No Carving this year!!

[Tom Hindes]

Holy Cow Paul (and others)! Heal up fast....I used complain about minor cuts and scrapes, but I'll keep my complaints to myself after reading these posts. I am super aware about falling and all the other things that can go wrong. This has become more of a concern since I now live alone. I am sure others are in the same situation. Getting old is exciting. Heal up friends.

[honketyhank]

All you folks are a tough act to follow, so I won't even try ... I hope. In the mean time, I am sending you all the healing vibes I can conjure up.

[Randy]

Take care and heal up Paul.

[woodburner807]

Yikes Dileon, you "old" guys are falling apart. I fell apart when I was in my 50s and now am 72 and "functional." Sadly my wife is in the limited "mobility" club you folks are in...not fun and I empathize with all you folks.

I have arthritis and joint issues but my hands are fine so I'm able to carve.

Hope all you guys recover soon and not carving is a shame. I sincerely do wish all the best.

[DiLeon]

Must be the year for hurting yourself..... I am also in the group. No carving been down, one from a fall, twisted the bad ankle, which dislocation of the knee which set off the bad back and sprain both wrist. Plus the doctor managed to mess up my stomach from pharm pills...that has been a four-month mess. I am up and praying and feel better this week....just praying the body does not fall apart some more..... I got a tiki mask to do ... six-week deadline. I agree on the fact..... major....getting old sucks!!!!! Someone wants a cobra carving to embed in a 300-pound wood longboard surfboard....not sure about that one...it would be a really hard job with the back acting up. All I got to say Paul....is **** happens.

[Bob K.]

Sounds like you've had a rough year so far. Glad to see you might be back to carving again. Just "Be careful out there."

[Paul_Guraedy]

The second piece of redwood burl is a bit smaller. I have worked redwood before and the main thing is it splinters very easily. The burl is especially sensitive because of the twisted grain. The very thing that makes it most interesting. I will do most of the work with power on this one.

I was not sure when I did the initial drawing that I wanted a cougar. I have not bothered to correct the eyes as I will do that when I put the drawing on the redwood.

I am recovering fairly well from the falls. Still have pain if I sit in one chair for too long. Tramadol helps that and I am happy I did not have to stay on the more powerful drugs for too long.

I am a lot more careful now and do very little walkiing without my "memory" walking stick.

[joepaulbutler]

Them **** falls, use to play football & wrestle, thought nothing of getting slammed around, but I hear what you're saying. No need in telling you to be careful, You wouldn't be doing on purpose, for sure.

Just keep your butts in a chair and make the chips fly .

Paul will that redwood burl be tough to carve. I'm always hearing about burls, but I don't think I've ever seen one, but as I understand the grain just runs wild.

[squbrigg]

That burl is one beauty of a piece of wood Paul. Can't wait to see the cougar come out of it. Glad the eye is healing up, slow to be sure, but worth it in the end. As for falls, the less said the better about those, they seem to be contagious. You broke your back right after my wife broke hers in a similar fall. I hope you are healing better than she is, very slow and painful. Damm but it is hard getting old, we break so easily.

Bob

[woodburner807]

Gee, I thought all carvers suffered cuts and knife injuries...now I find out falling appears to be another factor. Hope both of you recover soon.

Make sure you wear some good gloves or other carving protection...no one wants to hear about further injuries.

Best of luck, and hope you do get back to carving soon Paul. Never carved on redwood or a burl and looking forward to seeing the work.

I had cataracts at one time and do realize the depth perception issue.

[Tinwood]

Well, here's hoping that the both of you mend as quickly as possible. Try to keep the shiny (bald pate) side up whenever possible.

Tinwood

[Eddy-Smiles]

Paul... You'd best be careful my friend. We don't bounce as well as we used to! I'm recovering myself from a similiar fall. Same damage to the arm except slightly less. It's been over two weeks now and it still hasn't fully closed up. I also was not as fortunate as yourself and forgot to lift my head when I went down. As Inspector Closeau would say, "I have a slight bimp on me noggin". But hey! Why go to the ER if you can't have a CatScan?

[Paul_Guraedy]

Mornin' My Frien's

I have not posted in a while. In January I was scheduled to have eye surgery to repair a hole in the macula. Four days before, I fell. Don't know what happened but the bad part was falling into the woodpile. Lost a lot of skin banged up knees, elbows, shoulders and with blood thinner ~ I ended up in the ER and had to postpone the surgery. No carving!
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I had the surgery at the beginning of February. The surgeon removed the fluid in the eye, repaired the hole and inserted a gas bubble as a bandage. I was required to lay face down for 45 minutes of every hour for four days. The gas bubble eliminated sight from that eye. Depth perception was reduced to zero. No carving!
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To make matters worse, a week after surgery, I stepped backward, tripped over a box, fell into a table and ~ ended up in the ER. Cracked several vertebrae in my lower back. Luckily, my head did not hit the ceramic tile so no damage to the eye. No carving!

The gas bubble in my eye is gradually breaking up ~ I see the eye surgeon Thursday ~ may be able to carve soon ~ in the meantime I am still planning future carvings.

I generally start my carvings with a rough (I'm not good at drawing) concept on paper. If it is a complicated piece done "In-The-Round" I move on to a non-hardening clay model. I then ~ determine the size of the carving ~ select the species of wood ~ pick out the block for carving ~ outline the carving on the wood ~ and start hacking away.

This morning I drew up a rough drawing of a cougar and decided it would be best if done in deep relief. I remembered that a frien' had given me a couple of slabs of redwood burl awhile back. The cat will be perfect carved on there. No paint ~ just allow the edges of the carving to intermix with the convoluted grain of the wood.

The wood is a single block that has not been sanded smooth. I will have to sand it down to bring out the grain and get rid of the saw marks and square sides. The rough areas beyond the surface I will use for the carving will be left as they are.

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