19 years ago, but from sharpening and stropping the knife it has worn down, now it is a good detail knife. A detail knife is a knife that you use to carve details like eyes, nose, nostrils, buttons any little detail that is delicate work. The top knife is good for hogging off big chunks of wood quick. If you tried to take off bigs chunks of wood with the bottom knife the tip would snap off.

The reason Murphy knifes are a good first knife is the price you can pick one up for about $15 maybe less, and it has a good quality steel. Also when you are new at carving you have to learn the proper angle to sharpen your knife, if you don't have the correct bevel you will have to work a lot harder at cutting the wood. So until you get used to sharpening your knife correctly you may have to sharpen it quite a few times, wearing out the blade a little each time. If you spend a lot of money on a knife you might prematurely wear out the first knife.

Just in case you want to know where to buy a Murphy knife there are quite a few carving shops online that sell knifes or you can buy it directly from the company that makes it. R. Murphy company is located in Ayer, Massachusetts, you can search for Murphy knife online and this company will come. This knife is called

Hand Carving and Dental Lab Knife.

 

Happy Carving!!

Getting new members

I have a problem the carving club that I belong to is getting older, carving seems to be the hobby of older people, it is hard to find any young people who stick with carving. I started carving when I was 31 at the time that I started carving I was one of the youngest if not the youngest carver in New England Woodcarvers club. I never knew there were clubs where you could learn how to carve. I never knew that woodcarving would be something I was interested in. I knew deep down inside that I wanted to do something creative, but like many other people I talk too I knew I didn't have any artistic abillity.

Right before I started carving I saw this woodcarver on PBS his name is Rick Butz, he had a weekly show and I became addicted. He showed how to carve fairly simple carvings so I grabbed a piece of wood and tried to carve something. I had the wrong tools, I had a folding buck knife that I didn't know how to sharpen, and I grabbed a piece of 2 x 4, with all kinds of knots in it. I came up with something but wasn't real impressed.

My wife saw me trying to carve and she asked around to see if there was any carving shops around. She hooked me up with a bird carver not to far from my house. I never even thought to look and see if there was a carving place around. I knew I didn't want to carve birds I knew I wanted to carve caricatures but there wasn't much else in my area so I got a proper carving knife, a strop, good basswood and started learning. Once I got involved in the carving community everything opened up to me. I bumped into Pete LeClair about 6 months after I started carving and was taught how to do a proper caricature.

I carved a good year or 2 before I was able to make a face that looked alright. Some people thought it came easy to me but I had to really work at being a pretty decent carver. If you saw my old stuff it was bad, nothing comes easy.

But back to the carving club issue, because this is a hobby of the older generation our club is in danger of diappearing. In the last 4 - 5 years we have lost close to half of our members because they passed on, we had as many as 25 members in our little group we were getting worried of running out of room where we meet. Over time we went from to many to not enough. We are trying to figure out how to get more people interested in carving so we can build up our club again. How do you find people that are interested? I'm the only member in my group with a title so everyone expects me to get new people involved with carving.

When I'm out and about I show people some of my carvings and talk about my club to try and get some interest. Most people like the carvings but automatically assume that they can't do it. They say they have no talent so they wouldn't be able to carve, I tell them that I don't have any talent, I just keep working at it until I come up with something halfway decent. I guess a lot of people just give up before they try.

I'm thinking of putting an ad in the newspaper that we are looking for new members, or maybe I should talk to people at our local mall and see if we could carve there for a day. There has to be some wannabe carvers out there and I will find them. We don't want what we have learned to be lost, new people bring new life to a group. If anybody who reads this posting lives in the Fitchburg Massachusetts area and would like to learn how to carve or if you already know how to carve come and join us we would be happy to see you!!

What type of wood do you use? What tools do I need?

Whenever I show someone one of my carvings or if I go to a show the first question asked is what kind of wood do you use? That isn't as simple a question as one would think. I personally use basswood and pine, most people don't like pine because they say the wood splits on them, they catch the grain and take off way more wood then they intended. I don't have this problem, as long as your knife is sharp and you strop often, carving pine can be just as enjoyable as basswood.

Not all basswood is created equal, there are many people who don't carve anything but Minnesota or Wisconsin basswood. The basswood in New England isn't as good for carving, it is darker then midwest basswood. The lighter in color the basswood is the easier it will carve, usually.

