Welcome back from Summer Vacation!

Greetings to all and welcome to a new year of carving to all who survived the brutally hot summer. The September meeting  (September 29th at 9 am) will be combined with Janet Cordell's carving seminar which starts on the 28th. Even if you didn't sign up for the class, you are still welcome to meet with us on Saturday for fellowship and to observe the talented artistry of Janet.

If you are enrolled for the class, please note that the class begins on Friday the 28th at 9am and will continue on Saturday and Sunday also from 9-5 each day, for 3 full days. There may still be a space or two still available! The cost is $150 plus $20-$45 for a roughout. Please contact Fred asap at 501-606-2275 if you are interested in enrolling.

The War Eagle Seminars are in progress this week at the Benton County Fairgrounds in Rogers, Arkansas and will be followed by the NW Arkansas Carving Show next Saturday and Sunday. Admission is free to the show and I believe a wood vendor will be present at the show along with Dallas Deege's Old Texas Woodcarvers shop selling tools and supplies,etc. You could stock up, fellowship with some great carvers, and support the Razorbacks all in a single trip!

I was contacted a few weeks back by Sally Ellison, daughter-in-law of the late Charles Ellison who was a member of our club way back.  She has several boxes of books on carving (various subjects) that she would like to sell, if any are interested. She can be reached at 501-888-8115,


Hope to see all of you soon!

May Meeting......Summer break

This Saturday at 9am  is our final meeting before summer break, so please try and attend! Bring something for show or something to carve on or just come to visit! We will also be discussing the workshop with Janet Cordell around September 29-30 when we resume meeting in the fall. We anticipate the cost being approximately $180 plus the cost for a roughout or blank. This may turn out to be a 3 day class and Janet is a world-class carver and instructor. She is the daughter of Ivan Denton and her younger sister is Adina Huckins, all famous carvers. Here is a link to her website http://www.janetcordell.com/ . Be sure and let us know if you would like to attend. And let others know who might be interested.

April Meeting & Seminar

The April meeting was well attended and we had quite a few for the seminar with Roger Stegall. Lots of fun and no blood was spilled!But it did take quite a bit of vacuuming and sweeping to clean up all the chips that about 10 carvers could produce in 2 days! Hope to see everyone, and some completed carvings, at the next meeting!

Carving Seminar April 21-22 with Roger Stegal

Roger will be giving a caricature carving seminar for us the weekend of April 22-22 and it will run from 9am-5pm on both those days. I believe he has roughouts for a wizard/santa, a cowboy, and possibly a hillbilly. The cost is only $40 plus the cost of whatever roughouts you want. Contact Jim Baker or Fred Nahlen to sign up! This should be a lot of fun!


The club is also planning a three day seminar around September 28th with Janet Denton Cordell, famous for her realistic female, animal, and doll carvings. Take a look at some of her work here and plan to attend. The cost will be $185 plus the cost of a blank or roughout. A deposit may be required to reserve your spot. Contact Jim Baker or Fred Nahlen for details as soon as possible.

March Meeting

This Saturday, March 8th, is our next meeting, from 9am-11am at the electric building. We hope to have a good turn-out of members and lots of projects for show and tell. We hope to finalize possibly having Roger Stegal teach a class in April and possible Janet Denton Cordell in September. We had a great turn out last month with new members and visitors and hope to continue that trend!


I brought some knives last month, that I recieved as a gift from a carver in California. Jim Mayes is an accomplished carver and has been making and selling knives for some time. He saw some of my carvings that I had posted and decided my tool bag just wasn't complete without a couple of his knives. So he just sent me some! Carvers are really generous, sharing people. Here are some pictures of the knives. Jim does sell these (detail is $35 and roughout is $50) and hopes he can keep up with orders coming in! Here are a few pictures. His email is jimtcarver@yahoo.com .

Great Meeting!

We had a really great turnout at the February meeting! Lots of old members, new members, and visitors. It was really great! We're probably not going to get the minimum attendees required for Debbe Edwards, so Fred is trying to get Roger Stegal to come back in April. Roger does caricatures and won several prizes in the last CCA competition. And since he is local AND a member, we get a great instructor for a great price! It'll be a lot of fun for beginners and old timers! I'll post more details when I get them. Fred is also talking with Janet Cordell about doing a 3 day class toward the end of September. You don't want to miss an opportunity to learn from these world-class carvers!

Everyone is still finishing up the mice we were working on, so we'll probably see a few of them at the show and tell next month! Come join us!

February Meeting- possible Debbe Edwards seminar in March!

This month's meeting will be this Saturday, Feb 11th, at 9 a.m. located in the First Electric building in Jacksonville. In addition to the usual show and tell, we will be completing the mouse carving (some of us, we hope) that was started last time. Please come out and join the fun. We had two new members join us last meeting!

Fred Nahlen may have Debbe Edwards lined up for a carving seminar in March! Debbe is famous for her animal carvings and may be available the third weekend in March. A minimum of 10 carvers are needed, and the costs is $180 plus the cost of the blank/roughout. Please notify Fred (501-606-2275) as soon as possible if you are interested. This is a rare opportunity, as Debbe seldom has an open date. You can see her work and roughouts at this  website .

Fred may possibly be able to get Patty Rucker (carving, woodburning, scrimshaw, and painting) in September and says there is a remote possibility of getting Gerald Sears (but don't get your hopes up just yet!).

Be sure to invite a guest and we hope to see you on the 11th!

Mike P.