The woodcarver has to keep paste with the cost of living; This demands tools that will reduce the time to complete a work of art or a craft item. I have always promoted the mandatory teaching of the arts in schools, rather than drop the subjects from the curriculum, whenever there is need to cut education budgets.

Most critical thinking educators will tell you that Music and the Arts are the stimulating force behind creativity in education.

Kevin is blessed with both, he is also a musician who plays the Ukulele.

Today we are reaping the benefits from new technology, engineered by artist themselves in the various fields, whether it be, wood carving, ceramics, weaving other related fields.

The mallet and chisel is almost a thing of the past, except for a few masters who might be afraid of the danger power tools presents.

Arbotech, an Australian company, is one of the leading manufacturers of wood carving power tools; founded in 1988 by former cafe owners Kevin and Christine Inkster, the operation has grown from a two person operation to a staff of over 30, spread over three different countries.

One can only assume that it was Kevins’ passion for wood working that led him to new inventions. kevins skill as an inventor started with the concept of self lighting cigarettes, for obvious personal and moral reasons I will not dwell on that subject.

In the field of power tools; their first successful product was the woodcarver blade,- the winner of the BHP steel award (Broken Hill Proprietary Company, nickname -The Big Australian). The woodcarver blade was driven by his desire to create a tool to suit his needs. Its first exhibition netted 14000 dollars, in 1990 Ryobi orders 50.000 woodcarver blades.

With the growing demand and respect for its products, Arbotech has since expanded its operations to the USA in 2007, and Europe in 2011. Inventions include the Turbo plane, and the award-winning brick and mortar saw.

I am not aware of the details, but similar tools are available from various distributors.

The Angle Grinder

The first time I saw an angle grinder being used was in the seventies. It was being used by my body repair mechanic; I looked at it with curiosity, he was using a silicon carbide sanding disk. He gave the tool to me to inspect, but warned about its high speed, I took. A piece of hard wood and experimented and was amazed at the possibilities for shaping wood. The rest is history, I have been using the angle grinder ever since, the mallet and chisels, though present are like strangers in the workshop.

The angle grinder has become a very important tool for the woodcarver, I am thankful for the variable speed version, it can be a very dangerous tool, with the chain, like the chain saw, the metal spiked disk.

A couple years ago, we had an international sculpture symposium where three stone carvers were invited to create 3 outdoor sculptures; All three were created with the angle grinder.

The Die-Grinder

The hand held power tool is also one of the tools in the woodcarvers’ arsenal, are also available with flexible shafts.

The best way to find out what is new in the way of woodcarvers’ power tools is to attend the international wood shows. Just Google International wood shows to find the nearest one to your area.

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King Arthur

Another notable company to find woodcarvers power tools is Kink Arthur tools in Florida, known for the

Lancelot; and the Merlin

Celebrating 50 years as a Wood Carver.

My career as a full time artist started over 50 years ago as a painter, sculptor and ceramic artist;, it took 3 years before I found mt passion in wood carving, even though I still toy with ceramics. My last exhibition of paintings was in 1970.

Immediately after leaving College, I met an old lady at my first exhibition who told me her father was a wood carver, and she would sell me his woodcarving tools if I was interested, so I bought my first set of carving tools in a nice wooden box, along with a sharpening stone and a mallet.

The steel was a first class quality, for the first few years my carvings were with mallet, chisels and hand sanding, first with 80, followed by 100, followed by 150, and finally with 220 grit.

Carving and finishing was time -consuming and laborious, foam sanding pads came on the market and helped to improve the finishing.

It was at a wood show in Canada that I first saw electric tools for wood caving, I bought an angle grinder, a band saw, a makita 12″electric chain saw without a safety kick-back bar, this chain saw is one of 3 that I still own, the other two are a 14″ Stihl and an 18 ” Stihl.

These chainsaws were great for cross -cutting logs, removing sap and rough carving; The 14″ Delta band saw was a work horse, cutting boards from short logs, cutting shapes and trimming unwanted wood.

All major shaping was done by the 4″, or 41/2″ angle grinder, I have always kept both in the workshop, the 4″ for its lighter weight and smaller surfaces, and the 41/2 ” most of the time.

The chisels were used for areas where the angle grinder could not reach, the angle grinder looked like it was designed for my organic forms, and sure saved me hours and hours of labor, on sculptures, trays, bowls, fish and birds.

I normally do not allow visitors in the workshop when I am working, mainly for safety reasons, unnecessary distractions could lead to accidents. The disadvantage of the angle grinder is dust, fine dust, for this a quality dust mask was necessary, I still own a dust collector from my old high ceiling studio, but my current studio is a remodeled 40 ft container; the ceiling is too low for the air-bag.

An assistant was hired to help with labor and hand sanding ; In the early years, a piece of broken glass was used to scrape the wood surface prior to hand -sanding, I learned that from a friend who was a wood turner.

The Intruder

One day a young man visited the studio on the pretext that he was visiting my assistant, he came regularly for long hours and many times. I did not like it but I did not protest. After many visits over a period of about a month, he announced that he was opening his own carving studio and he would copy my technique, which he admired.

Today he has a vibrant production, mainly small craft items, and his work is available in select retail stores, he is now creating free-form sculptures; he is an excellent coypier.

It was at another Canadian wood show that I discovered the dremmel tool, the die grinder and the 3M Sanding rubber disc pad. What an interesting tool for sanding and fine finishing, helping to get rid of sanding marks and a mighty time saver.

There was an issue with the design, the sanding discs were self-adhesive, withe the heat created from the friction, the sanding self-adhesive pads did not last for long and it became an expensive routine.”

It was not long before 3M discontinued the sanding Disc pads, I was able to find 2 cases in a country hardware store in the USA and bought them. I redesigned the disc pads and still use them to this day; giving me an enviable silk smooth finish and saves me many hours of labor.

There was an incentive group visit to Anguilla and I was asked to make 75 leaf trays for them. I was able to speak to one of the leaders of the group and I informed them of the flaw in the disc pad; I was informed 3M had discontinued produciton and the production line was already dismantled.

Some changes were made to the transformed disc pads, which means the 20 I have left would last much longer, about twice as long. The sanding disk is 0ne of the most important tools in my workshop today.

I wished I would have been able to sell the idea to 3M and save woodcarvers a lot of time by preserving a precious but wasted invention.

Please view my work and send me some feedback.