Q: Do you ever paint your work?

No. Wood has an incredible, natural beauty. I go to great efforts to reveal this beauty, often investing dozens upon dozes of hours hand-sanding as high as 7,000 grit. It would make little sense to invest this amount time and work only to hide it with paint. Woodcarving (and sanding) is a lengthy process. Using clay, papier-mâché or even plaster would be a much faster means of having a sculpture to paint on. Check out the FAQ on Sanding to see the natural beauty in the trees' grain.

Question 1

You don't use power tools? Are you crazy?!

Accepted Answer

Yeah, probably!
Honestly though, I get this question a lot.  Answering it is always hard because there's so many different reasons.
 
Traditional carving is a dying art-form  I want to keep it alive, and to pass the skill on.

Hand-tools contain lessons  Not just lessons about wood, but lessons about yourself (first and foremost: patience).

There is more control There are no accidents I can blame on my tools - after all, the chisels don't move on their own. Every mistake is 100% my own fault and this nurtures growth. There are some shapes that just can't be done with power tools (or, at least, that I haven't seen yet).

You have to approach the tree with respect  You have to work WITH the tree.  Literally. No Dremel-bits or rotary tools to cut against the grain here.  You have to carve within the confines of nature.

Connection with the past  Everyone, of every culture, has some heritage in their DNA of working with wood.  At some point in the past, one of your ancestors was shaping wood with either metal, stone or bone.  I find comfort in connecting with this.  Holding a chisel feels natural to the body. It feels real.

The tree gets a voice, too  All this time, care, work and connection put into the wood results in a finished piece that not only shows my style as the Carver, but working with the wood allows the tree to dictate how the piece will look.  (You'd be surprised how much & to what extent this is the case).

Question 2

Those masks are neat, how long does one take?

Accepted Answer

For actual hours spent physically carving & sanding?  It really depends on the piece and the size.  Being a subtractive art form, a single large piece can take upwards of 200 hours.  
Here's a time lapse which shows some of the process on a smaller piece, LOPTR, and a glimpse of the transformation that happens.

Question 3

Why do you sand so much?

Accepted Answer

To better reveal the natural beauty in the wood.

Sanding a piece is much like a screen's resolution.  At 720p resolution, you cannot see the individual pixels that make up the images on your screen, but you can most definitely see the improvement in quality if you were to watch the same video in 1080p (and even moreso in 4k).  Sandpaper works much the same way by creating smaller and smaller scratches in the surface of the wood, making the "full quality" of the wood more and more visible with each grit.  Even once the scratches can no longer be individually seen, the raised fibres will still distort the true picture of the wood, hiding much of the colour and grain patters.
 
Most woodworkers will sand until the scratches are not easily seen by the human eye (often in the realm of 220-400 grit).  The wood looks nice at this level and splinters will be avoided if handled.  This is a normal and completely acceptable level.
I will sand my carvings up to 7,000 grit (no, that is not a typo).  
 
Yes, this is pretty extreme - I have never witnessed anyone taking sanding up to this level on wood.  I can only find sandpaper this fine through specialty automotive shops.
 
I do this intentionally - by presenting the natural beauty of wood in a way unseen before, we can reframe how we think of trees in our society.  They are more than just a resource for timber or fuel for our fires.  They are living beings and are needed to sustain not only human life but all ecosystems on the planet.  We need to reconsider our relationship with tress if we hope to continue as a species.
 
An example of 80 grit, 220 grit and 7,000 grit for comparison.  This is without any finish or oil on the wood yet.

Question 4

Why "Bjorn" ?

Accepted Answer

There was no established history of mask carving in New Brunswick until about 1980 when an indigenous woodcarver, Ned Bear, started his own style and dedicated his life to it.  He was an incredible artist and a master carver. I did not learn directly from Ned, but rather from past students of his.
Life is often cut short and Ned Bear is no longer with us (he started his next journey on December 24, 2019).  I am honoured to have been a part of Ned's final exhibition before his passing. Read more about Ned HERE.
BJORN (bear) was originally a nickname, given my bear-like tendencies. I have decided to incorporate it more formally into my practice as a way of paying homage to Ned Bear and acknowledging his 'lineage of carving' in my own way.