Basswood is good if you are planning on painting your carving, basswood has very little grain showing, so this takes away from a natural finish. If you want to carve something and leave it natural - butternut, mahogany, oak, cedar are all good woods. Butternut and Mahogany cut pretty easily with a knife or gouge, Oak is a hard wood you can carve it with a knife I did one carving out of oak, with a knife, it was a lot of work. If you are going to try power carving a nice piece of oak wouldn't be bad I guess. I don't carve with power so this is strictly a guess. I guess tupelo is good for power carving though I never tried it myself.

Tools - I like many people when I first started carving I went out and bought a knife first, but then I started to go wild, not knowing exactly what I would need I bought everything that looked cool. Buying sets of gouges in my opinion is a waste of money, most places that sell tools have a set of 6 gouges for a decent price, but you buy that set and a year or 2 later you realize that you use only 1 maybe 2 of the gouges in that whole set. it would have been cheaper just buying the 2 gouges that you use then to buy all 6. So my suggestion is join a club, watch the experienced carvers ask questions, ask them if you could try some of their tools, and see if it's something that you would find useful.

I am mostly a knife person, I have so many knifes when I die I'm sure I'll have some knifes I never used, I use a v-tool, mostly for doing hair, occassionally I'll use a shallow gouge to get into areas not easily reached with a knife. That is it for me, I know there are some carvers that pretty much use all gouges, it's personal preference. I do have a woodburner, because the very first carving I carved was a little loon, my only bird carving, you need the woodburner for doing the feathers. Now the only thing I use my woodburner for is signing my name on my carvings. Carving can be a very economical hobby if you talk to woodcarvers and if you have the oppurtunity to try someones tools before you buy.

Over the year I have made more money on this hobby then I ever spent on it. If you can get a hobby that puts a little money in your pocket instead of taking it out, that in my opinion is a good hobby.

Chances are you aren't going to become world famous because of carving - but that is a possibilty, some people are naturals, but most of us have to work at it. An experienced carver can make carving look easy but remember they are experienced they have put time into learning how to carve, give yourself some time. You don't have to be the best to have a good time with carving, keep your mind open to learning, watch and listen for ideas, it could be a song on the radio that could inspire your next carving.

Enjoy!!

Views on caricature carving

In my opinion caricature carving is the best type of carving. You still have to practice, practice, practice, the only way you are going to get good at anything is to practice, and keep your mind open, you can learn from anybody. Once you think you know it all you stop growing.

With bird carving you have to pay attetion to the most minute detail and if you get even one feather wrong there is another bird carver that is going to catch your error and let everybody know about it. With chip carving if you make one mistake in your design it can throw the whole carving off. Carving animals you must research bone structure and muscle make up of the species you are going to carve or the carving just won't look right.

With caricature carving you have to know the basic shape of the face, then you distort it. If someone looks at your carving and says that one ear is bigger then the other then you tell them "That is exactly how I wanted to carve them, I'm glad you picked up on that." With caricature carving you have artistic freedom, the head can be huge or small, the feet don't look to good real small but you can do it. If you are trying to make it look like someone and they have really small feet then you would make them even smaller.

I look for ideas all over the place, online, in magazines, carving books, time-life books, coloring books, drawing books, book covers, figure modeling books, craft stores, and just watching people. Sometimes watching people you get the best ideas, how they dress, how they have their hair, how they walk, how they talk, facial expressions, and how they stand. Once you have a mental picture of what you want to acheive, you're on your way.

I added 2 of my carvings so that you know I actually carve, I hope you like them. My carving is constantly evolving. So if you don't like these give me a little time and I will come up with something different.

Have a great day!!

I'm branching out(a wood pun)

I'm Scott Arsenault and I have an addiction, yes I have an addiction to wood. I have been carving for over 19 years and can't stop. I belong to a club full of addicts called the "Central Mass Caricature Carvers" we meet in Fitchburg, MA. We were all taught to carve caricatures by one of the best caricature carvers in the USA. His name is Pete LeClair. If you are a carver you may have heard of him he has 3 books, and he tours around the country doing teaching seminars to show other people how to carve caricatures. He has also taught in England and Australia. But enough about Pete this is my blog.
I have been told I have a unique style of carving, people say they can tell from looking at the carving that it is mine. So I guess that is a good problem, I never wanted to be a clone. I have been selling my carvings on Ebay for about 2 and a half years I have sold about 300 carvings mostly ornaments, it is nice to have people who want to buy my carvings. No matter what I carve there is always somebody who looks at what I have carved and wants me to carve something else. This is good because I'm always branching out carving new things.
Well I'm going to sign off for today I look forward to hearing from you!
Scott