Backscratcher Carving Class Today

Most afternoons I arrange to have a Boy Scout class with a group and today I had 5 students join me and most everyone was working on backscratchers except for Russell who wanted to work on his walking stick. It seems that the popularity of backscratchers just won't die and this is another carving project that is proving to be VERY popular with the kids. They continually request them so I'd have to highly recommend this to be an exceedingly good project for kids.

As explained in earlier postings I just gather the fallen limbs from tulip poplar trees then rough out the basic shape of the scratcher with the bandsaw. Sharpen up the carving knives, grab a hand full of safety gloves and head for any group of kids where you are almost guaranteed success!

As the pictures above show some of my favorite designs for today's backscratchers was the one that Anthony carved a snake head into the end of the handle. Alex decided that he wanted to make a long handled ladle out of his rough out so he carved the bowl deep but it still scratches very good. Another one had the bowl carved into the shape of BigFoot. I thought that these were some pretty good ideas and I was very proud of today's class. These boys will have something good to dream about tonight! But most of all they'll have another nice craft that they made with their own hands to share with their families on next home visit!