Question 5

Why Wood?

Accepted Answer

Being able to reclaim a discarded log that most would throw away or burn in a fireplace, and instead give it new life. This motivates me. We are rather fortunate on the East Coast - many Maritimers can step outside and, within only a few minutes, have the ability to immerse themselves in nature.  We tend to take this for granted.  There are many places where individuals do not have this opportunity.  
By presenting the beauty of wood in a way that we rarely see, my work encourages us to reevaluate how we view, and treat, the land around us.

Question 6

Why Faces?

Accepted Answer

While I don't restrict myself to only carving faces/masks, I tend to focus on them for three reasons:
The viewers' perspective. A face has presence.  Often, artwork is experienced passively as an outside observer.  This isn't the case when a face is looking back. The viewer becomes an active participant and engages with the piece on some level.  I have seen a wide range of reactions, from curiosity to discomfort.
The bridge. A carved face allows us, as humans, to recognize and interact with the tree as a being with some level of identity.  We often afford personality to what we consider 'beings', but not to 'things', and then treat these two categories very differently. By creating a cross-over, where we can see and relate to the tree as a being, not simply a thing, we automatically alter how we interact with trees.
The carver's perspective. Faces are challenging.  We spend a great deal of time interacting with other people and we rely on the face for a great deal of information.  Recognizing identity, changes in mood, age, etc...  Because we examine faces so often, any mistake that I make in carving a face will be instantly recognized by any viewer. This forces me to keep pushing my capabilities as an artist.

Question 7

Do you teach?

Accepted Answer

Yes I do!
 
While I do teach in post-secondary, I also offer not-for-credit workshops on carving. 
Take a look at Courses available, or get in touch through the Contact Form and I will let you know when a class is coming up!
If you're eager to jump in, I have a few pointers below.

Question 8

How can I learn to carve?

Accepted Answer

I do teach workshops, but it's actually pretty easy to get started on your own!
If you break it down to its most basic form, woodcarving is just removing the wood that's not part of your final vision.
I think of Woodcarving in FOUR main steps, regardless of what you want to create...
Thinking Subtractively.
Knowing your tools.
Understanding wood.
Knowing your 'model' or subject.
Seems simple enough, and it is to get started!  But mastering all four can easily take a lifetime.
 
THINKING SUBTRACTIVELY

Woodcarving is a subtractive art form (in contrast to mediums like ceramic, which can be additive). This means, in laymans terms, that if you want one part of your carving to stick out 2", then you have to remove or lower 2" of the  wood everywhere else on your piece.  
It seems obvious, but learning to think and design shapes (and then apply) in reverse can take a while to adjust to.
It also means that the more depth there is in your project, the larger piece of wood you need to start with, and the (exponentially) more work you will have cut out for yourself.
I'll be honest, wood is not the best material to learn subtractive design with.  It's tough to work with, and is not forgiving in the least.
Wax is an easy option to practice.  There's no grain.  It won't split. It cuts very easily and is quite light to carry. Plus you can melt it down and start over - or get creative and practice by carving custom candles as gifts.
Clay is another option.  Specifically if you allow the clay to dry to a leather-hardened state.  This essentially makes the clay firm/stable and forces one to work subtractively, rather than being able to 'shift' the clay around accidentally.

KNOW YOUR TOOLS

And yes, this means sharpening them too.
The right tools, when cared for, can last more than a lifetime of use.  The wrong tools ...well, they won't ever get used.  
Selecting which tools you need is tricky, ESPECIALLY if you haven't done much hands-on carving yet.

The tools you have will dictate (mostly) what types of things you can carve and, in the same vein, what you want to carve will dictate what type of tools you'll want.

Identify what type of projects you want to carve.  The umbrella terms often used to separate/identify both the tools and the projects of woodcarving are...

a)     Chip Carving
b)     Relief Carving
c)     Carving in the Round (or sculpture)   <--- What I do.

