Sauder Village to satisfy craving for carving

Tim Detweiler of Tipp City, Ohio, displays carved locks.

ARCHBOLD, Ohio - Woodcarving in all its forms will be on display here this weekend as Sauder Village presents its 17th Woodcarvers' Show and Sale.

The event traces its roots to the late Erie Sauder, who started the Sauder Woodworking Co. and founded Sauder Village.

“Wood was always a medium he enjoyed very much,” said Claire Morton, an events coordinator at the village. “He also was very supportive of the arts and craftsmen who can use their skills and talents and vision and take a chunk of something and turn it into an exquisite piece of art.”

This year's show in the village's Founder's Hall will feature 90 exhibitors showing works ranging from high-end realistic carved wildlife sculptures to wooden pins, Christmas ornaments, puzzles, and boxes. Hand-carving, hand-turning, and chainsaw-carving will be represented among the exhibits.

Although most of the items in the show will be for sale, a detailed, six-foot-long Santa's Workshop reproduction made by members of a Dayton carving club will be for display only. It's expected to be of special interest to young visitors.

Also as part of the two-day event, wildlife carver Desiree Hajny of Eckert, Colo., will demonstrate wood-burning at 3:30 p.m. tomorrow and texturing at 1:30 p.m. Sunday in Founder's Hall. Hajny was the featured artist at one of the village's first woodcarver shows.

Jim Stadtlander of Mantua, Ohio, creator of the Council Oak Carving, a centerpiece of the new Natives and Newcomers exhibit in the Museum Building, will give slide presentations at 1:30 p.m. tomorrow and at 3:30 p.m. Sunday showing how he carved the life-sized piece out of a five-ton log taken from a 300-year-old oak tree.

The finished carving, which weighs just under a ton, took three years to complete and involved chainsaw and hand-carving.

It has been in the village since 1995, but has drawn more interest recently because of the Natives and Newcomers exhibit. The sculpture depicts Chief Winameg of the Potawatomi and the settler boy, Dresden Howard.

In addition to the woodcarvers' show, the village is having “butchering day” tomorrow, showing how meat was preserved for use during winter. Two hogs will be processed, ribs canned, sausage made, and lard rendered.

A corn-husking contest is planned for 2 p.m.

The Sauder Village Woodcarvers' Show runs from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. tomorrow and noon to 5 p.m. Sunday in the village, 22611 State Rt. 2, Archbold, Ohio. Admission to the show only is $7.50 for adults. Tickets to the village at $11.50 for adults and $5.50 for ages 6-16 include admission to the woodcarvers' show. Information: 1-800-590-9755.