[Gear Dog]

I found the Mid Hudson Wood Carvers Guild in the club search section the other day. Well I found that they had meeting/gatherings every Wednesday close to where I live. I went yesterday and I'm glad I found them. Everyone was very friendly and helpful. I got my knife sharpened "properly within the first 5 minutes of being there. I was introduced to all types of carvers their carving preferences. I even found someone who carves Golf balls and I happened to bring the one that I completed off of a tutorial here. I hope to learn a lot from all of the seasoned carvers there.

[Larry A.]

Hi Gear Dog. I just found a club here in Albuquerque too. I'm new to carving, having lonly whittled now and again through the years, and learned a lot at my very first meeting. Like at your place, everyone was friendly and eager to help. Just learning the concept of a stop cut has made roughing out a new carving 10 times faster, and I don't mess up adjacent areas in the more detailed work as much either. Also the trick they taught me of using my left thumb as a pivot for the carving blade in my right hand, instead of pushing with it, has helped me to get rid of wood much faster. I expect I'll learn a lot.
Larry

[Gear Dog]

My second meeting I brought in a piece that I was working on that I though was ruined. One of the members (Bob) comes over and takes a look at it and asks for a pencil and skeched out where to make the cuts the salvage it. Then there is another member Jim that carves golf balls and he showed me how he carves them and gave me the one he did as a reference. The rest of my time there I spent sharpening my knife. I'm hooked and am very fortunate to have a club close to home. Now my only problem is my son just started pee wee soccer and practice is on the same day.

[mdallensr]

Gear Dog, soccer is a lonely game. It's beter young people learn that early. Mike