ROBERT FURIA (MLBob)

West Chester, Ohio (SW Ohio)

When did you start?
1976

Why did you start?
I had a hunting partner who made and maintained a lot of his hunting decoys (albeit crude ones), and I was inspired to carve a bird for the mantle.

Favorite specie to carve?
American Black Duck

Favorite specie to hunt?
SAME!

Most memorable win?
University of Dayton vs. Toledo 1970 (I had three receptions and kicked the winning PAT). ;-)

Favorite Show?
Pointe Mouilee Waterfowlers Tournament

Most influence on your carving style?
Josef "Buckeye Joe" Wooster

Who started you - mentor(s)?
Eventually, I came to claim Joe as a mentor. After a shaky start (I had been carving about a year, when I read an article featuring Joe in the National Geographic publication, "National Wildlfe"), I wrote him a letter about visiting him at his shop (home) in Ashley, OH. As I recall, Joe replied by telling me to go straight to hell ( ...something about not having time to waste with a "wood butcher"). That summer, the late Bill Green of ODCCA asked me to organize demonstrations by Ohio carvers for the DNR exhibit area at the Ohio State Fair. I showed up unannounced at Joe's door (he refused to own a phone) to recruit him, and that, surprisingly enough, was the beginning of a long friendship. In later years he claimed he was just "testing" my resolve with his first response. That fall, I was invited to the annual "Ashley, Wood-Duck Gang Bang," and the rest is history. Over the years Joe taught me most of things that would form the basis of how I approach carving and painting today, yet he rarely had to pick up a tool or brush to do so. Back then, I quickly came to realize that if I listened carefully whenever I spent time at Joe's instead of being fixated on the "show me hows," I could learn a lot. It's amazing what the old timers had to pass on that had very little to do with sitting one down and giving instruction on using tools or mixing and applying paint. They did, however, reveal "parcels of truth" that tended to come out in long hours of conversation. One just had to be attentive and listen for them.

Favorite medium? (Type of wood and paint)
Cork, and most recently - palm fronds. Acrylic paint plus the use of spatter tools.

What are you working on now? Future plans?
Snakey-neck, preening palm-frond pintail drake. To play with as many fronds as I can get my hands on.

Favorite style of carving ( Decorative, antique, gunners, IWCA, shorebird)
Gunners (as defined by actual use). I'm big on the marriage of form and function!

If you could add three birds to your collection, what specie and from whom?
Wooster wood duck; Marty Hanson widgeon (a pair); Schmeidlin bluebill. That's four, but what the heck.

Most difficult part of carving in your mind?
Thinking past carving to painting.

What, or who, inspires you?
People who are passionate about carving for the sake of creating and for the connection it gives them to natural things.

"The world is too much with us late and soon;
Getting and spending we lay waste our powers;
We see little in Nature that is ours;
We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon."

Name 5-10 essentials for carving
-Bandsaw
-Clear basswood head stock
-Sharp Knives and Gouges with blades suited for my applications
-A wide leather strop
-A Good set of clamps
-Foredom w/ cone & cylinder Kutzalls, & 1/2" shaft padded sanding drums
-Val-Oil
-Open-cell Sponges
-Good quality texture combs - both commercial & hand made
-Conventional spatter tools + a selection of old toothbrushes converted to use as spatter tools
-Paasche AB Airbrush