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Welcome
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Rochester Woodcarvers!
The Rochester Woodcarvers Club is a gathering of individuals from around the Rochester Minnesota area who are interested in woodcarving. Everyone is welcome whether they are just interested in learning about woodcarving, are considering starting to carve, or are beginner, experienced or master carvers.
Join us at the next meeting of the 2025-2026 season
Visitors welcome!
For general meeting information and location check out the Club Information menu above.
Upcoming Meetings & Speakers
18 October – Marty Leenhouts – Chip Carving Essentials & Applying a Great Finish
15 November – Erik Wykoff – Architectural relief carving
20 December – Potluck
17 January – Rebecca Hanna – Viking calendar
20 February – Ev Ellenwood – Surprise Topic
Year round Weekly Carve-Ins continue on Tuesday and Wednesday (details here)
Please invite your spouse, family, friends and neighbors to our meetings!
Remember to bring your “Show and Tell” items to let us know what you have been doing!
Festival of Trees – A Big Top Circus
The Festival is coming quicker than you think!
We are creating a circus scene under the tree with the red striped tent as the tree skirt. Various circus acts, performers, animals and props are needed to help populate the scene. Ornaments for the tree can be related to the circus, but all items found on Christmas trees are welcome.
November 18 is the last meeting to drop off your carvings.
New Carving Learning Opportunities
We have two club members offering to teach carving.
Andre wants to offer a class on chip carving to 3 to 6 people.
Mike is offering private lessons to create a song bird.
To get more information and connect with these experts, send an email to contact@rochesterwoodcarvers.com
Recent Club Events
We had another nice spring picnic.
The Oxbow Park Nature Center provided a comfortable setting on an extra hot Saturday. On behalf of the club, Steve the Stickman donated another chain saw carving — an oversized skunk!
For a look at this and other spring picnics, go over to the Picnic page (Club Events>Other Events>Picnics).
Our 49th Anniversary Annual Show was fun for both visitors and exhibitors. All of the photos, the video walk through and links to media coverage are included on the 2025 Annual Show page.
So go look at them!
Next Monthly Meeting – October 18
Marty Leenhouts
Chip Carving Essentials & Applying a Great Finish
I’ll demonstrate proper technique, pattern application, knife sharpening and necessary tools when learning how to succeed with chip carving.
Next I’ll jump to the last step, applying a finish. Finishing your carving can be intimidating and confusing. I’ll remove all the guesswork when it comes to applying a great finish.
Marty Leenhouts is the founder of MyChipCarving.com with over 30k subscribers and 200k hours of watch time. He has created three chip carved sculptures that have been installed in cities across MN and SD. He and his wife Shelley, also run Red Barn Retreats in Garden City, MN.
See Marty.
See Marty carve.
Carve Marty carve.
Cut, cut, cut.
Chip, chip, chip.
All done!
