I just added this category. The first article is a series of blog posts I made in Ramblin' Dan before I ever thought of this website. At the time I did have the machine shop stuff but something about carving wood didn't seem like a good fit with machine shop projects.
What surprised me the most was those posts were made over five years ago. I am going to have to start paying attention.
Time is running far faster than I realize. Maybe aging is like falling into a black hole. The "experts" say that from the outside it looks like you (and time) just slow down so much that you never reach the edge. Other "experts" claim that to the person falling in, the front part of you falls faster than the back part so you get stretched out. Still others say the persons feels nothing, just gets squished to infinitely small. I think I may be watching to many loony experts on the science channel...
So I will just keep plodding along at my own pace. Besides, who the heck is ever going to "fall" into a black hole? I may be close, I do move a bit slower these days...
I plan to do more of the carving and engraving and whatever else "falls" into this category. A lot of what I like to do crosses category borders and I have no respect for those borders. It's not any rule I made to stay inside imaginary lines, they're imaginary!
I do consider hand carving one of (not thee) purest forms and free expression of minimalist human creative art but not to the exclusion that any carving done otherwise is inferior. In my opinion humans are blessed with a mind of a tool maker, so for me any method goes. There are two objectives: The creation experience and the intrinsic beauty of what has been produced. Everything is relative to how I want to do it, not how others think I should do it.
I do what feels good to me and creates the results I want. Methods are taught but carving is still an individual art.
What do YOU like about carving and the various methods? Replies welcome.