Dylan Haggart

Instructor Camilleri 

ENG 160-21

16 September 2021

 

My Literacy

 

A literacy that I have is something that I learned from my father and that is wood carving. That is his full-time job and he taught me how to do it about a year and a half ago. I carve all different types of animals from wood such as bears, owls, cardinals, pelicans, beavers, blue jays, and penguins. Wood carving is one of my favorite things to do because it is enjoyable for me, and he has positively impacted my life in many ways. 

There is a lengthy process that goes into making each wood carving; the first step is getting a log for the piece. We have a broad range of several types of wood that we include. These types of logs include red cedar, black walnut, cherry, white pine, locust, oak, catalpa, and sassafras wood. All of these logs have their own unique style which helps make every piece of wood look different from each other without comparison. This shows in the bases of the pieces because the actual animals are usually color painted in most cases. I get my wood supply from local tree service people in my area that my father and I know. The sizes of pieces I make usually vary between just under a foot to 4 feet tall, my larger pieces are usually my bears and pelicans, and my smaller ones are my cardinals, blue jays, and owls. After I find what piece, I want to use I have to get my rough cuts done with a gas-powered chainsaw. This is to get the general shape of the piece. I then use an electric saw which is much less powerful, and this is to get smaller shaping done on the piece. When that is done, I need to do the detailing which is done with about 10-20 different grinders, sanders, and other battery and electric powered tools depending on what I am making. Those are the steps I must take to make the piece then I then do the finishing work. One thing I don’t do is custom orders. The reason for this is it isn’t worth the time or money because I sell what I already make about as fast as I make it. So, it would be more stressful and counterproductive for me to do custom work for customers because it would take way more time and involve more effort, so it is less efficient.

Before doing the finishing work you have to give the wood a few days to dry, or it will not finish properly. You also cannot wait too long to start the finishing work, or the wood will start cracking. The first step to getting the finishing work done on it is to varnish it with exterior oil-based varnish; you usually need to get 4-5 coats on each piece to get it fully sealed, this helps prevent the wood from cracking. The varnish takes about an hour to dry after each individual coat, so it usually takes me 2 days to get a piece fully sealed. Then the last step is to hand paint