FEBRUARY 1998

The February meeting will be held at the Chisholm Community Center on February 9, 1998 at 7:00PM. The center is available to us from 6:00PM to 9:00PM. The monthly BOARD MEETING will be held from 6:30PM to 7:00PM before the meeting. There will be no carving at Santuck until the first Saturday in March.

Remember the old tongue twister? "How much wood can a woodchuck chuck, if a woodchuck could chuck wood?" Here at P.M. Chipper's we're going to encourage each member to start "chucking" some wood. Each 4^th Saturday, a bunch of us are getting together at the Chisholm Community Center and we're going to carve, carve, and carve! Remember what carving is? Lot's of folks in the club have not been carving regularly. We're going to try to change all of that. Come on down from 8AM to 12PM on Feb. 28^th and carve with us. We'll have blanks for you, or if you have a project of your own, great, or if you just want to whittle a point on a stick, ok. Got a problem with one of your pieces that you don't know how to solve? Bring it. Maybe someone will come up with an idea to help you. Want to know how to finish a piece? Bring it. Need ideas for mounting a piece? Bring it. If enough show an interest, we'll meet twice a month (once at the center, once at the Trzcinski's). Come slice a finger of two with us!

I just got word that Dave Goodlett's mother passed away. I was real sorry to hear this and the club sent flowers and a card to the Goodletts. Dave is one of the founding members of the club and the person who spearheaded the start of the Southeastern Woodcarving School. He lives in Moulton (way up in the corner of Alabama, near Decatur), but keeps his membership current here. Our thoughts and prayers are with you and your family, Dave.

Let's start "chucking" wood!

The Chisholm Community Center is also available to us for carving and painting the 4^th Saturday (January 23^rd) from 8:00AM to 12:00PM.

At the February meeting, George Bryant will bring in his sharpening equipment and put on a tool sharpening demonstration. If sharpening is not your favorite pastime, you may want to bring a dull tool or two.

The raffle at the Southeastern Woodcarving School has made a difference between a big loss and "almost" breaking even. We need to decide at the February meeting what our 1998 project will be. Please bring some good ideas.

It is time to pay your annual P.M. Chipper's dues. The cost is $10 for an individual 's and $15 for a couple's membership. You must be paid up to be eligible for the drawing for the scholarship to the woodcarving school. You can mail your dues to:

P.M. Chippers, Inc.
#54 Dalraida Road, Box 153
Montgomery, AL 36109

This month's tips come from Ron Wells, Resident Carver, Valley Road Woodcarvers, Silver Dollar City.

As you may know, P. M. Chippers gives a scholarship to the Southeastern Woodcarving School to a member of the club. This year's School will be held at Hooper Academy (Hope Hull, AL) on July 17 - 19, 1998. The drawing for the scholarship will be held at the end of the February meeting and is open to all members in good standing at that time. You do not have to be present to win, BUT you MUST be a paid up member of the club. Good luck to all.

The brochures for the 13th Annual Southeastern Woodcarving School have been mailed! If you have not received yours by now, please contact the club at PMChippers@pobox.com.

The P. M. Chippers, Inc. Woodcarving Club now has a web site! Please stop by to check it out. Comments and/or suggestions should be directed to PMChippers@pobox.com.

The web site address is: http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Valley/5658/index.html

The following article was posted on Internet email by Darrin Tissander. He is an avid "Wood Spirit" carver who has his own web site at https://www.angelfire.com/oh/woodspirits/index.html

He acknowledges he was not the original author of the lore but posted it for the information of all to read.

In this world, people have spun yarns and handed down legends and customs for centuries. Each of you has most likely been told a legend by your parents or grandparents that you will relate to someone someday. Its telling may vary some from village to village, but the main theme is as follows:

When a couple had their first child and each additional child, they would bring a log from the forest and place it under the bed. The log remained under the child's bed for life until he (or she) was to marry. The parents upon learning of the marriage plans, took the log to the local woodcarver and had him bring out the "Spirit that lived in the log." Sometimes the spirit looked wise and loving, sometimes comical, sometimes very serious. Whatever the woodcarver produced was then given to the couple's new home. Hence the "Wood spirit" is brought to bring the same good tidings to the purchaser's home or office, or as a gift to a friend or for their newlywed children. Thus beginning ones own family "Tradition".