CCG Mission Statement: Teaching, Sharing, Promoting the Art of Woodcarving
Carving groups and carving classes are held at the Pleasanton Senior Center, 5353 Sunol Blvd., Pleasanton, CA 94566. Every Tuesday and Thursday, 9 AM to 4 PM, drop-in. Arrive when you can and leave when you want to.
2026 Officers. Click to see the list.
PRESIDENT: Bob Kehl
VICE PRESIDENT: Ken Morgan
RECORDING SECRETARY: Don Bott
CORSP. SECRETARY: Paul Fackler
TREASURER: Claudia Fernandes
EDITOR: Mike Pocha, Dave Boles
CCG ADVISOR: Dave Boles
CCG REGIONAL DIRECTOR: Dave Boles
SHOW CHAIRPERSON: Kurt Alfred
WEB MASTER: Carol Salinger
From The Pres By Bob Kehl
Dear TVC Carvers,
With the arrival of spring on March 20th, we look forward to new growth both in our gardens and throughout the community. This month also brings St. Patrick’s Day celebrations, and we extend best wishes to all who observe the occasion.
I would like to address several important items as we begin this new season:
Announcement: Following our February officer elections, the Secretary position remained vacant due to a lack of nominations. During that meeting, I proposed consolidating the Secretary and Communications Secretary roles into a single position. I am pleased to announce that Lorin Jensen has kindly volunteered to serve as our Secretary for the next two years. We will be reviewing and updating the job description for this role in the coming weeks. Please join me in welcoming Lorin to this position.
Raffle Prizes for This Year’s Show: At our recent meeting and in our newsletter, we discussed preparations for this year’s show raffle prizes. Suitable raffle items include wood carvings, burnings, turnings, tools, or gift baskets/gift certificates. As of now, we have not yet received any contributions. We encourage members to consider donating an item for the raffle. All contributions are welcome and will be greatly appreciated. Early receipt of items will allow us to include photographs and descriptions in our brochures, enabling us to begin selling and promoting raffle tickets at upcoming events such as Art under the Oaks and other demonstrations. The success of this initiative depends on early ticket sales, both leading up to and during our annual show in September. Please contact me at your earliest convenience to discuss your donation or project proposal.
Thank you for your continued support and participation.
Zoom sessions every Mon at 7-8 pm.
Zoom Meeting
Joanne Carroll challenged the Zoom group to interview other carvers and present their wood working/carving journey to the group. Joanne introduced us to Bruce Freiderich a woodturner-carver extraordinaire who lives near her Chapter 66 Lincoln Hills Carvers group.
TVC Woodcarving Meetings at Pleasanton Senior Center
Our meetings are always busy as people work on their projects, share carving tips, discuss upcoming events, and mentor beginners. Sometimes we have visitors and guests, and look at the super-friendly puppy (see the photo) who visited us on Tuesday!
Visit our woodcarving meetings to explore the workshops and group projects we have scheduled for the year.
Woodcarving Resources
Did you know that the club has wood, roughouts, and training resources available to the members? The large cabinets are full of nice items you can benefit from. Ask Bob, Ken, or Gary to explore the cabinet’s content.
One notable item there is the Step-by-Step Novice Carver guide written by L.S. ‘Mac’ McLaughlin. The guide includes whittling and carving patterns, along with detailed instructions for completing them. It also includes the Sea Otter project, as it is perfect for beginners to learn how to carve with the grain on gentle otter curves.
Current Woodcarving Projects
Daniel Roth
Daniel is building a stool for his grandchild. He is currently decorating the top of the stool with a sleeping bear cub. The challenge is to make the bear stand out while keeping the surface flat enough for comfortable sitting.
Dave Boles
Dave works on a tiny little bear in a flat-plane carving style. Even if he just started on the project, we can already see a bear peaking out of a piece of wood.
Gary Eaves
Gary is working on his Old-World Santa. He has already finished carving it and is preparing the figurine for painting by sanding the rough spots with his riffler files.
Grant Morlock
Grant is working on his first relief woodcarving project, and he already outlined the four-petal flower and leaves. It would be interesting to see how the colorful flower will contrast with the live-edge basswood board when the carving is complete.
Jenifer Phillips
Jenifer is working on the stylized crossbow, and she just started carving two eagle heads in the center. Also, she won the bragging rights for wearing the most beautiful apron in the shop!
Jim Phipps
Jim is carving a stylized, curvy shape and will keep the meaning of what it represents a secret until he finishes the project. Can’t wait for Jim to complete the project, and hopefully submit it to the upcoming show in September!
Ken Morgan
Ken has been working on his “Tasmanian Devil” automata, and is now at the point where some parts can be painted. He is going to use bright acrylic paint, so it will really scare his neighbors’ kids on Halloween this year.
Lorin Jensen
Lorin is working on a challenging caricature, a horse on the cliff. We can see he already shaped the figure, and now he is carving small details.
Maya Jain
Maya likes carving large pieces, and this work-in-progress is not an exception. This stylized love project is both beautiful and challenging, and we can see how Maya gradually carves the pattern into wood.
Mike Pocha
Mike started working on the gifts for the winter holiday season early. He is carving a playful caricature tree… or maybe Santa is hiding between the branches? We will see it soon when Mike paints this carving with acrylic paint.
Ngam Worley
Ngam’s carvings with flower motifs are outstanding. She won one of the best-of-show awards for her Peony Flower carving last year, and now she is working on an even larger bouquet with even more details.
Darlene Mellquist
Darlene is an accomplished chip carver whose pieces consistently earn ribbons at our shows. She also whittles and works in a variety of carving styles. This season she’s shaping a fish, and we can’t wait to see the finished piece.
Rich Hume
Rich likes carving small items, and he works on a few to switch context during long carving meetings. He keeps his knives super sharp and uses a piece of bare wood as a strop instead of leather.
Roman Chernikov
Roman rarely attends our meetings, but he participates in our woodcarving shows each year. He enjoys chip carving and whittling, and we can see him carving a pumpkin at our recent meeting.
Roman has made two leather strops and carved his own chip carving designs on them. Read his DIY leather‑strop article and download the free chip carving pattern for making strops from his site, READ N TRY.
CALENDAR 2026
| 26th Annual Oakhurst Rendezvous | April 19 – 25 |
| Sheep Shearing Day, Forest Farms Historic Park, San Ramon | April 25 |
| Alameda County Fair, Pleasanton | June 19 – July 12 |
| Tri-Valley Carvers Annual Woodcarving Show | September 12-13. Set up on September 11. |
The Last Word
Another month comes around and I still hope you’ve read this far. As previously mentioned we’re in the process of updating and hopefully improving our website and our newsletter. Please be patient, and it wouldn’t hurt to hear a few more of our members asking “What can I do to help?“
Let us know if you liked this Tri-Valley Carvers’ newsletter. Also, what would you like to see in our future newsletters? And have you ever seen a strawberry duck? Please let us know in the comments below.