[twoclones]

I came back from 3 weeks of carrying fence posts up and down mountains in Nevada and immediately started helping Paul Jones of http://www.SpiritBrothers.com with a 30 foot tall history pole carving. Yesterday we were on the front page of the Tri-City Herald and a very nice video interview is on the Herald web-site at http://www.tri-cityherald.com/958/story/108818.html

Paul worked on this thing for a week before I arrived and he estimates we have 3 more weeks of carving before completing the project. Figures include trappers, natives, salmon, water wheels, ferry boats, an eagle, Lewis and Clark, and as many as 30 historical drawings submitted by local children will be included as well. It's all tied together by a flow of carved water which fits nicely with the park being on the Columbia River.

When this maple tree is finished, there is a slightly smaller black walnut to be carved...


Butch
http://www.WoodHacker.com

[brianh]

Wow! what a great project to be involved in, I would love to do that.

Have fun and post the progress.

[Irishman]

I really enjoyed watching the video clip. Must be great working with and learning from someone with that amount of wisdom and experience. Please share the progress on the project if you can. Your doing what many of us wish we could do, especially myself. I didn't know that made chainsaws that small. Look forward to seeing updates.
Patrick

[Colin_Partridge]

Wow what a great project I cant wait to see the final carving. I agree 100% with the theme of the carving. That tree probably witnessed a lot of history. Putting that history into the carving is being a real artist. You have inspired me to give my next carving commission the same type of thing. I have been approached to do a large carving the carving can be of my choice. I will now research the history of the area and see what I can come up with. Magnificent carving please keep us posted.
Colin

[Iowa Carver]

That's amazing! Very cool!

Corey

[twoclones]

This isn't a progress report but "Wow". This project is getting more publicity. The story of Paul [minus me] and his historical story pole was picked up by the Seattle PI and USA Today!

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/..._tree_art.html
http://www.usatoday.com/news/offbeat...e-carver_N.htm

But the story in our local Herald does include a nice photo of me.
http://www.tri-cityherald.com/901/story/108859.html

It seems that other cities have dying trees in their parks and keeping up with the Jones' is still in fashion. We may end up carving more of these history poles.

[dicktilley20]

Excellent job Butch, thats what its all about, being part of history.

Interesting project being carried out safely for all involved, too many carvers take unnesicary risks when carving off the ground, how nice to have time to create as you go.

Looking forward to the progress.

Spirit Brothers indeed!

dick

[twoclones]

Our History Pole project in the park is steadily progressing. Also suffering setbacks because of weather and rotted wood but it will soon be completed. PC-petrifier seems to be helping with the soft/rotted sections but we did have to cut off a very large piece from what was the tallest section of our tree.

Removing that section appeared simple but when it fell it hit on it's end and then fell back towards my scaffold hitting the wheel and driving it a couple of inches into the ground. Two stories up, I got a good ride for my money. I'm now waiting for my copy of the video...

This photo is of my daughter at the base of the tree. While we're not letting her carve on this one, she has started learning to carve with chainsaws.



Butch
Wood Hacker Sculptures and Carvings