Joe Hauger Woodworking

09/14/2026

Built up the pen and lefse turning stick supply this weekend.

I can't decide whether I like the painted or woodburned lefse sticks better.

I painted a couple with a flag of Norway on one side and Sweden on the other for Scandinavian hybrids like me.

09/09/2026

It was a neat process carving the blocks for the Meander poster. It was basically these steps:
1. drive yourself nuts overthinking what the poster should look like
2. consult with Brad Hall who talks sense into you
3. carve the linoleum blocks...removing everything that isn't part of your image
4. take it to A to Z printing where Andy does magic printing press things to it-fine tune image as necessary
5. put your heads together on the best layout, spacing, colors, etc.

Of course, there was a bit more to it than that, but it was a fun process, and neat to carve something besides wood.

And actually, I carved two blocks; one for the black lines and one for the yellow color.

And actually first, as a warm-up I carved two smaller blocks for thank you cards.

Anyway, I'll have all the printing blocks on display during the Meander, and I'll explain it all to anyone really interested in the process.

08/23/2026

What an honor and thrill to be the 2026 featured artist of the Meander Art Crawl! At the artist info meeting this past week Andy Kahmann, Brad Hall and I got to unveil the 2026 poster we designed which depicts some of my carved pieces. I got to carve the print blocks for the poster...so its sort of a carving of my carvings!

Keep an eye out for this image on posters, brochures and even billboards in Minnesota! (Not sure where the billboards are but will be keeping an eye out...would love to get a picture of my art on a billboard!)

And make your plans to meander along the Upper MN River Valley the first weekend of October...

08/14/2026

This bird is more than 45,000 years old. Or rather, the wood its made from is. It's called "mammoth kauri" wood and is found in New Zeland. Giant trees were buried in some type of cataclysmic flood and buried in mud, sealing them from oxygen and rot. Who knows how old the trees were when they were buried...based on the size maybe thousands of years.

The wood did not petrify. Nowadays once its discovered the preserved wood (and sometimes with leaves intact) is dug out of farmers pastures, cut up, and sold to woodworkers.

I bought a piece of this years ago and could never decide what to make it into. So, I decided to carve it into a few birds and this is the first finished one.

The wood carves like white cedar, sort of soft and splitty but nice. Doesn't smell like much until its sanded. The dust is surprisingly fragrant. My kid said it "smells like Nana's tea." To me the smell is somewhere between medicinal and herbal. (And yes I did taste the dust too...it was bitter.)

Here's an article about ancient kauri wood as it relates to woodworking.
https://www.popularwoodworking.com/end-grain/50000-year-old-trees-rise-again/

08/11/2026

Lakes area people...there are still some seats open for my introduction to chip carving class Friday August 21 at Art of the Lakes gallery in Battle Lake! Join us as we make chips and conversation...

This will be an introductory class into the fun art of chip carving. Chip carving involves taking small chips out of a flat piece of wood to make a geometric design, and is one of the easiest forms of woodcarving for beginners to try. It can also be used to embellish things like wooden spoons.

07/27/2026

Spent the weekend in the woodshop sauna making some bowls, rolling pins and most importantly, woodshavings.

07/13/2026

This beautiful black walnut log!!! It really gives me the same feeling as if it were a big block of milk chocolate. Psychologists must have a name for that...

These pieces are destined to become some yummy bowls...

07/07/2026

I've been happier than a pig in mud playing with this Alaskan chainsaw mill i got. I've been using it to slab up some logs I've come by. There's a bit of a trick to it but not bad. It's so exciting to make a cut then flip the top piece off to see what's inside. The pieces are naturally bookmatched.

This red cedar log looked (and smelled) amazing. Unfortunately the vibrant pink color fades as the wood dries. But it will make some nice carving wood.

I have come by more black walnut than I know what to do with so have been cutting it into bowl blanks and stacking them in the garage fridge until I can get to them. I took a curved piece of log, milled it in half, and used a log furniture tenor cutter to fashion some buckthorn legs. After a little over an hour I had adult and kids sized campfire benches. The wood is green so will split as it dries, but should weather into a nice rustic look.

07/01/2026

I've had fun this past month distributing Meander brochures in my travels.https://artsmeander.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/2026-brochure-web.pdf

I oiled up these nice spalted crab apple spoons recently. the grain is wavy...tough to carve but looks so nice!

06/01/2026

I'm so thrilled and honored to be the featured artist for Meander 2026!!!!! Request your brochure online now, or keep an eye out all over Minnesota for them. Also look for the special Meander posters handprinted by Andy at A to Z Letterpress http://www.atozletterpress.com/
It was fun working with Andy and Brad Hall to design this year's artwork based on my carvings! Brad guided me through the process of carving the print blocks for the poster and brochure. It was fun carving a 2D image of my own 3D carvings...
I'll be exhibiting at the YES House in Granite Falls.

https://artsmeander.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/2026-brochure-web.pdf