Dayle Lewis was raised on a dairy farm in Pratt, Kansas and holds a BS in Industrial Engineering at KSU. Dayle started wood carving in 1992. Since that time, his carving has won various awards at many woodcarving shows.  Although, Dayle is mostly self-taught through books and trial and error, he has learned things from the hands of others. However, he gives ultimate credit for his amazing woodcarving gift to God's inspiration.

In December of 1996, he began chainsaw carving. This type of carving is very different, but his hand-carving experience has proven to be an advantage in becoming skilled with the chainsaw.  Dayle loves to go into someone's yard and create a sculpture out of a stump. He uses different sizes of Husqvarna chain saws. His favorite wood is Catalpa, but he has carved in about every kind of wood there is.

Dayle loves to share the joy of carving with others. In February 1998, he started teaching hand carving classes at Hayes Arboretum in Richmond, Indiana. He has taught in various cities and in other states, teaching for a total of over 1100 people from the ages of 8 to 88. According to Dayle, it takes about an hour to see the joy and excitement come into their faces.  A knife and a piece of wood are all you need to get started. Basswood is the preferred type of wood for hand carving. There are 3 different types of wood carving in-the-round, chip, and relief.  He has done and taught them all, but he enjoys in-the-round the best.

In 2000, Dayle entered his first chain saw carving contest in Converse, IN. He placed 3^rd, carving a large rabbit with a baby rabbit sitting between his ears. It was obvious at the competition that he needed to purchase a carver's bar. This is a special bar that has a tip that is only the size of a dime. He ordered it immediately and he was off with a short learning curve. The next year he brought home 1^st place.

In 2002, Dayle went full time as a wood carver with about 50% hand and 50% chain saw. He got his big jump start by his employer downsizing and laying him off from his engineering job. This was very scary at first, but now it feels great.

Dayle is well known for his woodspirit's. In 2003, he wrote a how-to book carving a woodspirit with step-by-step instructions and lots of photos. The book has a gallery of some of his finished creations and is already in a second-edition printing. You can have your own signed copy for $7.95 plus shipping and handling.

In 2004, he traveled 40% of the time. He was stretched to reach higher by being commissioned to create sculptures. The ultimate challenge was creating a 20-foot mountain man from a standing oak tree. There is now an 8 foot dog beside him and a raccoon and squirrels coming soon.

He says "It's very relaxing and really enjoyable to create something for someone from an idea or picture.  It's a real joy to show them the final product and see their faces light up!"  If you can imagine it, he can probably carve it.

The Lord is my light and my salvation: whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life: of whom shall I be afraid? Psalms 27: 1-2