Don Butler is a retired engineer from Ford Motor Co. I started carving in 1999 after retiring. The Saline Wood Carvers had a great carving show and after seeing the carvings I started going to meetings and began carving. I have tried chip carving, caricature carving, and power carving (birds and animals). During a week-long seminar in 2001 I was introduced to the Kevlar glove with a leather face. It worked great and I used it (almost a year) until it was absolute used up. When I needed a replacement I found that since I only used the right hand glove (being a left hand carver) I had left hand gloves extra so I started selling Kevlar gloves. It was at this time that the name Carving Glove Guy was founded. While ordering gloves one day, the person I was ordering from asked who are you? I responded This is Don Butler you know the carving glove guy. This conversation was the key to finding the company name.
Later in 2006, while taking lesions from Floyd Rhadigan I added Dockyard micro carving tools to the gloves I sold. The Dockyard micro carving tools are high quality carving tools made in the Colorado. They have been the only micro carving tools made for the carving hobby since 1979. The Dockyard micro carving tools are used for the detail work around the eyes, nose, ears, and hair. They are the tools we reach for when doing any detail work. I do not believe in selling a customer any tool they do not need. This idea leads me to selling the Dockyard micro carving tools as individual tools and not in their original sets.
Shortly thereafter the Helvie knives and Denny tools were added. The Helvie knifes comes extremely sharp and have been easy to maintain and keep sharp. The Denny Tools are the workhorse in carving. They also come pre-sharpened . The tools are well made and have a durable cutting edge. A more recent item that has been added is the sharpening strops from John Dunkle and Flexcut. In keeping with our search for high quality I added a strop holder to protect each of these unique strops from dirt.
Each item was added because I felt it gave the customer a unique chance to purchase a tool that was of the highest quality. Tools like these allow us to focus on the carving and not on the tools.
I have continued to expand my carving skills and enjoy going to seminars and meeting new people.
I seek out customers who enjoy having nice tools. I also have many customers who teach and would like to have Dockyard tools for their students. If you are a teacher or would like to carry Dockyard tools I welcome your inquiry to becoming a Dockyard retailer.
Donald Butler
The Carving Glove Guy
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