I have always had sort of a passing interest in wood carving and whittling. When I was a young man in Cub Scouts they gave us a block of wood and said here you go, make yourself a car and enter it into the Pinewood Derby. So I brought my block of wood home and my Dad took on the project. Not one year but two years straight. This was to be a father/son project but he did all of the work while I watched. I guess he was afraid I would cut my finger off which I probably would have. He came home after work and carved, sanded and painted on these cars for about a week each. I don't think you will ever see a pinewood derby car made any better than these. I was actually amazed at what you can do with a little patience and a block of wood. So over the years I have kept these two cars as a memory of time that I spent with my Dad making them. Now they are about 60 years old.
Recently I have tried to learn the fine art of whittling figures. Of course YouTube is a great source of individuals who are good at teaching it. One that I watch a lot is Doug Linker. He has a ton of videos but this one was the inspiration for the two little bears I carved out of bass wood. These were the first two things I ever tried to carve. Now he can whip out one of these bears in 15 minutes while it takes me a few hours. But it's like anything else you do in life. The more you do the better you get at it. You got to start somewhere. Now if you are a senior or anyone else with a bit of time on your hands, you might look into doing this.
Here are the pictures:
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