Here's My Woodcarving!
by Rodney Miller
Chandler, AZ
Click on any picture to see a larger version.
The main things I carve are Love Spoons. I started carving them one day on a whim. I saw a picture of them in a book and thought I would like to try carving one. So sitting on my patio one evening, I carved one and presented it to my wife when she came home from work that evening. My wife thought it was wonderful so I began carving more and more of them. Since I live in an apartment, I could easily sit on my small patio and carve in the evenings once it was cooler outside. During the summer in the Phoenix, AZ area, the temperature can sometimes reach 120 on our patio which makes it very difficult to sit outside and carve.
I found I could carve Love Spoons for a reasonably low start-up cost. All I needed was a pocket knife and a piece of wood. In the beginning, I also needed to stock up on Band-aids. Every time I would turn around, I would be cutting my fingers. Sometimes just a scratch and others were a little worse. Nothing bad enough to need stitches, but bad enough for a Band-aid.
The more I carved the Love Spoons, the more I became interested in their history. So I actually purchased several books on the subject and researched the subject as much as possible. Eventually, I decided to purchase an actual carving knife and I carving chisel to make carving the spoons easier and less frustrating. I also began purchasing several different types of exotic woods from my local woodworking supply store. In doing so, I found which woods were easier to carve and which woods to stay away from because of their hardness. Some woods were so difficult to carve I would actually spend up to a full week carving one spoon. The wood was so difficult to carve I could only carve for an hour or so before my hands would start hurting so bad I had to quit for the day. Since I have Fibromyalgia, I often find it difficult to carve.
You can email Rodney at
Atsilla@gmail.com
. You can also visit his website at
https://www.facebook.com/rcprojectsofAZ
.
Would you like to see your carvings in this column? We invite you to
SEND US PHOTOS
of your
favorite woodcarving projects along with captions and a brief history of your woodcarving. (Email
photos at 800x600 resolution.) Receive a $50 store gift card if we show your carving work in a
future issue!
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