Louis
Blake learned to use a knife for whittling as a boy growing up in
Arkansas. He had seen men whittling canes near his home but did
not get started as a cane carver until he was working in Tucson,
AZ in a local boys institution. As he puts it, you can try as hard
as you want to teach and influence a boy, but there's no way to
control how he will actually turn out in the end. With wood it's
different. What you do to the wood has everything to do with the
final product. Louis Blake turned back to whittling as a relaxation
from his demanding work with youth.
Louis carves walking sticks most of the time. He uses mesquite,
eucalyptus , pyracanthus and local Arkansas woods. All his canes
bring out inner qualities in the specific wood he works with and
are strong and serviceable as well are beautiful.
Louis
Blake learned to use a knife for whittling as a boy growing up in
Arkansas. He had seen men whittling canes near his home but did
not get started as a cane carver until he was working in Tucson,
AZ in a local boys institution. As he puts it, you can try as hard
as you want to teach and influence a boy, but there's no way to
control how he will actually turn out in the end. With wood it's
different. What you do to the wood has everything to do with the
final product. Louis Blake turned back to whittling as a relaxation
from his demanding work with youth. 
