PONDSIDE STUDIO
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My Carving History
& Family

-Often, I am asked how I started carving.  I started carving soon after my father gave me a family heirloom - a small, gold-plated penknife - when I was nine years old, living in Parishville, NY.

Seeing me whittling away on a stick with this knife one day, my friend, Mike, introduced me to an older man in  town who whittled little birds.  After meeting him, I could often be found sitting quietly - by the hour - next to Walter Foster, watching him make his rustic little birds.  It was many days before Mr. Foster asked if I wanted to let me try my hand at carving a wing on one of his birds.  Boy! was I ready!  

My first solo bird carving was a Goldfinch.  It incorporated a few changes from the birds I had watched Mr. Foster carve, and I was concerned that he might take offense at my innovations.  When I showed it to him for his critique, I was in suspense for several anxious minutes, while he looked the bird over carefully, finally declaring - to my great relief and pleasure - that I had done a good job on it.  Before long, Mr. Foster was having me paint the finer details - “pinstripes”, as he called them - on his little birds.  Meeting other woodcarvers like Hazel Tyrell from Canton, and Avis Brown from Malone, made lasting impressions on me as a young carver.

Of the more than three-thousand birds and animals I’ve carved since then, the majority of them have been Pocketknife carvings made with the very same Buck 307 jackknife I traded a 4X Bushnell rifle scope for 
over 35 years ago at an Aubuchon Hardware Store that used to exist on Main Street in AuSable Forks, NY.  The remainder were “power-tool carvings”, shaped by using electric, flexible shaft tools with a wide variety of grinding and sanding bits along with a wood burner, or - in a few cases - chainsaws and angle grinders.

Every time I try so painstakingly to replicate a bird or animal, my appreciation for excellent artists - especially for the One who originally designed and created these incredibly beautiful creatures - increases.



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Present home of Pondside Studio.  We purchased this 'cabin' as a fixer-upper on August 30, 2011, moved in on December 3, and have enjoyed it every day since.  Whiteface Mountain can be seen above the roofline.

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A spectacular view of Whiteface Mountain from our home -  627 Glen Road, Jay, NY,  the site of Pondside Studio, even though, as it happens, there is no pond anywhere within sight.   The Studio moved to a new 'pond-less' location, but kept the name originally chosen when living beside the "40-acre pond" in the town of Long Lake.

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Zach,  Autumn,  Robin,  Allen
Shannon, Brennan, Megan
2008

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Allen    Robin     Zach    Autumn
Shannon       Megan     Brennan     Makayla
2010

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Five of us on the summit of Porter Mountain.
Zach, Robin, Megan, Shannon, Allen
Spring 2011

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Christmas 2014 at the cabin.  
Robin, Shannon, Megan, and Allen.

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Christmas 2015 at the cabin.
Shannon, Allen, Robin, and Megan.

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Zach, an expert bowsman,
​on Union Falls Pond during a driftwood collecting trip.
May 2011

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Our daughter Megan & Brennan (Megan's nephew; our grandson)
July 2011

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Shannon
​on the rocks upstream from the covered bridge in Jay.
8-16-2011

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Brennan
​with a pocketknife Trout.
May 2011

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Makayla (one of our granddaughters)
​playing in a warm Spring rain puddle.
May 2011

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A 2014 Christmas photo of our daughter, Autumn,
her husband, Justin, and their four beautiful children -
Alaina, Leah, Brennan, and Makayla.

Leah was a bit fearful of Santa,
​so he snuck behind them for the photo!

Picture
October 14, 2015      A picture of me standing at the end of my driveway, in front of a sign I made over 25 years ago which hung on the front of Hosley's Country Corner store in Long Lake, NY.  I am holding the very same Buck 307 jackknife I modeled the sign after and have used to do all my pocketknife carving since 1974.
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Makayla -  March 2016

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Grandpa  ["PaPa", ie:  Me] and Caleb - March 2016

  • Home Page
    • My Carving History & Family
    • About Pocketknife Carving
    • Carving Objectives
    • FAQ's
    • Pondside Policies
    • Glimpses of our Life
    • Contact Information
  • Galleries
    • Species List
    • Pocketknife Gallery
    • Powertool Gallery
    • Paintings Gallery
    • Studio Scenes
  • Other Carvers & Artists
  • Carving Videos & Slide Shows
  • My Music
  • My Writings
  • AVAILABLE CARVINGS