For years this has been my favorite place to work/ play. All of the wood I carve is Red Cedar and was cut for the lumber industry decades ago. The ring count on this log is over 250 years and was part of a very large tree. The log I'm cutting is tiny compared to some I've taken. Because there is still bark on it tells me that it was recently cut down, most times the wood doesn't have bark.

I have no idea where it came from, driftwood and other stuff can travel hundreds of miles along our coast. Many times my wife and I pick up garbage, bags of it and it to comes from all over the coast.

Below I'm working on the crown for a steam punk top hat.

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The log rounds are cut into a blank that I drill a spinner hole in and leave to dry. I do this on the band saw. When the blank is to be made into a crown, I again cut the blank to the right circumference on the band saw and use various power and hand tools to carve the crown and then the brim of this two piece hat block. 

Slide Show
Carving a   brim block

Check out the quirky video below to get an idea of how I work in the shop.