Carving menagerie

A menagerie of wooden bears, eagles and other critters has taken up residence along Weaverville’s main drag, where longtime carver Bob Henderson and his sons have set up shop.

Carver Bob Henderson with his growing family of animals at his shop alongside Highway 299 in Weaverville. Bears, he says, are his bread and butter. PHIL NELSON | THE TRINITY JOURNAL Located in the Nu Tu Yu Auto Sales area, the business provides a good opportunity for residents to watch a wood sculpture take shape, from log to finished piece.

Henderson, 65, has been carving for 35 years. He describes himself as a jack-ofall trades who has worked as a butcher, built prefabricated houses in South Carolina, and been employed by the Postal Service. In the early 1970s he was making band-saw jewelry boxes and selling them up and down the coast. One day he decided to carve a barn swallow into a thick box lid.

“I got $45 instead of $6,” Henderson said. “After that I just started carving everything.”

He owned a shop in Orick, Redwood Creations, in the 1990s. He taught the craft to his son Justin, now 22, who began selling pieces at the Weaverville site last summer. Henderson, who had been living in Alaska, and his other son, K.C., 18, joined Justin here about seven months ago.

Using chain saws, side grinders, die grinders and a drill with engraving bit, the carvers are prolific. But some pieces take more time. Henderson recently carved a mountain lion for a property owner who planned to place it on a double stump, with the cougar’s front to be higher than its rear. It was only the second cougar Henderson has worked on, and he couldn’t find a picture of a cougar in the right position to work off of.

“It came out looking OK,” Henderson said. “They were happy.”

At left, the carving nears completion as Bob Henderson puts the final touches on the lumberjack statue. At right is what the carving started out as, before Henderson put his chain saw and other carving tools to work. “OK” is about the highest praise Henderson gives himself. He has difficulty coming up with his favorite piece, but eventually concedes that he likes a large Sasquatch he carved that is out front.

“I liked his eagle,” son Justin offered, looking at a large piece in the shop.

“Well I don’t,” Henderson responded. “The chest is too big. I’m tempted to take it outside and rework it.”

“Eagles are one of those things you do basically for yourself because of the time involved,” he said.

And then there are bears. He’s carved countless bears.

“Bears are your bread and butter,” Henderson said. “Cute bears. You make a snarling bear and you just narrowed your customers to maybe one in a million.”

He knows who he has to impress.

“Women are the ones that dictate whether or not you make a sale,” Henderson said. “I try to make them visualize where it will go in the house. My son-in-law in real estate taught me that.”

Henderson can carve bears without too much preparation, but with subjects he hasn’t carved as often, sketching or looking at a statue can be helpful.

“Most of the time you just start carving,” he said.

In another recent project which helped considerably with Henderson’s wood supply, he traded a custom carving for logs from the Trinity River Lumber Co. mill. The logger/bench he made of sugar pine and cedar is to be auctioned at the Sierra Cascade Logging Conference in Redding in February to raise money for education about forestry and wise use of natural resources. The piece took about two weeks, on and off, and there were problems to overcome.

A large Sasquatch carver Bob Henderson ranks as one of his favorites. PHIL NELSON | THE TRINITY JOURNAL That’s when Henderson likes to take a break, “maybe carve a bear — take the anxiety away.”

He also created a local landmark for many years in Trinity Center, the Sasquatch that stood in front of the Sasquatch Restaurant until it closed recently.

In March, while living in Alaska, Henderson decided to try his hand at ice sculpting, carving an ice bear in the amateur open exhibition. The methods were the same, Henderson said, but the minus 35-degree weather was a challenge.

“I hadn’t carved in ice before so I didn’t know what I was doing,” Henderson said. “Ice actually carves a lot faster.”

Carving is not a way to get rich, Henderson said, noting that expenses such as saws or finish come up continually.

But that doesn’t stop the sawdust from flying.

“You want to get better,” Henderson said, “and so it’s a constant drive to improve.”