[rick-in-seattle]

Today, Theresa & I had the pleasure of lunch with Ed "Dryheat" and his son Martin.
We had a real nice time, even if the Seattle weather was the typical drizzle.
Hope to do it again, perhaps in Phoenix next time, and I'll buy.

[dryheat]

We enjoyed the lunch too. I was in Duval, WA to do an accreditation evaluation for an elementary school there and was lucky enough to be there when Theresa and Rick could join us for lunch. I have talked to them over the phone many times but it was great to meet them in person. What a delightful and gracious couple they are. It was a typical, so I’m told, Seattle day, over cast and changing from shower to drizzle and back all day. I saw a part of Seattle that I haven’t seen before. Here are some of the pictures I took from my son’s deck. Rick and Treresa I do hope you are able to visit the Arizona Desert soon.

I came home Tuesday and flew over cloud cover most of the way, As I couldn’t see the ground and I got tired of reading I was going over in my mind all I have to do when I got home and how much carving time I might have. This, for some reason, got me to thinking about how much Little Shavers contribute to the carving community through their business and web site. Maybe it was because just before I left, I sent Rick some tools to sharpen and I’m looking forward to using them soon.
I suspect that one of the things that keep people from pursuing carving is that they never experience the joy of a really sharp tool. The feel, sight and sound of a shaving or chip coming off of a nice piece of wood, as you shape it to the form you are striving for, is a real joy. If would be carvers take advantage of the sharpening service offered by Rick they can experience this without the arduous task of learning to sharpen carving tools and I believe this takes some of the frustration out of the learning curve. I know that when I get a tool that won’t cut like I now know it should I try to buff it back into shape and if that doesn’t work I ship it off to Rick.

This is just some thoughts I wanted to share. It was 80* today and will be about the same tomorrow but it’s supposed to go back to the 60/70* stuff later in the week. Spring training starts soon and it will be nice enough to carve outside.
Ed

[menehune]

Did you manage to get some of the little maples down out the lower end? Great carving wood, especially when you do your roughouts while it is green!

[whitecree]

Originally Posted by dryheat

Spring training starts soon and it will be nice enough to carve outside.
Ed

You do spring training just to carve???

[dryheat]

No we didn’t do anything with the Maples, in my son’s area most every one is just trying to clean up the damage form the storms. There is an abundance of fire wood and much work yet to be done in clearing down trees and repairing damage to roofs and such. I will tell him about using them for carving.

Spring training for carving? Yes doesn’t everyone? That’s when the sap starts to run you know. First, the Vee Tools and Veiners have to report just like pitcher and catchers. Then come the chisels and gouges followed by the knives. They all have to bone up on the basics followed by practice pieces and then on to the schedule and seminars. Attendance is governed by the board feet of good winter Basswood that comes to town for the season. In April most go back to from whence they came and once again it’s possible to get into the restaurants without an hours wait.

Ed

[Hi_Ho_Sliver]

LOL ain't it the truth!