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 each piece. My favorite thing to paint is owls because there are so many ways that you can paint them. I do regular round-headed owls and horned owls so that makes them all different and unique from each other. I have made and sold a few hundred pieces since I started and no 2 pieces I have made have looked the same. This helps me get returning customers because they will want more than one piece a lot of the time because everything is different, and they may see multiple things that they like. 

Deciding on what I want to make is typically easy because I usually just make whatever has been selling the most at that time. If I am selling a lot of cardinals the next time I work I will be making cardinals and that applies to anything else I make. One of the hardest parts of the job is using all the tools properly and safely so I do not get hurt. In just a little over a year working I’ve only accidentally cut my hand once with a tool and that is because I was working while I was tired. That was a very irresponsible thing for me to do, but I learned my lesson that I need to always feel 100 percent physically to work because that reduces my chance of getting injured. 

Selling is another portion of running my own business that I enjoy. There is a lot of value in dealing with all different types of customers. It is valuable experience for any future job I have because it is important to be good at dealing with customers and selling to them. The main way I sell is from home pickups and shipping. I usually sell from Facebook Marketplace and the customer comes to me and my father’s home shop to buy pieces. I also occasionally do art shows where I set up sales. This is often easier because I do not have to deal with messaging customers back and forth on the Facebook marketplace. 

Starting my own business has impacted my life in many ways. It has taught me how to better manage my time because working on your own schedule you need to be good at time management. It was exceedingly difficult at first learning how to manage school, homework, working, and a social life/ free time but over time I developed a good schedule to do everything. I enjoy having this responsibility because it gives me valuable experience that most people my age does not get to have. I feel it will help me if I ever try starting another business down the line. My goal always has been to be able to work for myself and own my own business when I grow up. Now that I was making good money, I learned effective strategies to save and invest the money that I was making so it did not go to waste. Saving money was something I was always good at so this was not difficult for me to learn. Now that I am in college, I do not have a ton of time to work anymore because I live about an hour away from home and can only go home on some weekends to get work done. This is something I have struggled with not knowing what to do and I am still in the process of figuring out what I should do. It is a lot more difficult to find time to work now that I am busy with college.