First times can be forgettable or something you wish you could forget. Being largely self-taught in many areas, I have many forgettable experiences: my first love song to a young woman who laughed at the effort, my first attempt to drive a car, my first time on a horse, and such. If you are a stubborn young man like me, you can’t afford to let failures get you down too long. Just sulk for a while and try again – maybe get help or advice on the second try from a bestie– and do not be a complete fool.
That’s pretty much how I became a woodcarver. I had a best friend in Baltimore who thought we could make some decent money carving things like Tiki figures for bars and restaurants. Not knowing much more than I did, the concept was to use routers for the work. I was detailed to scrounge up wood. Not having any money for the venture, I was sent to scrounge free wood.
In those days, I was an excellent scrounger. It was, and still is, amazing what people throw out. I had a talent for connecting one person’s discards with another person’s needs. For a girlfriend in Boston, I retreived a solid walnut chest of drawers from an alley. With a bit of cleaning up, it was lovely. I gifted a friend on Beacon Hill a box of boxes on philosophy. They’d been ditched in Cambridge by a departing grad student.
Most of this “finding” was done by simply walking around. I had no car, and I did not have a license. So I walked everywhere. When you wander through every alley and byway, you eventually find treasure. This was especially true in college and university neighborhoods where transience is the rule.
So I eventually found my way to the shops and studios of some very accomplished sculptors and carvers, who were politely astonished by our enterprise’s idiocy. Three of them allowed me to return to watch them work, and eventually, when the tiki idea fell flat, I accepted the first accurate advice on carving I had received from them, purchased a small set of carving tools, and began carving.
One of my first projects? A tiki-inspired statuette.
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My Great Grandfather and Great Great Grandfather were both talented wood carvers too- if I could have chosen a talent, that’s the one I’d have picked.
Among my favorite pieces: they carved Krampus ornaments from wood – and built and carved replica’s of ships- I have one, but it’s dripping to bit with age and I’m afraid to have it restored. It’s amazing what they did with wood and carving tools. You’re SO lucky to have that talent!!!
Thanks. And you have to be careful with restorers of boats and ship models, lots just don’t understand them, and they botch things,
A serendipitous turn of events! I had an opportunity to get trained in woodcarving too. And I enjoyed it. But I chose not to add one more interest to my already packed list of interests. <3
It can be hard to be selective, but you are right. One has to choose.
You remind me of my husband in some ways. He was a carver, not of wood but stone and a “scrounger”. When we lived in Vancouver, he’d walk around finding things in alleys. We had a love seat he found in an alley! He also scrounged enough books from a second hand place that tossed the books people brought in. Our attic was full until he had enough to open his used book store. I’d always groan when he brought stuff home, but really we live in a throw away world, and he was doing it a favour. He always found a home somewhere for the stuff.
He sounds like an interesting person.
He was.