Happy New Years Eve everyone. Be safe out there. Carved up this monster sweet gum on Monday. It's 23"x12"x6" and weighs 13 pounds. Spent 5 hours making it. If you look close at it you'll notice tool marks left giving it a rustic look. Margie it should be ready to go in about 2 weeks.

Merry Christmas To all. Thank you for a wonderful season. It was such a pleasure to meet so many nice people. I feel so blessed to create pieces for you and your loved ones. Please keep in touch through the winter by dropping an e-mail or through this site. Just a few more bowls to make for some folks and then a little rest, well maybe after cleaning the shop.

What wonderful day it was at Yorktown yesterday. It wasn't the sunny chilly weather( not at 6:30 am. and 26deg. out when we left the house) that made it so bliss. It wasn't the beautiful scenery being 300' from the rivva and actually getting a slight whiff of salty air that caused the day to be remembered for a lifetime. It wasn't the generous appreciative folks coming out and supporting my work by trading money for altered wood. Of whom I do appreciate and thank you very much for your comments and enthusiasm for my carving. I'll tell you what really made my day so incredibly sweet. I spent the whole time with my life(wife). It's not often we get to do many shows together and this was her first time going to Yorktown with me other then vending at The South of the James Market. I have to say if I did not even make dime and it was freezing rain with the cold wind biting my face the day spent with Roberta was pure contentment. She truly is my better of the best half if not all of it. I suppose though, my bad half does not need her to tell me I'm driving to fast or to slow.
Thanks again not just to the Yorktown folks but everyone that has acquired a piece of my work.

Here is what I have for large bowls.
I do have a Sweet Gum bowl the same size as the Magnolia, but it is in a local gallery right now.
Drop me an e-mail if you like what you see.
woodcvr@juno.com

Locust with a few worm eaten scars. $100 size 15"x15"x7"





Maple. (SOLD) size 18"x11"x6"














Magnolia.(SOLD) $120 size 20"x12"x6"

Here is what that hickory looks like on the inside. Carved up on Thursday the 4th. in about 5 hours and weighing about 8 lbs. The spoons took 2 hours apiece. I use to think that cherry was the toughest to finish, I stand corrected. The bowl has lost almost half it's weight in 7 days. There are checks that appeared on the outside end grain after the 2nd day. I think future bowls will need to be bagged so the moisture does not escape the wood cells to fast.

I just e-mailed someone about a bowl and wrote "It's been quite a hectic season this year and can't wait for Christmas. " which reminded me of many seasons in the sign business from the age of 17 - 26. It's the mad rush from November into December and can't wait for Christmas. Not even thinking how the heck your going to make money for the next 3 months. Ahh, such the life of a wood carver/ go do home repair for 3 months and pay some bills. When we first moved to Virginia 14 years ago we found it strange to have to keep one job throughout the whole year. Growing up on Martha's Vineyard you work with the tourist season then find another job for 3 or 4 months and that's pretty much what 25% of the population of the Island does. I tried unemployment once for 2 weeks when I was 21 and had to find something to do other then wait for a check to come in. That's when Guilford Furniture Restoration came into the picture. Wonderful memories of whacking apart chairs with a rubber mallet cleaning and reglueing. Scarfing broken rungs, styles and every now and then a little carving. That was then, now I'll be running around with a hammer and putty knife for a spell.

Hickory, and lots of it. 6- 8.5 foot logs. Counted 126 rings from the slab there. Hickory is tough stuff. Carved up a bowl 14x10x3 and 2 deep scoop spoons and with each stage from the roughing out to the final sanding just took longer, cause it's dense!










The sycamore was a large tree, whats left of it. This and the root ball. It was 38" across and that was about 5' up from the base. It grew fast being right on a creek . In between the wide growth rings though is some beautiful grain flecks that seem to radiate depth holding a piece at different angles. Carved up 12 spreaders on Tuesday after getting home from the mountains in the afternoon. It's re-energizing over there in that peaceful valley.

I've really been slackin..... November flew by far to quickly and I only made one new post for this site. Time fly's when your out in the shop making new stuff. It's nice to get out of the shop and get away during the height of the busy season though. The get away for the second year now was going to Craige Co. just West of Roanoke to get sycamore and spend time with a good friend Dale as well as others I met last year when I got 400 year old oak. Great music fresh from guitars, a banjo, mandalin and toss in a flute and recorder made for a very relaxing Sunday evening get together. Plenty of food and fine friends to catch up on things going on in the valley (it's not really gossip if you don't know the person). So now I'm back home refreshed and ready to make more saw dust. The rest of this week will be coffee scoops and spreaders.