[BobD]

My wife, Stephanie, my co-worker Jon, and I took the trip up to Bethlehem yesterday to visit with Mark. All i can say is that the photos of his work don't do it justice! I got to see the clay model of the Crucifix and the Greenman first hand...WOW...

He even let me make a few cuts on the shelf brackets he was working on...and Thor...my co-worker Jon got to make a few cuts on the leaves!!!

It's funny; I've read a number of different books that talk about how chisels can give you cleaner cuts when you do relief carving, and while I could understand, mechanically, how that would work, I couldn't "see" how it would work. I've seen sxs photos, but there is NOTHING like seeing someone do it in person. Just watching the way his hands move gave me an A HA moment...I could finally see it!

It was also interesting to see how one tool can produce so many cuts...if you understand how to make a gouge slice rather than push or wedge (the language is failing me here; I can't really express myself). It's kind of like rounding a piece of square stock. You can slice partly with the grain and partly across the grain and get a very smooth cut. If you can do that with a gouge you get a clean cut.

It's a basic concept that I understood, intellectually, but never could achieve it...until I saw it.

It was a wonderful day! Thanks for having us, Mark!!!

Bob

[Thor]

Bob, I'm sure you know how I feel about you being able to go see Mark.
I'm hoping you took photos to share and show us your own progress with your own carvings from the experience.

Thor

[BobD]

Is there any symbolism to the green lettering, Thor <GRIN>

Unfortunately, my batteries were dead, but I'll show how I cut differently now...

Hmm...my friend has a digital camcorder...and Youtube is free to post photos...maybe I can work something out on that...and really show rather than tell...

The gears are spinning!!!

Bob

[slivers&dust]

VIDEO!...need video demo's Mark


oops
I should have read all the way down, I belong to another group, for another hobby, that a lot of guys post video (How to) demos for. Really does more then words can say for increasing the learning curve.

[mark yundt]

Bob,,thanks for taking the time to visit .I really enjoyed meeting you,your lovely wife and Jon.Too bad so much talking got in the way and not much carving actually got done,,but happy to know you enjoyed what we did do.
The shop is always open,,looking forward to your (or anyone elses) visit.