Druid

Let’s just say that I really enjoy wood, and all of the various properties of the different types. I’ve been trying to improve my woodcrafting skills for about the past 13 years, and I need to put more time into it.
For a number of years now, I have been a member of the Brooklin Woodcarvers which is an active carving club where the members meet every Thursday evening from September to April, and actually carve at the meetings. I enjoy making carved walking staffs, and I also have worked on various types of carving such as relief, in-the-round, wood spirits, stylized, etc.
I do some re-sawing of some of my own stock, but most of the wood that I use for my staffs and canes is either material that I collect after storm damage to trees, or wood that has been cut but hasn’t made it to the chipper yet.
My shop tools are a 14” bandsaw, floor mount drill press, 10” table saw, Taig miniature lathe, scroll saw, 2 routers, dust collector, several Dremels, a buffer, an assortment of carving tools, and of course a sharpening system.
I also like to incorporate crystals or semi precious stones into some of my work, and this happens more often with custom items that have special meaning to the final owners. In some cases, due to a special connection or meaning, the wood for custom projects comes from the end user.
I relocated to British Columbia just over a year ago, but unfortunately there's no carving club in the area . . . yet. Of course, the workshop still needs a lot of work, so making sawdust is still a bit into the future.

-- John, British Columbia, Canada