Searching each of the three online will show some incredible examples and will help you identify which one you're most interested in pursuing. 
Once you decide this, find some videos online.  Watch some artists at work, some timelapses. Pay attention to the vastly different (or, more importantly, similar) tools people use.  
Notice the different processes entailed too!  Some people use chainsaws. Some use dremels.  Some use chisels.  Some use lathes (woodturners).  Some start a piece on an industrial bandsaw.
Notice which process looks enjoyable to you, but also, and I cannot stress this enough, which ones you can actually facilitate!  
Look at the setup these different artists have and pay attention to the mess created, the equipment needed, the noise produced, the danger involved.
- Do you live in an apartment building in New York City? Chainsaw carving might not be the best fit.
-  Are you carving indoors with carpeted floors?  The fine dust created by dremels might be a problem unless you rig up some sort of ventilation.
-  How much space can you dedicate to equipment / working?

Give these factors some thought and give your budget a look through.  After that, you will be in a good place to look at tools (and know which tools to look for).
My advice is to stay away from sets of tools (unless you need every single one in the set) and READ REVIEWS.  It sounds cliché, but stick with either a trusted/established company or go with products endorsed by a carver who knows what their doing and that you trust. Stay away from cheap garbage.  
Remember: these tools are dangerous.  Quality, trusted tools will not only make your life easier while carving, sharpening and maintaining them.  They will also help to keep you more safe from accidents.

I am by no means the authority on this, but I find Flexcut has good detail products for chip carving and relief carving (whittling, too).  They strike a good balance of maintaining affordability without sacrificing the quality of metal. Tools for sculpture will depend more on the projects / scale that you are interested in.

UNDERSTANDING WOOD

You could easily dedicate your whole life to this.  Infact, some jobs do!
It's important to gain even an basic understanding of how wood, as a tree, grows and lives.  This will help in understanding and tackling issues such as cracking, mold/rot, drying wood (if you carve green, which I prefer). It will aid in other things such as how to go about sealing a log to help with drying, how spalting occures, and how grain functions.

The absolute basics can be found online, but if you want to gain a more indepth understanding about wood itself, check out: "Understanding Wood: A Craftsman's Guide to Wood Technology" by R. Bruce Hoadley.

KNOW YOUR SUBJECT

If you want to carve a face, you need to know what a face is shaped like.
It sounds easy, but it's not.  We see faces around us every day, but we only pay attention to certain features and expressions.
Everything connects and flows. Everything varies in depth and spacing.  Everything is symetrical ...or not.
I'd invite everyone to take what they have at home, maybe some clay, plastecine or playdoh, and try to shape an annatomically face.  Chances are, it will look off. Really off.  
Unless you're a plastic surgeon, artist or some such that has already studied the face, this is completely normal!  We stare at faces around us 24/7, and we watch features to exhibit emotion and feeling, so of course we pick up immedietely on when a face looks "just off".  Our brain notices that it's off, but we don't think about what makes it seem off.  Not really. 
I use faces as an example because it's what I love to carve.  But I also think it's a great example for demonstrating how challenging it can be to accurately portray something in wood (doubly so if "carving in the round").  Drawing a face with a pencil in 2D is hard enough, but trying to portay all angles and depths in 3D is another challenge altogether.

So start with something a bit more simple!  Or keep the face more 2D / flat to start as you learn!
Pay special attention to the depth in whatever subject you plan to carve, and allow yourself to take chances and make mistakes.

Good luck starting on your journey!

Question 9

Do you ever paint your work?

Accepted Answer

No.

Wood has an incredible, natural beauty.  I go to great efforts to reveal this beauty, often investing dozens upon dozes of hours hand-sanding as high as 7,000 grit.  It would make little sense to invest this amount time and work only to hide it with paint.

Woodcarving (and sanding) is a lengthy process.  Using clay, papier-mâché or even plaster would be a much faster means of having a sculpture to paint on.
 
Check out the FAQ on Sanding to see the natural beauty in the trees' grain.

Question 10

Are you indigenous?

Accepted Answer

No, I am not indigenous.

Timothy 'Bjorn' Jones

Visual Artist

Frequently asked questions

You don't use power tools? Are you crazy?!