[Pat]

Hi everyone!
I'm Pat from Canada. Since childhood, wood has been present in my life. My dad has been a logger. I myself work as a (softwood)kiln dry operator, and love-it. It's been a while since I first thought about carving, but I was also very interested in music, so I put carving on ice until the interest grew higher.

I am now 31 years old and I'm looking forward to start carving. I've been done lots of research lately and bought a couple of magazines. I would love to take a few lessons, but unfortunately, my working schedule(day/night/week-ends alternating), make's it difficult. And paying the whole price while I know I will be missing lessons for that reason makes me lookout for alternate ways of learning about.

I' m now into looking for the right tools while I continue to gain useful information. This place might be the right one to exchange with experienced people who might help me or aware me from bad ideas or mistakes. One thing I already learned though, is not to buy a cheap 20$ carving kit at Canadian Tire. At least, it gave me a kick-off, seeing my "potential", ruined by poor quality and sharpened tools.

By the way, I'm interested in relief carving. Seeing those high profile scenes turned-me on. Knowing I won't be able to reproduce them before a while, I'll keep on watching!

[Joy]

Welcome! You are right. This is a great place to learn and be inspired.

[Claude]

Welcome to the forums, Pat. One of the best starting places for tools for new carvers is Rick in Seattle. Go to http://www.littleshavers.com/Index.html and click on the "Information for Beginning Carvers" link. Lots of good info!

Claude

[Bartster]

pat,

hello and welcome to the board, i agree with claude contact rick at littleshavers, and have fun.

bart

[susieq]

Hello and welcome, Pat,
You have stumbled on to a great website to hang out at. The experience and knowledge that is at your finger tips here is immeasurable

I have a possible alternative to classes for you. Check to see if there is a carving group that meets just to carve on a weekly basis. We have 3 or 4 such groups in our area. It isn't formal classes but attendees are usually pretty experienced and anxious to help and the best part is that you pay as you go... usually $2 or $3 per session which can last all afternoon or morning. If you can make it, you pay, if you have to work.....no cost.

I learned to carve at one of these groups. They would meet every Tues. afternoon through the snow birde season here. Some run all year round.

Hope you have something similar in your area...check out your local clubs as they would know. Good luck.
susieq

[Hi_Ho_Sliver]

Welcome......I put a set of powergrip chisels under the tool thread on sale for 16.00 .....I have and use a set of these all the time...I like them a lot. and Enjoy the forum.......softwoods kiln operator huh.....geez, that means free carving wood LOL

[Eddy Smiles]

Welcome Pat!

Another good starting point is http://www.woodcarvers.com/ (Smoky Mountain Woodcarvers in Towsend, Tennessee). But you might find it cheaper to try and find a carving supply on your side of the border. The additonal charge for ordering from the States may offset any savings that would be incurred from the difference in price. I'm sure some of the Canadian carvers on this forum could fill you in on the best way to go.

As far as lessons go. Certainly, one on one help is always preferable but not always practical. I started out with a copy of "First Projects For Woodcarvers" by Lary Green and Mie Altman. I bought it at the Smoky Mountain Woodcarver's store and it came with a knife, a strop and some stropping compound.... a beginners set. After I felt comfortable carving the projects in this book I moved on to other books and projects that peaked my interest. I'm sure that the quality of my carving is directly related to the instruction that I've received but I'm no less happy about my work because of it. Besides, in the six months that I've been a member of this forum I have learned more than I ever could ever have gleamed from just the few hours of instruction that I would have received had I gone that route.

Just pick yourself up a beginner's book, a chunk of excellent northern basswood, a kinfe and perhaps a few basic gouges and jump right in. The more you do, the more confident you become, the better you get. And, the more you'll learn from this forum! Good luck!

By the way, you know that cheap $20 set you were referring to.... Once you learn how to shapen those tools (and most all of them need to be reworked) you migh find that one or all will become a favorite. Home Depot sells a $29.00 (US) set of Buck's carving tools that you'd be hard pressed to carve butter with right out of the box but with a lot of work they might not be all that bad. The basic bones is pretty good.

[GeorgiaCarver]

Welcome to the forum! My advice is buy a couple of good tools and jump right in. There are several good patterns and toutorials that could help you get started. Carve every day and you will learn very fast. There are many carvers on this form that only started carving a year or two ago and are doing amazing work now.

Greg

[squbrigg]

Welcome aboard Pat. Working in a mill and with a Dad who's a logger, then you should have no excuse for not having something to carve! LOL West Coast or East Coast? Begin with some simple tools and work your way up to better ones, but ...... get carving.

Bob

[Pat]

Wow! You guys shure wanna help. I thank everyone for your advices and the links. I' ll keep on checking for good tools and perhaps, try to make mines better a bit. For thoses asking, I' m from Quebec, so thats east-coast.
For now I might ask a few questions in a more appropriate section of this forum.
Thanks again and I' ll keep on reading you all.