Customer Spotlight

Man of Many Talents

Carpenter Mike - What a nice shop he built to house all of his "tools". See the CarveWright center stage?!

What is the difference between possessing a talent and learning a skill?  A talent is defined as “a natural ability”.   A skill is something you learn.  Our tutorials and educational materials can teach virtually anyone how to use the CarveWright.  With talent, a craftsman, such as Michael Leslie, can take that skill and really make some incredible things happen.

As we have found over and over again, most craftsman don’t just have one talent. From what little I know of Michael Leslie, his talents include an artistic eye, tons of imagination and a keen sense of humor coupled with what might be his most important talent – drive.   He displays these talents through various outlets and an assortment of mediums, which require quite a diverse set of tools.

Photographer Mike, Computer Graphics Mike, Humorist Mike & Woodchopper Mikes - With everything he is involved in doing, it is no wonder he “wood need some extra help”.  (Take a closer look at this one!)


Hand Carver Mike - Check out his website to see many fabulous other hand carvings.

Some of his learned skills include hand carving, carpentry, furniture making, photography, computer graphics,  landscaping and (the one his wife Pat insists that he utilize weekly) auto body repair, because as she says, “I need money!”  Both are co-owners in their Sundance WY business, M&P Auto Body.

Many times, we have hand carvers that accuse us, or rather the use of the CarveWright, as cheating. Michael Leslie is one hand carver who has embraced the CarveWright (CompuCarve). He has owned his machine for 3 years, but up until last April had never used it to carve. I at first thought he was one of several that had bought the machine and still never taken it “out of the box” when in fact; he had been using it, but only to scan his original carvings. Any of you who follow the CarveWright forum threads may have seen the incredible pieces that Michael Leslie has created by hand.

His first main project was a new walnut fireplace mantel, but as all of us should do, Mike first carved a test piece to see what areas needed fine tuning prior to cutting into the Walnut. With patterns he obtained mostly from The Pattern Depot, Mike laid out his stagecoach themed design in the CarveWright Designer Software using merge features and various depth and size adjustments. His test carve measured 58” in length and 8” wide – no small test carve; it took about 15 hours to complete and Mike only stopped it every 30 minutes to an hour to blow away the dust and occasionally to check the temperature of the flexshaft. (This folks is great maintenance skills!)  

After hours of layout design time and 15 hours carving on the CompuCarve, Mike knew he was only about a third of the way through this test piece. While some might run a mop sander over it, apply a varnish and call it “done”, he spent an estimated 38 more hours sanding it and under carving it before he then built a new deck into which he incorporated the redwood test carve.

< CNC Artist Mike - 58" long and 8" wide it took 15 hours to complete the test carve.

Test carve in Redwood – Mike estimates it would have taken him approximately 80 hours to carve by hand, instead he cleaned his woodshop, while the CompuCarve carved the basic design, which he later detailed and finished by hand.

Carpenter Mike - Built new deck to hold the Redwood test carving piece. He outlined it with lights to illuminate it at night. – Might I say, “I am in total awe of this man!”

Humorist Mike - this is what he built into his breakfast bar for his family's pet mouse - notice the electrical plate on top left of photo!

Let me say this again, this is his TEST PIECE!!! Mike did carve the mantel piece out of walnut, took over 50 hours to complete and it is awesome, but now he is thinking of redoing it in multiple layers of wood – maybe maple. You have got to keep up with the rest of this story to see how it turns out and see what other great things Mike has done and will do at his website at http://www.mikesphotos.dpreview.photoshare.co.nz/. He has also done an excellent job of documenting his progress on the CW Forum. Look for him under the name “Autobodyman”.

He is also CarveWright’s newest pattern vendor at the Pattern Depot. Check out some of his original carvings now available as patterns!

Michael is one man that has not buried his talents, but uses his talents and is sharing his gifts with others. We cannot all be Michael Leslie’s, but whether we have ten, five or just one talent, use it.

Landscaper Mike & wife Pat's back yard in Sundance WY.
See project on CW Forum Thread

“And this is the difference between a hobbyist and a craftsman. Those that expect the machine to just spit out a finished project are probably the ones that are not happy with it. Craftsman will use the machine to help with their work not finish it. You still need to go in and fine tune the project that comes out and it does take time, which is why some are so proud of their work, because they know how much time they have spent on it.” –
"Badger", CW forum.