[Saw Dusty]

I've been lurking around here for sometime and finally decided to introduce myself.

I've been a whittler and woodworker for most of my 25 years.

My grandpa introduced me to the joys of woodworking from the time I could hold a hammer. We spent countless hours in his workshop making everything from sawdust to pinewood derby cars to a little log cabin.

Whittling started around the campfire and like most kids it started with just making pointy sticks, but when I was in the 7th grade or so I started work on my woodcarving merit badge for Boy Scouts. i remember carving a duck that came out looking kinda like a duck (enough of a duck that i got my badge) but that is it.

well i was looking through my grandpa's books one day and saw that he had Rick Butz's "Howto Carve Wood." I thumbed through it and liked the Old Mountain Phelps figure in the book so i decided to carve it. My grandpa helped me cut it out and let me use a knife that he had made to start carving it. Well, the blade for the knife was a little to big and i complained about it, so i few days later my grandpa came home from work with 2 new knives that he had made for me.

I continued to work on my Mountain Man with just my three knifes for a little while until i realized that he sure seemed a lot smaller than the one pictured in the book. It was then that i noticed that my grandpa and I didn't see the scale on the drawing to enlarge the pattern.

Since, i couldn't really do much more to the small mountain man i was carving i decided to try him again at the correct size. so my grandpa and i enlarged the patter to the correct size and away i went again. however, i never really got the second one finished since school was starting up and my family and i moved out of my grandparents'.

I haven't really carved anything since then, but i still love woodworking and want to get carving again. I recently found my 3 knives that my grandpa made and can't wait to carve again.

I've included a picture (i hope) of my 2 mountain men.

hope my story didn't bore anyone i didn't intend for it to be so long.

Thanks
Dusty

[ejjjohns]

Nice work saw dusty, welcome to the board, I am new myself, in fact your the first I have greeted.
There are a bunch of good people here to encourage you.

ej

ej

[Bartster]

dusty,
welcome to the board you will have fond memories of your granddad getting you started. if you have any questions feel free to ask.

bart

[AlArchie]

Welcome, Dusty! You'll find quite few excellent caricature carvers here to offer advice and help. I'm not one of 'em, but welcome, anyway!

Al

[squbrigg]

Welcome aboard Dusty. Great books Butz did, good source for new carvers and old. Hope you enjoy yourself here.

Bob

[Donna_T]

That's a pretty cool "first" caricature, Dusty. Certainly better than my first one! Thanks for sharing it with us. Enjoy your time with your grandpa and cherish the time you do get to carve with him.

Come back often. We'll be glad to see you anytime you can get back to this board.

Donna T