Happy Holidays 2011

It's been a roller coaster year! Christmas sales have been pretty good and we thank all of our wonderful customers for that. There some lucky carvers out there and Santa was thinking about you.

Stay tuned for the new year as we have some new products and accessories coming out.

We will be at the Coastal Carvers Show in Lincoln City on the Oregon Coast the second weekend in January.

And special thanks to Shawn Cipa for the nice article in the Winter 2011 Woodcarving Illustrated.

Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukah, Happy Solctice - however and whatever you and your family clebrate - we wish you all the best from GRIP-ALL JAWS!

An Astoria Suprise

My wife and I were wandering the wilds of downtown Astoria, Oregon on the 3rd of December. The old Lovell Auto Dealership has been turned into a local artist's market in the showroom and the shop area is now the Fort George Brewery... but I digress.

We went down a block and strolled Commercial Street which was alive with folks a-shopping and strolling. We chanced upon the RiverSea Gallery - it's right on the main drag. This shot was later in the evening with the lights on.

The RiverSea has always been a world-class gallery in a beautiful old building but what did we notice but a display of the exciting works of  carver and Grip-All Jaws user Rob Artman.

This is the piece by the door that caught my eye.



...And another fine mask. That machine on the floor is a programmable, self-propelled, ion powered, reticulating...oh, I have no idea what the heck it is. But it was really cool and I liked it!

The style is called "Steampunk" and it puts old things to new use.

You may have seen this Asian-looking mask before if you are regular visitor to the blog and it's still stunning in person.

It was wonderful to see Rob's pieces in that beautiful, up-scale setting. And if you are in Astoria, stop and see the RiverSea. 

The Northwest Wood Carvers Assn. Show and Sale

Grip All Jaws went to the Puyallup Show. That's what everybody calls it around here. The good news is that is was held in the restaurant building of the Washington State Fairgrounds. The bad news is none of the eateries were open!

This was a juried show as well as a having vendors of tools, supplies, and accessories. For example:

Drake Knives had a booth next to ours and they always do pretty well at these events. Gil makes really exquisite knives and palm chisels.

In the second picture, he has just reshaped and sharpened a tool for a customer. Gil and Bonnie are great people deal with and have a great product. If you carve, you can't do better than a Drake Knife.

Pat McCune and Cecily Bishop were carving Northwest Native works with traditional-style tools. Pat is carving a Thunderbird mask from a large piece of Red Cedar with a traditional hook knife.

One of the Best in Show winners was this Orca Moon Mask by Shannon Finch of Fife, Wa. The circle was about 24 inches across and the white pegboard doesn't do it any justice but it was a beautiful piece. 

John Nickerson of Graham, Wa. glued actual walnuts in between the top and bottom layers and made them the feature ring of this turned bowl.

Bob Harkness was the featured artist this year. That stage coach diorama was amazingly detailed!

R.P. Myers demonstrates the Orbital Holding System to a young couple at our booth. As evident by these two folks, people really enjoy talking to R.P. and he enjoys talking to people. As it turned out, she was the carver and bought an Orbital. Thanks, you guys and happy carving!

The weather for the weekend was not the best - it rained. But, of course we realize this is the Pacific Northwest. Look for us at the Coastal Carvers Show in Lincoln City on the beautiful Oregon coast. That's coming up in January.

Come by and say hi!

Wine - A Gentle Balance

You have seen these things all over the place. They won't stand up on their own but put a bottle of wine in the hole and - like magic - it stands up.

These are easy to make and you can make all kinds of shapes and use woods that are beautiful but too small for other things.

The important dimension is the distance from the edge point to center of the hole and the 36 degree angle. The 1 1/4 inch thickness is not mandatory but sort of a minimum.  

There is some real math involved here in calculating the force vectors and weights. The idea is to get the center of gravity just right with a bottle in place. So you could change the angle but that would mean you have to change the distance to the center hole.

Experiment with some scraps and see what you can come up with. 

The Artists' Easel Debuts at the All Oregon Calligrapher's Conference

We showed off the Artist's Easel at AOCC and it was way cool. We'll have more on this new product soon.

A Dust Free Dust Mask

A dust mask is a good thing for woodworkers and is really essential for some woods like Cocobolo, Kingwood, and many of the tropical woods. We are told that it is especially necessary for working gourds.

But there is little point in paying 20, 30, 50 dollars or more for a good filter mask and leave it out in the open air - even in a cabinet.

Here is one idea from a fan. He keeps his in a CD/DVD box made by Sterilite. It costs around $6.00 and has a lid that fits tightly and has latches on either side.

And as he put it, "You can drill a couple of holes in the bottom, and screw it to the wall next to where you use it so it will always be there."

Good idea! What good is a dust mask that's full of dust?

Seattle Woodcraft Woodworkers' Show

Mark your calendar - unless, like me you can't remember where you put the calendar!! October 7th, 8th, and 9th will be the Really Big Show at Seattle Woodcraft in South Seattle.

The Seattle Woodcraft store is one of the most successful in the country. Ron and Michele put on a big ol' swa-ree every year and this is the 9th.

Grip-All Jaws will be there showing our whole line of work holding apparatuses, apparati, apperatae, uh...holding devices.

Come on by and say hi if you are in the Seattle area that weekend. It's easy to find. Seattle Woodcraft is at the north end of Boeing Field. Go along I-5, north or south, and take the Corson Ave. exit from either direction. It's in the shopping center just before the Michigan St. signal.

You just might get to try to try to talk over the roar of a landing jet. That's pretty cool!