[Woodcarver] Adirondack Hermits

[Mike Bloomquist]

Sally,
There were several Adirondack hermits, and Rick Butz has carved all the
better known ones.  I'm happy to say I saw the collection twice, once at the
Adirondack Art Center in Old Forge and once at his home.  The two that made
it to his books and his videos was "Old Mountain Phelps" ("How to Carve
Wood" published by Tauton Press) and Alva Dunning and his Hound
("Woodcarving with Rick Butz" published by Mandrigal Press).

Someone in Ellen's family (Rick's wife) was caretaker of one of the Great
Camps.  Occasionally they put up and put up with Alva (I think it was Alva)
when he came to town for supplies.  Whomever it was, they washed  his
laundry for him while he was getting supplies one day and when he returned
he chewed them all out for putting such a stink into his clothes that he
wouldn't be able to properly hunt game for weeks.  My favorite is French
Louie, but there was Noah John Rondeau, Daniel Wadsworth, Ebenezer Bowen as
well as others.  It seems that every settlement up in the North Country had
one.

Rick is another instructor who includes a lot of background and history with
his projects.  The running commentary he does while he works on the episode
always amazed me.  I think he raised an eyebrow when I didn't ask how he
carves the way he does, but wanted to know his trick for simultaneously
carving and talking while still retaining all his fingers.  If I ever learn
that trick I'll die a happy man ;-).

Keep on Carvin'
-Mike Bloomquist->

Wooden Dreams Woodcarving
http://www.borg.com/~bloomqum



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "sally nye" <sarolyn at accn.org>
To: "[Woodcarver]" <woodcarver at six.pairlist.net>
Sent: Saturday, June 05, 2004 9:14 PM
Subject: Re: [Woodcarver] Nisse(Tomte) chat


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> Hiya Mike,
> You'll not get a flame from me so quite ducking and listen up here.
> This is a bit off subject and you're welcome to change the thread line.
>   We're talking about legendary figures.  My question to a true New
> Yorker is...Was there a real live Adirondack Hermit?  Was his name
> Engles or something like that?  If so, is there a story about him?  Is
> there a pattern to carve him?  I know, I know that's more than one
> question.
> A curious mind wants to know.
> Sally
> http://www.geocities.com/fancarving/home.html
>
> On Jun 5, 2004, at 7:12 PM, Mike Bloomquist wrote:
>
> One of the first inspirations for me to carve something outside of
> fishing
> lures was Harley Refsal through his articles in BH&G Wood magazine
> (during
> the better years) and his book "Woodcarving in Scandinavian Style".
> Yes, I
> know he's of Norwegian decent, and decorated by the King of Norway, but
> he
> still refers to these characters as nisse AND tomte.  One of the
> features I
> liked best about his book was the background/history.
>
> As a typically mongrel American with a large dose of Swede i enjoy
> exporing
> my Svenska roots, but I would never claim that the Swedish discovered
> the
> tomte/nisse first... only that we carve them better <BMG>. (Big
> Mischievous
> Grin)
>
> Now excuse me while I duck the flames...
>
> Keep on Carvin'
> -Mike B.->
>
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