I live in the Northwoods of Wisconsin with my two dogs, Sven and Ole, and a cat named George.  I have two wonderful kids, Kaitlyn a nurse, and Colin an apprenticeship plumber.  For 36 years I have been a machinist, the last 31 years as a CNC machinist at BW Papersytems.

I started carving about 14 years ago after attending a Boy Scout training event called Wood Badge as an assistant scoutmaster. I was involved in Scouts from a young age and became an Eagle Scout. As my son got involved with scouting, I became a Cub Leader and continued through Tigers and Webelos, eventually becoming an assistant scoutmaster.  I had the pleasure of seeing my son become an Eagle Scout.

I’ve been interested in carving since I was a child. My grandmother used to buy Scandinavian-style carvings from a fella named E. Kjellman.  I still have quite a few of them.  I was always drawn to that style. My first class was with Harley Refsal.  I wanted to take the class badly but could not afford it, so I stayed in a tent the whole weekend.

I am a member of the Wisconsin River Woodcarvers club.  I have received the CCA merit award twice.  I was dragged into teaching about 7 years ago kicking and screaming.  It turned out to be the best thing I ever did; it pushed me to do original designs, eventually developing my own style of flat plane carving.

I’ve been able to meet so many incredible people through my carving experience.  Being inducted into the CCA with the people I’ve always looked up to has been the highlight of my carving career.