CHAINSAW GALLERY

Gallery
Page 1 - Chainsaw Bears
Page 2 - Other Chainsaw Creatures
Page 3 - Relief Carvings
Page 4 - Competitions

This is my former Gallery, my new location is 10807 Topanga Cyn Blvd. in Chatsworth, CA., one block north of Chatsworth Blvd.

Palm is one of my favorite woods to carve. The Tikis in Hawaii are hundreds of years old and made of Palm. Palm doesn't crack as much as other woods. It's relatively soft and doesn't really have grain, it's fibrous, so any direction you go in is ok - as opposed to woods with grain that can crack or split if you cut them the wrong way. With Palm, the tighter the fiber, the harder the wood. I like to choose the tightest fiber possible.

They don't like to cut down Palms in Southern California, only if they absolutely have to, so it's not easy to get - and when you get Palm, you understand that the entire tree was taken, not like with others where just a percentage of the tree may have been cut back.

Palm is very heavy because of the water content. As it ages, it will lose 20 pounds in the first 6 months, but interestingly the sculpture doesn't shrink.

I always elevate my sculptures on a couple of bricks or a pedestal, because you do not want to put a wooden object on the moist ground. It is ok to place them on concrete, but not where water can pool beneath it - because it's organic, and will decompose with time if not treated with proper consideration.

My bears range in price between $300 and $2,000.
Custom orders a specialty!

Valentine Bear in Palm	"Hugging Bears" in Palm
	A "Hi Bear" in progress, and finished.
A "Bible Bear"	That's a Beaver on the left, Bear on the right. I also make Raccoons, Piglets & Gofers ...they're on the next page.

The harder the wood, the harder the work. So when I work in Pine, it actually takes me twice as long to carve than a piece made out of Palm. There are different kinds of Pines that have their own particular challenges. There's a type called Canary Pine which is extremely sappy and dense. It can gum up my tools and it can ooze sap afterwards. There's another type called Cement Pine, for obvious reasons!

**My Palm "Howdy Bears" range in height from about two and half feet tall, to over four feet tall.**

		Key Holding Bear

Double Bears in Elm with Hive		Palm Fishing Bear on Pedestal
	Mama & Baby Bear	Single Bear in PALM
Fishing Bear		Knight Bear

My favorite woods to carve are Elm, Red Alder, and Redwood. They are expensive, rare, and exceptional. Elm is wonderful. It's a soft, beautiful, grained wood - light on the outside and chocolaty on the inside. Elm and Red Alder have an almost waxy consistency, and I absolutely love working in them. I experimented in Oak and found it to be *painfully* hard, and after the long task of completing the carving it cracked extensively, so I no longer carve in Oak!
This Pine Bear was carved as a table! You place a piece of glass on his feet. He's over three and a half feet long.	Two Bears, a Hive and Dove.

Page 1 - Chainsaw Bears
Page 2 - Other Chainsaw Creatures
Page 3 - Relief Carving
Page 4 - Competitions