Mike Stinnett

The Artist

Mike Stinnett  grew up in Eastern Oregon where he spent much of his time exploring nature. The beauty of the local landscape and wildlife is what has always inspired his creativity. He began his art career while in carpentry with selling detailed wildlife and landscape paintings in his spare time. His first experience in carving wood was to make walking sticks with a Rattlesnake climbing the shaft, all from a single piece of wood which he found out in the countryside. He continues to carve unique one-of-a-kind, wildlife themed, walking sticks featuring all kinds of animals and elements of their habitat. He is honored to have his works in private collections all over the world.

How did you get into woodworking?

I came from a family of carpenters.  My dad bought me a rotary power carving tool at an early age. So working with wood came to me naturally.

What inspires your creations?

The beauty of God’s creation inspires me.

What made you decide to add power carving to your repertoire?

The need for speed. Power carving is the best way I know to remove unwanted wood, quickly.

What is your favorite power carving tool and why?

My favorite power carving tool for roughing out is the Arbortech Mini Carver with a mini turbo wheel.  It allows  to remove wood quickly, smoothly and precisly.

What impact has power carving had on your art/passion/livelihood?

The ability to rough out projects quickly gives me more time to spend on fine details.  This allows me to be able to make more projects in a year and boosts my revenue.

What advice would you give to people who are thinking of getting into power carving?

Power carving can be a lot of fun and rewarding, but it can also be dangerous.  Make sure you understand how to use your tools safely. When you first start power carving; remember that you first have to learn how to control the tools.  So consider your first carvings as practice pieces and don’t be discouraged if they don’t turn out as you imagined they should have.  Just learn from each project take note of your mistakes and apply what you’ve learned to the next project and your skills will improve with each one.  Many hours have to be dedicated to the learning process in order to master it.  Just keep carving!

To learn more about Mike and his business Stinnet Sticks, follow the links below.