23 replies to this topic

[Janel]

Hi,

I've recently had a couple of inquiries about peach pit carvings. Has anyone carved, or does anyone carve pits or seeds?

Janel

[Doug Sanders]

The guys in my local woodcarving club have shared with me a diagram for making peach pit earings in the shape of a monkey. Not quite fine art, but one of those folksy things you find here in Indiana.

I've only tried black walnut shells

[Janel]

Oooo, I like the idea of the little leaves!

One of the inquirers might be sending a copy of an article which he wrote about his trip in 1993 to meet carvers in China, and a photo of a monkey and a circus elephant he carved, I assume from a peach pit.

Being out there on the web brings some interesting people my way!

Any others among us fallen prey to the peach pit?

I found the material very nice to carve and wish that it were a solid block for carving from!

Janel

[Garrett McCormack]

I have polished up quite a few..they reveal such wonderful patterns!

[Janel]

I have seen necklaces made from carved peach pit beads.

I have not researched peach pit carving, so I have not much to share about the history of carving such materials. If the fellow does send the article, perhaps there will be some enlightenment to share from that.

Janel

[Janel]

I have received the articles about peach pit carving from Mr. Herb Merritt, but am not done reading them. It is very interesting! The other fellow who inquired about peach pit carving, Mr. Dick Dietrich, has posted a page, still in progress, about the subject. This has been so much fun! Email and internet continue to bring surprises to me and help to broaden my experiences!

Mr. R.V. (Dick) Dietrich:

Main web site: GEMROCKS: Ornamental & Curio Stones http://www.cst.cmich...users/dietr1rv/

Peach Pit Page: http://www.cst.cmich...hpits/index.htm

I'm having fun! It is curious that each man wrote to me at about the same time about peach pits. Each has done research and has provided interesting information about the topic!

Email and the internet continue to help make the world an even more interesting place to be living in.

Janel

[Don]

Hi my name is Don Thorschmidt,
I carved over 125 differant items from Peach Pits,& did craft shows in NY Washington Square out door art exhibit in 1970s & 80s. Also exhibited in NJ,CT.too.
I purchached my first home in Hicksville LI,from the sales of my work,(down payment). I am a Mechanical Engineer & still working at that,& I don't carve much now.
Who are the others in The carving Path that carves Peach pits?

[Janel]

Hi Don,

Welcome to The Carving Path forum! Thank you for the great story about your peach pit carving success back then.

Janel

[Scott]

Interesting, I did a web search for peach pit carving and my first hit was Peach Pit Carving now I wouldn't have been so impressed until I saw this about the tools used "Figure 3. Tools. Left, top to bottom, Grandpa Dietrich's jackknife, my jackknife and paring knife.
Right, Some of Janel Jacobson’s carving tools – ( © photo by Janel Jacobson,
reprinted here by permission; see www.janeljacobson.com/carvings/325)" odd, the www.janeljacobson.com/carvings/325 link leads me to nowhere. still I find the idea of carving peach pits interesting, kind of like Tagua Nut carving.

[Janel]

Hi Scott,

Thanks for pointing that out. The hyperlinks on that site seem to not be written correctly. The link: www.janeljacobson.com/carvings/325.html seems to have omitted the .html. Regardless, scroll down that same page from your Peach Pit Carving link, and you will see the image for Clouds and Trees, the piece on the page of my web site.

Janel

[DreamingDragonDesigns]

Janel, on Jun 8 2005, 11:17 PM, said:

Hi,

I've recently had a couple of inquiries about peach pit carvings. Has anyone carved, or does anyone carve pits or seeds?

Janel

I've carved a rather cute heart pendant out of one. I'll try to get some pics of it. Need to post it up on my Etsy anyway.
I honestly don't think I'd try doing anything complex, but the one I messed with was fairly hard.
LJ

[J.J. Smith]

Janel, on Jun 20 2005, 09:07 AM, said:

I have received the articles about peach pit carving from Mr. Herb Merritt, but am not done reading them. It is very interesting! The other fellow who inquired about peach pit carving, Mr. Dick Dietrich, has posted a page, still in progress, about the subject. This has been so much fun! Email and internet continue to bring surprises to me and help to broaden my experiences!

Mr. R.V. (Dick) Dietrich:

Main web site: GEMROCKS: Ornamental & Curio Stones http://www.cst.cmich...users/dietr1rv/

Peach Pit Page: http://www.cst.cmich...hpits/index.htm

I'm having fun! It is curious that each man wrote to me at about the same time about peach pits. Each has done research and has provided interesting information about the topic!

Email and the internet continue to help make the world an even more interesting place to be living in.

Janel

I realize that it's been over 3 years since the original post, but I've been trying to find out about Herb Merritt. Was he an author, carver, or did he just pass on misc, articles on peach pit carving? I know that Carving Peach Pits by R. V. Dietrich is usually the first item that is listed when you perform an Internet search and is one of the better sources of information.
Thanks,
J.J. Smith

[Whittlin' Joe]

I'm happy to see I'm not the only one who enjoys carving Peach and Nectarine pits! I've been carving them since I was a kid in Boy Scouts when we relied on Ben Hunt's Whittlin' books for ideas! That was about 45 years ago, so I've been carvin' them quite a while! I've made lots of things out of Peach Pits, but have also given a lot away. If I can figure out how to post pictures here, I'll include some of the stuff I still have hanging around. I do think that Peach Pit carving used to be MUCH more popular than it is now, and I vividly remember the first Peach Pit monkey biting it's own tail I ever saw....it belonged to my Grandmother, and when she died, my Mom got it and it was one of her most prized possessions.

Hope to become a regular contributor here! Happy carving everyone

[Whittlin' Joe]

Thought I'd add another picture if this works....here are some monkeys and a buffalo I did.

[Whittlin' Joe]

Here's another shot of the buffalo....hope I'm not overdoing it on the pix.

[Whittlin' Joe]

Here's another view of the little Buffalo.....the horns are tiny bits of a white plastic toothpick by the way....

Attached Images

• 

[Whittlin' Joe]

Here's some other things I carved...the Turtle has Mother of Pearl epoxied to the underside for the head and flippers. The skull is bit toothless....

[Janel]

Welcome Whittlin'n Joe,

Please read the top most topic on every forum area about photo resizing for the comfort of the forum members. I am unable to see your photos because they will take about half an hour to load on my computer. There are those of us who are unable to have fast internet connections.

Again welcome to The Carving Path forum!

Janel


I have edited the photos to appropriate sizes.