Welcome to Issue 3 of Year 15 of Woodcarver Online Magazine.

Hello carving friends -

With this issue I'm reintroducing a feature from past issues of WOM - that of including an interesting or outstanding carving on the "front page." I'd like to introduce you to Dominic Spencer of Hudson, MI, the carver of this very nice Scarlet Tanager. At the 2010 International Woodcarvers Congress, Dominic won 1st in Class 102 - which is for carvers 11 to 14 years old!

Dominic, along with all the other winners in Group A - Young Carvers Open Class, should serve as a great reminder that young people, properly mentored and encouraged, can produce some really nice carvings. You can see the rest of those winners in this issue of WOM, which includes a number of photo galleries from the 2010 IWC competition. Building the photo galleries for the IWC article each year is a long, time-comsuming effort, but I always look forward to Group A, to see what wonderful carvings the youngsters have submitted. The folks that run IWC are to be congratulated to putting the young carvers group right at the front of all the winning carvings.

One way you can help encourage youngsters to start carving is to become a woodcarver merit badge councilor for your local BSA council. For may of us, scout camp was our first exposure to woodcarving. "Ol' Don" Burgdorf has memorialized that experience in his pattern in this issue of WOM - be sure to check it out.

One other noteworthy event - last month we kicked off a Woodcarver List Facebook group. This provides a place on FB for carvers to post carving photos and to chat about carving; it also serves as a companion to the Woodcarver Listserv. Come on by for a visit!

In this issue:

The 2010 International Woodcarvers Congress Photo Galleries - ( That's right - the 2010 IWC. Normally this article is out sooner in the year, but events conspired against me.)

Notes From The Net reappears in this issue, in which Doug Evens bravely kicks off a discussion about sharpening.

Pete LeClair's Donald

"Ol' Don's" Drawing Table - "Woodcarving Merit Badge"

Events, Happenin's and Going's-on updated

As always - enjoy!

Matt Kelley, Editor