Page 69 - William D. Roach, Woodcarver

ISSUE : Issue 60

Published by Ronald Caplan on 1992/6/1

William D. Roach, Woodcarver Bill RQach. Petit Etang: Those are holes I made in the pig, about 5 to 6 inches deep. Then I pour some stain into there, and I put a plug. Then it leaves expansion room, and the stain works through the wood, to help it so it won't split. (Where did you get that idea?) Well, at first I was kind of stuck. I was getting some piec? es that were splitting on me. I read into a Lee Valley book about some--it was called "peg"--that you could buy to stop the wood from splitting. But it was very expensive. So I started asking around here, what I could do to stop the wood from splitting. And of course, I was asking the older guys. And one old guy, he'd done some farming in his time. And he said, "What we used to do when we wanted to make a sleigh," he said, "we'd go in the woods. We'd cut the piece of wood we wanted--hardwood. And," he said, "in those days they used to use linseed oil in the holes. They'd drill a hole, and they'd pour some linseed oil. And they'd plug it. And then they'd leave it sit for awhile, to dry. And while it was drying, this linseed oil would stop it from cracking and splitting. So that's how they saved the wood." And when he told me that, I figured stain is a protector as well. When they put stain on shingles, it works as pretty well the same as linseed oil. So that's what I've done.... What I do is make them first. And then I drill all the holes in it after it's fin? ished. And then I plug them all up, and sand them down to be even. And then--it's just something came to mind one day. I had all these holes made, and I was filling them with the stain, and putting these plugs in. And instead of grabbing the screwdriver I grabbed a penny--to take a screw off or something--! grabbed a penny out of my pocket to undo it. And then I looked over at the hole (in the carving), and it looked to be pretty well the same size. So I just put the penny in there, and it fit. So I dropped it in. And I didn't put stain in that hole. I just put the penny and I put the plug. And since then, it's kind of given me an idea. In some pieces, I either put a lit? tle note of some kind, or an old penny or an old dime or something--here and there-- I drop different things in the hole, you know. So in time, there may be a little story going around over that, you know-- that in every piece there's something! (Is it fair to ask what kind of message you put inside your carvings?) Well, I re? member one that I put in--(it told) how I started carving--which was just a short cut-down thing. How I started carving and how I felt about the carving now. And the date it was done. And also about the ap? preciation on the bottom, that if anybody ever opened it--like, thanking the person Wbrld -wide Working together we glA i flights to more cities in Atlantic Canada, across the country, and around the world. AirCanada JmirNava =

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