[sheltiecarver]

Hi
Have any of you all tried carving avocado pits? A carver in the group I carve with on Thursdays (uh-oh - is today Thursday?) "discovered" that the pits carve really well - wash them off, peel off that brown outer cover if it is loose, split the pit if it splits easily, let it air dry for a few days, and carve it. If it does not peel or split easily, just wait for it to dry a bit more, and it will. Of course, you are limited by the size, but it carves verry easily at first, something like a potato, and as it hardens, you can carve in some more details. The shape hollers "Carve a face!", but it is also good for turtles and lizards, shoes... When it is completely dry, you can sand it, carve it (very hard) or polish it. Makes a really good conversation piece at a show. Ask folks to guess what kind of wood it is. The carver that introduced me to this (Art Wheat) carves almost anything that holds still long enough. He carved a polar bear from a 50 pound salt block once - really good looking.

[Hugh]

who is really good looking, Art or the Bear Carving??

[Mitchell]

I have never carved the seeds. I have heard that the wood carves nicely, but I don't remember carving that either. I'll try to talk the wife into buying one....avocado that is. I can't do it - she'll complain "why did you buy that?". I will "hint" that should try some dip recipe or something. Of course, I could do like I do with most of my carving "toys" - just buy it myself and not say anything!

[Kenny_S]

Mitchell, I vote on the latter, You buying the avocado. Less hassles that way. Never thought of carving avocado seeds and we just threw out two of them. Guess it is a trip to the store when all this ice melts. Tried working in the garge this morning but way to cold and the heater did not, help unless you was sitting on it. This morning was 4 degrees with a wind chill of -12 and tomorrow it is suppose to be in the high 50s/ Go figure.

[big_Wayne_P]

been in mid 30's here all day supposed to be back up to around 50 tomorrow

I bet they do look nice
i could not work with them though
too small for me

[Mitchell]

It's been close to 70 here the past few days. Had a quick shower this afternoon. It's supposed to be nice continuing through next week. This is VERY abnormal. In January, we are usually in the 50s on good days.

Think I'll stop by the grocery store on the way home for an Avacado.

[Hi_Ho_Sliver]

I have a neighbor that is a carver and has several things in avocado, he loves carving it! It's a little hard to get hold of but they do take groves out occasionally