forgeblast
Elite Member
I was interviewed by a local TV station back in July. As Mike Stevens (the person doing the interview) said "He is looking for interesting people doing interesting things".
I guess that makes me "interesting"
.
I was awarded a Pennsylvania Council of the Arts Grant in Folk Art. I was the first wood worker to get this award, the first person in my county to be awarded the grant.
My grant was for turning on a spring pole lathe and spoon carving. I traveled 19 hours to Wisconsin to train with Jarrod Dahl. One of the few people in the world making a living from turning items on a spring pole lathe.
I spent 2 days getting to him, and 14 days training with him, and made it home on my wedding anniversary to surprise my wife and daughter.
I learned a lot, the biggest thing I learned was "to see the problem" "if you can't see the problem you can't fix the problem". I have really taken this to heart and tried to implement this into my daily life, trying to improve what I do.
I learned to turn bowls, nests of bowls (I think I am the 5th person in the USA to be able to do this on a pole lathe), porringers (handled bowls), and plates. We went over forging tools. All my hooks are hand forged from o1. Then we got into spoon carving and worked on eating and cooking spoons with a bit of decoration and a lean towards production work.
All in all, I feel great that I was able to accomplish so much in that amount of time. I put in 12 hour days since I knew I may never have this chance again.
Spring Pole Lathe | WNEP.com is the link to my interview, it is a short version they are doing a longer version for a Saturday show they run. He will also be back this December to film me carving spoons.
If you have any questions about my lathe or spoon carving please let me know.
I use greenwood which is wet wood nothing is kiln dried. In my working philosophy I choose to only utilize storm damaged, donated, or abandoned wood. I don't buy it or go looking to actively cut it.
Hope you enjoy it,
I appreciate the support over the years that the Tractor by Net community has given me.
I guess that makes me "interesting"
. I was awarded a Pennsylvania Council of the Arts Grant in Folk Art. I was the first wood worker to get this award, the first person in my county to be awarded the grant.
My grant was for turning on a spring pole lathe and spoon carving. I traveled 19 hours to Wisconsin to train with Jarrod Dahl. One of the few people in the world making a living from turning items on a spring pole lathe.
I spent 2 days getting to him, and 14 days training with him, and made it home on my wedding anniversary to surprise my wife and daughter.
I learned a lot, the biggest thing I learned was "to see the problem" "if you can't see the problem you can't fix the problem". I have really taken this to heart and tried to implement this into my daily life, trying to improve what I do.
I learned to turn bowls, nests of bowls (I think I am the 5th person in the USA to be able to do this on a pole lathe), porringers (handled bowls), and plates. We went over forging tools. All my hooks are hand forged from o1. Then we got into spoon carving and worked on eating and cooking spoons with a bit of decoration and a lean towards production work.
All in all, I feel great that I was able to accomplish so much in that amount of time. I put in 12 hour days since I knew I may never have this chance again.
Spring Pole Lathe | WNEP.com is the link to my interview, it is a short version they are doing a longer version for a Saturday show they run. He will also be back this December to film me carving spoons.
If you have any questions about my lathe or spoon carving please let me know.
I use greenwood which is wet wood nothing is kiln dried. In my working philosophy I choose to only utilize storm damaged, donated, or abandoned wood. I don't buy it or go looking to actively cut it.
Hope you enjoy it,
I appreciate the support over the years that the Tractor by Net community has given me.
