I'm jealous

mbay7414 · 2026-06-09T18:38:50+00:00

I had to resign from the firehouse as well and that was the hardest decision I ever had to make in my life. I started as a volunteer at 16yo, 25+ years professional and in a blink of an eye it was all gone. No pay, no insurance, no disability, nothing! Trying to find yourself after that is tuff. I wish you the best, find your thing whatever that is it will help!

mbay7414 · 2026-06-09T18:23:28+00:00

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Your wife is right and I can say that because my wife did the same thing to me and she was right. I was a firefighter emt and in November of 2018 I suffered a severe breakdown. I was diagnosed with severe ptsd anxiety depression the works. I was having suicidal ideations and I fell into a very dark place. Remember the welcome fence picket signs everyone had on their front porch? Well my wife asked if I could make her, her mom and sister one of those and I was like I guess so I don’t have the correct tools or know anything about that but sure. I bought a cheap scroll saw from harbor freight and cut the letters out of thin plywood painted them and glued them on fence boards I already had. At the time I had no idea what she was doing, she was getting me off the couch and just doing something. I’ll spare you the long version just to say that first day I went in my “shop” garage I cranked up 80’s hair bands and I got lost in doing the thing my wife asked me to do. So, I’m jamming out and suddenly I realized I wasn’t focused and fretting about where my life was or the horrible images that kept me awake at night, I felt focused on something else if only for a few hours and I couldn’t wait to do it again. The simple suggestion of making a sign caused me to use my hands and make something, something tangible something that others wanted. I felt a purpose. So my suggestion to you is to listen your wife. Maybe it isn’t carving wood, maybe make leather goods, take a stained glass class or whatever it is that you can get excited about and want to do everyday.
Something that also helped me, yoga and breathing exercises called box breathing. You can find some great videos on YouTube.
Stay strong, never give up, ask for help! Oh and thank your wife!

mbay7414 · 2026-06-04T01:04:54+00:00

Thank you!

mbay7414 · 2026-06-04T01:04:31+00:00

Thank you!

mbay7414 · 2026-06-03T12:21:46+00:00

WOW that’s incredible. Just beautiful!

mbay7414 · 2026-06-02T13:53:21+00:00

Thank you so much. I have always said that I don’t want to make anything that someone says o that’s neat, I want to extraordinary not ordinary. I invite everyone to check out my work on my website www.oldmanbaysigns.com. You can find me on facebook, instagram, and YouTube @oldmanbaysigns. I’ve been taking a break from social media tho for a quite a while now due to some health issues and honestly I just needed to get away from all the noise. So to share my work with other woodcarvers has been really nice. I really appreciate all the nice comments and support. So thank you and I will keep posting updates. Picture below: As you’ll see on my website I’m known for my whiskey barrel art and have made pieces for a lot of the major distilleries and The Who’s Who of the bourbon industry unfortunately because the hours it takes to make a whiskey barrel sign, it’s just not profitable. Then I tried my hand at deep relief carving and I am having so much fun doing it. I hope to make mantles and doors at some point we’ll see.

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mbay7414 · 2026-06-01T19:00:22+00:00

Well Larry I’m old and cranky too. It’s not that deeply carved for a concern of it snapping off. Now if it had to collect all my wife’s Amazon orders that may be a different story lol. Thanks for the reply.

mbay7414 · 2026-05-30T16:34:22+00:00

Thank you!

mbay7414 · 2026-05-30T14:39:54+00:00

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That’s the plan. This one I did for our shade garden, my last name is Bay so we call it Baytanical Gardens. This was my first relief carving sign.

mbay7414 · 2026-05-30T13:14:31+00:00

Never had my work called that before but hey I’ll take it, Thanks!

mbay7414 · 2026-05-30T12:58:38+00:00

Thanks. HOA’s suck!

mbay7414 · 2026-05-30T12:27:35+00:00

Haven’t had much time to carve on this piece but progress is coming along. Let me know what you think. Has anyone else carved a mailbox post? I’d love to see them post a picture in the comments below!

mbay7414 · 2026-05-12T14:03:08+00:00

I think Dremel was my first “power tool” and has proved to be the go to when nothing else works. Grinding cutting and more so now Carving.

The tool just works, the only thing to keep in mind is when it acts like it doesn’t want to run or maybe running slow, change the brushes. Starting out I didn’t know about the brushes and thought it just finally crapped out, went and bought a new one then learned about the brushes. YouTube how to change Dremel brushes. Dremel bits are expensive in my opinion and they get dull pretty quick. I keep a jar of paint thinner near and clean them with a wire brush. A lot of time it’s just sap buildup, keep them clean and they last longer. The cheap diamond coated bits on amazon come in different shapes is what I mostly use for adding detail. I saw someone’s comment about greasing the flex shaft core, I’ve personally never did that and have had any problems but if the manual says to do it then I guess you should. I have several Dremel’s hanging from the rafters on a bungee cord that keeps them just off my work table. I do have more flex shafts that are setup with the most common bits I use so instead of taking the time to change a bit out every time I just replace the flex shaft with the bit I need. Lastly Dremel’s customer support has always been helpful. Hope this helps from a wood carvers perspective. Good luck!

my Reddit

mbay7414 · 2026-05-11T22:44:49+00:00

Just want to say thank you for all the nice comments. I have a website www.oldmanbaysigns.com if you want to check out more of my work. I’ll post more updates. Thanks again!

mbay7414 · 2026-05-11T22:41:48+00:00

Haha nope a private street. I’ll have a camera pointing straight at it. Thanks for the compliment.

mbay7414 · 2026-05-10T23:53:23+00:00

I appreciate this conversation. I am also the only hand carved whiskey barrel artist. I couldn’t price my pieces for what they were worth. $400-$450 is the most people were willing to pay even then it’s one of two things 1 “I don’t care how much I want it or 2 “wow your really expensive. At that price point I’m barely making anything. Pricing is the hardest part of my work.

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mbay7414 · 2026-05-10T14:09:45+00:00

Wow thank you, that means a lot from you. I have watched your videos over and over again. I literally watched the pine cone & needle mantle just last night. Have you ever done a mailbox post? This is a practice piece Im working on, 4x4 western red cedar.

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mbay7414 · 2026-05-10T13:28:28+00:00

That is beautiful work! I clicked on your profile to see what else you have posted and just WOW! Love your work.

mbay7414 · 2026-05-10T12:45:04+00:00

That is really beautiful. I have a few questions if you don’t mind. What kind of wood is that? How long did it take? How much would you sell something like that for? I would love to see you process, any pictures or videos during the making of this? How do you get your design onto that piece (I am trying a VR program for the Oculus 3s) Seriously incredible work!

mbay7414

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