About 20 years ago I began teaching myself to restore damaged antiques.

Time passed, and I started to get good at it, but I had no carving skills. When I looked into the price of carving tools I was horrified.  No way could I afford to buy a bunch of new carving tools.

Then one day a friend told me that he had seen a mess of old carving tools at a thrift store across town. I went immediately and found a bucket full of rusty tools, most with no handles. They were priced at $3 each, and I bought all 60 of them. You know, those nasty old Addis and Herring Bros. tools.

I made some crude handles for them on my lathe and started teaching myself to carve so I could do some work on an antique table I was repairing. I did not know how to sharpen carving tools properly, so my the carving was a serious effort. I completed the table, but I really hated the leg I had carved. The table went into storage for a few years, and when I saw it again I could not tell which leg I had carved. That taught me something. When you do the work, you see the details. Others do not.

I started acquiring carving tools and gouges at estate sales and on eBay, and eventually I had a couple more tools than I needed. But still I look for more. Is there such a thing as "too many?"

I made a lot of handles for my tools in different woods and different styles, always searching for just the right one. And I finally found an old tool with a shape that pleased me. I made a lot of handles from different woods, but could not find exactly the right look. My neighbor cut down a honey locust tree and gave me a section of the trunk. I cut it into handle sized pieces and dried it. When I made the first handle and buffed it with the same rag wheel I buff brass with, I knew I had found exactly what I wanted. I later learned that black compound gives the same look.

I made these handles for all my small tools, but I use a classic antique handle style on my larger tools. I don't change the handles on my expensive Swiss Made tools. I am not crazy about them, but I don't want to degrade them.

A few years passed and I learned of a local carving club, "Chip Chuckers" of Riverside CA, and joined. I have been with them for about 5 years now. The club is a member of the California Carver's Guild. The people there were extremely friendly and helpful, and I started to learn. I carve for 4 hours every Tuesday morning, and once in a while when I have a carving going that I am really interested in, I will carve at home in my shop.

I have found that if I immerse myself completely into any hobby activity that I will burn out and lose interest. I don't want that to happen with my carving, and so I limit the time spent. I worked on the Green Man for a full year, 4 hours a week. I never worked on it at home, and I did no other carving during that time.

For me, carving is about the experience, and not the finished product.

I try to make each carving a learning experience, because I would become bored if I made the same thing over and over. I make only one of anything. When I finish a carving I take pictures and then give the carving to my wife to do with as she pleases. At this point I don't care if I ever see it again. My focus is always on the carving I have in progress. She has too many of my works to display all at once so she rotates them for display. That keeps them fresh for me.

I have received offers of serious money for a few of my pieces, but I don't sell them. After I have invested say 200 hours in a piece like the Green Man it feels like part of me and I just can't sell it. And after it has been put away for some time and I forget about it, and then see it again, I am always pleased and surprised by what I see. And as my skill develops more and more, I see in my previous pieces things that I should have done differently. I learn from them.

I am regarded as a little bit anti-social at my carving club because I come to carve, and not to talk. At least not much. :>) The other members are working their pukey ducks and chatting away while I am immersed in my carving and planning the next cut with the next tool. This is usually my only carving experience for the week, and I don't want to spend the time in conversation. I want to carve.

I want to move up in class and start doing life sized carvings in-the-round, but I hesitate because I know the first one will not be good enough. Funny, that never stopped me before. I guess I actually lack confidence.