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PAGE 2, WHITBY FREE PRESS, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 3,1987 Reading, practice give Taylor carving expertise 'By JANET BROWNE Doug Taylor's first attempt at woodcarving was far from suc- cessful. "The bird, a Scarlet Tanjer, was so bad. I had to throw it in the gar- bage," says the 47-year-old Whitby resident who has since then become an accomplished carver of birds, ducks, otters, horses and anything else he is challenged with. "I used to paint, but I was never really that good," he explains. "People would tell me the paintings were good, but I always found there was something lacking there. Now, with the carving, I find I am really satisfied." Taylor not only satisfies himself but the many admirers and customers who are aware of his talent. Since he began carving three years ago, he has gone through about 90 feet of basswood, and has so far sold about 80 per cent of his works. Right now, he is trying to save up his stock so he can enter the Metropolitan Police craft show in the fall, for which he will need 30- 40 pieces. The creation of the carvings, the majority of which are decorative decoys, is an extremely detailed process. Taylor starts with a general pattern, selected from his file of about 250 different species of shapes, sands and sculpts the pictures or drawings, Taylor shapes, sands annd sculpts the wood to make as close to an exact replica as is possible, In order to get the feathered ef- fect onto the surface of the wood it must be burnt with short strokes of a hot pen-like instrument. Taylor once counted while burning, and found he made 352 marks per square inch. On the larger birds, actual individual feathers are car- ved separately, bent with steam and placed on the subject. The final step is a paint job, and each bird is adorned with the ap- propriate brightly colored plumage, according to Taylor's copy of 'Birds in North America.' "But it can run up to be quite ex- pensive," says Taylor, who pays about $10 a foot for the wood, and about $8 for a tube of acrylic paint. After putting about 40 hours of work into each full-size bird, Taylor sells them for about $200 dollars each. The smaller models are usually under $100. Woodcarving is not a full-time job for Taylor, although he admits he would love to be able to work on it all the time. "I just have an inner drive to sit down, grab a knife, and start whit- tling away," says Taylor who works as a production manager at Maacoin Oshawa. In past years, Taylor has been involved in van mural painting as a sideline, and has a passion for customizing cars. "In a way, that is artistic, too," he says. "I love taking a car and making it into something fancy and completely unreall". Inspired by a carver in Port Perry, Taylor has no formal training in the art of wood sculp- ture, and his expertise comes solely from reading books on the subject, and by practising. His bird carvings are so realistic, that he actually managed to fool his own cat. One day, he placed a little basswood Goldfinch on his lawn, hoping to attract real birds of the same species. Instead, through the grass crept his cat, stalking what it thought to be the real thing. One can only imagine its disappoin- tment when it pounced on a piece of wood rather than warm bird flesh. His creations are on sale frequen- tly at Picture This and That on Brock St. S. in Whitby, and Joan- ne's Flower shop in Oshawa. DOUG TAYLOR in his workshop at his Grand Trunk St. home in south Whitby. While ducks are Taylor's most popular pieces, he says he hopes to "be known as a nature carver, and do more animals than birds." "WHITTLING AWAY" led to a bird carving hobby for Doug Taylor. Most of his work is on decorative duck decoys, but he plans to do more animals than birds in the future. DNA continues opposition 28 IN T V . SH W 5 1 ? IO R m The transportation of the toxic substance tritium is not only a threat to public health, but may contribute to the nuclear arms race, according to members of Durham Nuclear Awareness (DNA) at a press conference in Whitby last Friday. "We're looking at a public health and environmental disaster," says Randy Dryburgh, of Citizens Turmberg Kennels - * DOG • TRAINING * CLASS, STARTS * AUGUST 11th, 1987 Please Register Now S 655-4721 • Against Nuclear Transportation (CANT), of the transportation of the "extremely toxic" substance that is a waste product of the CAN- DU reactors found in Ontario, Quebec and New Brunswick. Ontario Hydro is now transpor- ting the substance, which is con- tained in heavy water, from the Bruce plant to the only surrounding tritium removal facility at Darlington near Oshawa. Tran- sportation from Pickering to Darlington will begin in the fall. The tritium is carried on specially designed trucks each wor- th $500,000, which are able to withstand a collision at 100 km per hour, fire, and water submersion, according to Ontario Hydro. Despite these claims, Dryburgh insists that "there is no such thing as a totally safe" method of tran- sportation. One of DNA's main concerns is that Ontario Hydro will sell the substance on I the world market, particularly to the United States, because of its use in nuclear warheads. Dryburgh points out that there is a "dire need" for tritium in the U.S. at present, because of the 55 per cent cut-backs in U.S. tritium production there for safety reasons. "Canadians must resist this kind of development," he adds. Because the rate of tritium decay is 5.5 per cent per year, the sub- stance is needed in the U.S. to replenish older nuclear arms, About seven to 10 kgs are needed per annum to do this, and the 2.5 kg yearly production of the substance at Darlington could provide the U.S. with close to a third of their needs. One kilogram of tritium is worth approximately $15 million. According to DNA, one-twentieth of a gram of tritium is fatal while one-billionth of a gram can cause cancer. Susan Elston of the DNA cafled the federal government SEE PAGE 22