Gord Drayton

I was introduced to carving in my youth when a family friend gave a bored 8-year-old a jack knife. This soon turned branches into piles of chips and sharp sticks that were great for roasting hotdogs and more importantly marshmallows. The carving bug gnawed away at me until the 1990’s when a scroll saw and sander landed in the basement. These wonderful tools introduced me to intarsia which is the art of making pictures and plaques out of separate pieces of wood. When searching for a way to add more detail into my projects I was taught how to relief carve by Bill Judt. More importantly I found the pure joy of using sharp chisels and a mallet to release hidden images from various types of hardwood. I continued relief carving until 2012 when I came across a group of very knowledgeable and friendly carvers at the Outaouais Wood Carvers. The OWC introduced me to various types of carving methods and styles and a special fondness for chip carving and making love spoons was developed.
I have now been an active carver for 23 years and learnt the following lessons: always ensure there is wood between your flesh and carving tool but keep bandages on hand just in case; there are no mistakes in carving only design changes but glue is your friend; the end result is not as important as the journey you took to get there but a carving project that just does not turnout is a great fire starter; most importantly carvers are great people and friends.