[CV3]

The question was ask on another forum were do you put it all? After many years of carving I do not have a good answer to the question of what to do with the accumulation of completed projects? While the number of commissioned carvings and sticks has improved there are still those other works of love that go unsold and unclaimed. There is just so much available space in our small home. On more than one occasion my wife, a good woman, has said NO more! As have more than one friend and family member. I will say as my abilities and skill grew more were grateful for the gift. I have done more than one flea market and craft shows to cull the collection. Raffles at churches and other such groups will work some times. Then there is the Salvation Army store and goodwill. The ultimate solution is no doubt a bigger house!

 

[RandyL476]

I know what you mean, my wife has asked me many times how many do I plan on making case I keep putting my finished stick in a corner of my shop but recently I had a good day at a crafts show and sold a lot of them so I'm back making more of them and putting them in the same corner again.

 

[Rodney]

Storage is a problem. We have a small house that's already full.

My finished sticks that I sell hang on a row of nails in my shop.

Rodney

 

[MJC4]

Finished sticks are squirreled away (no pun intended) in various corners of the house. Two racks I built for craft fairs are full in the down stairs and several finished sticks travel in our motorhome. The corner of our garage is full of potential walking sticks and a dozen more lean against the two storage sheds at the back of the yard. Under my carving bench are totes full of topper carving sized chunks of basswood, aspen, butternut, walnut, sassafras, maple, apple, cherry, pine and a cpl pieces I'm not even sure of the species. Carvings adorn all the end tables in the house and all my relations get Christmas ornaments from this whittler every year.

I do need to clear out the corner of the garage as some of the sticks I've collected over the years are not the best for my purposes anymore. I truly need to be much more selective in what I bring home as my other half says her car needs to go in the garage too :huh:

 

[cobalt]

I have started to cut some of the toppers of to reuse the shanks , don't know why I have plenty but there are a few nice colours on the bark of them .I can only get the darker shanks locally when I harvest them . so the pinkish coloured ones look good and they all have a soft sheen on them from the oils so better to reuse them

as several people seem more interested in the interchangeable ones

 

[dww2]

Guilty here, as well. Between finished sticks and blanks, I probably have in excess of 150 here and there. About 30 (finished ones) are in the house, the rest in the shed, the garage, or the old barn next to the house. My problem is time. I really want to start doing craft shows but they're usually on the weekend and I work both Saturday and Sunday. Guess I'll have to concentrate more on the online possibilities, for now. Getting laid off in August, though, so who knows...

 

[Rodney]

Sorry to see that about the upcoming layoff. I hope they at least treat you well.

Rodney

 

[dww2]

Thanks Rodney. It is a company-wide layoff; about 7,000-8,000 folks all together in the US in my part of the company. Add in who knows how many desk jockeys. If I stay to the end I get a severance package plus a bonus which will add up to about $12K plus my unused sick and vacation. It is what it is...

 

[Gloops]

Sorry to hear that dww2, it seems to be the way of the world with large companies, I myself volunteered for redundancy (app 20 years ago) , Health issues at the time and have never looked back and still enjoying it.

 

[sickelstix]

I never seem to get caught up on sticks. I have about 40 made up to sell. My wife and I went to our place in South Arkansas this weekend and cut about 30. We cut sweet gum, persimmon, ash, and sycamore. Hope they turn out alright. Never cut this early before.

 

[cobalt]

I doesn't matter when you cut them. if you don't cut them when you see them someone else will

just make sure you season them

 

[cobalt]

space is one of the reasons why i started interchanable tppers .

but you still neeed a stand to put them on and rather just a lump of 2x2 use a old tree branch for display purposes