Dayton artistry in Wood

I have safely arrived in Dayton Ohio. The weather is mild for this time of year. I look forward to joining the Dayton club members in setting up for the show tomorrow. I hope to publish some pictures tomorrow on the blog. Stay tuned for more.

Halloween

 Well Halloween is here and that means its's time to hand out some candy and carve a quick pumpkin!
No carving on Wednesday Night. Sigh...........

Jordan Straker and the Gourd

Just checking out friends on Facebook and saw that Jordan has finished and sold his latest creation. I have a gourd sitting in my shop but I doubt that it will ever look this good.

Jordan Straker's Gourd carving

New Portable Travel Tool Box

I travel a few times a year and I always want to have some tools along to whittle. As you can no longer take tools on the plane it means you must pack them in your luggage. I have packed a whole tool roll and sharpening kit on some trips. With the weight restrictions becoming an issue on many flights I decided to be proactive and really look at how many tools I need and in my case how much carving I actually do on my trips. I like to whittle at least two or three times a week.
Another thing that has happened to me a couple of times is that somehow someone or something has managed to drive a knife blade through the tool roll, my clothing and once they even caused the blade to cut right through the luggage. As the tool was packed in the middle of the suitcase I was impressed with the forces involved.
I decided to try a plastic box. I found one but I needed to modify it to fit the tools I wanted to take along. The box was made by Stack-On and is billed as a storage container. It had ten compartments and measures 8" w x 6" d x 1 3/4" h. Here are the results.

I made a few modifications to the box. Here is what is in it. Top 3 compartments were cut down to accept 1 x Drake #11 10mm and 1 x Drake #11 3mm. The centre compartment has a Bud Murray #539 as designed by CCA member Don Mertz and a leather strop. The bottom 4 compartment were cut down to three and now can hold a Camillus stockman some sharpening compound and a thumb guard. The thumb guard can also be used as a blade guard during travel. I'm sure I can squeeze my carving glove in as well or more tools. I paid about $8.00 for the box.

Vacation

Butchart Gardens, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada

Dyea, Alaska near the start of the Chilkoot trail

Just a couple of photos for all to enjoy. Went on a cruise to Alaska and saw some wild and wonderful scenery. The first photo of the Butchart gardens was a stop on our return trip. The gardens were beautiful and we took many pictures. They could not equal the 5 minutes I spent alone taking this one picture in Dyea. No gardening help required, the Master gardens here and you just have to go and look at it. Both are great pictures to escape to when life's problems try to catch up to you. I prefer the second location because no one would become agitated if you pulled out your whittling tools and a piece of good wood and started creating. Hmmmm.....

Winter Rains

The rains have started in ernest. I don't complain as the trees sure needed a bit of water to survive. It makes it real easy to park the bicycle and find alternate means of staying trim and fit. How many pounds does that translate into when we all come out of hibernation next Spring? The bigger question is how many projects will you finish over the winter.

The rain and the leaves and of course all the nuts are falling faster than the squirrels can gather them.

New Carvings

 A few pictures of some sticks I just completed. I hope the new owners are happy with them. I was sad to see them go. I put some time and heart into them. They put some time into winning them as they were first prize overall for the Men and Women at the 10th Annual Around the Lake Give'r Take 30 km Cross Country run. It was tough terrain and it rained. They all deserved credit for that run.