Wood Carving Illustrated - Issue #5 - Christmas 1998

Villa Maria Wood Carvers
A treasure of instruction in the Midwest

Open House Invitation
You're invited to our 2nd Open House!Free admission, contests, tools and carvingdemonstrations. Don't Miss It!

Fish Carving - Ray McKenzie
Dive into carving your own fish, plus tips on packing carvings for shipping

Toothpick Carving
Bob Shamey brings new meaning to the word"miniature" with his carvings

Poor Man's Contest Results
For $20 & an hour of your time, you can make our"1757" carving vise

Sharpening Feature
Tool Grinding for Wood Carvers by Ian KirbyWhat to look for when selecting a grinder and grinding wheelsTechniques for different tool profiles

Air Tools for Wood Carvers by Greg Krockta
An introduction to the basics

Cover Feature:
Santas from Around the World & Across the Ages
Old St. Nick, Father Christmas, Pere Noel, Julesvan - Santa Claus has a rich and varied history around the world. Art Shoemaker shares his research into the historyand design of different versions, plus a pattern for theNorwegian Julesvan

Carving the Acanthus Leaf
by Ernest SzentgyorgyiTry your hand at this classic design

Carve Your Own Gnome - Lyle Kraus
A step-by-step class to carve your own little guy

Carving the Female Face - Ross Oar Carving Roscoe, A Ozarks Mountain Hillbilly
by Mike Shipley Complete patterns and techniques from this full-timeMissouri carver

Carving a Drawer Pull - Joseph Schembri
This small project will help develop new carving skills

Power Carving Feature:
Carving the American Bison - Frank Russell Carving Museum Showcase Make Your Own Skew Chisel Cane Corner
Selections from a new book written by two Welshmen

Regular Columns
Editor's Letter
Letters to the Editor
Events Calendar
Classifieds

Ian Kirby, who was trained in the British arts-and-crafts tradition, is a designer, furniture maker, and writer. He is the author of The Accurate Router, The Accurate Tablesaw, and Sharpening with Waterstones. He lives in Connecticut.

For more than two decades, Greg Krockta has been adorning his native Long Island, New York, with hand carved wood signs. He estimates that he has carved, lettered, painted and gold-leafed at least 6,000 signs during that time.

Greg chose sign carving as a career because it gave him an opportunity to be a full-time carver. His work ranges in size from small name plaques to commercial signs that span 50 feet in length.

Greg is also a sculptor, working in such materials as burls to explore human and animal forms. His sculptures have been featured in Fine Woodworking, Woodshop News, and Woodcarving Magazine.

He lives with his wife and daughter in Smithtown, Long Island, New York.

Ross Oar has had many years of experience in woodcarving. In 1984, he and his wife, Barbara, began West Falls Woodcarving, a part-time mail-order woodcarving supplies business run out of their home in Orchard Park, New York. Ross also carves commission pieces that range in size from three inches to five and a half feet high and depict all aspects of life, teaches woodcarving classes on a limited basis and participates in woodcarving shows.

Mike Shipley is a supplier of woodworking materials, a woodcarving instructor, and the author of Hand Carving Snowmen and Santas, Whittling the Old Sea Captain.

Frank Russell lives in Vermont where he owns and operates the Stonegate Woodcarving School with his wife Caroline. You man contact the Stonegate Woodcarving School at 47 Stonegate Road, Cambridge, VT 05444, phone 802-849-6692.