Saugus woodcarvers shape up

SAUGUS – From a back room in the Senior Center you can hear a lot of conversation on politics, current events and some gossip. What you don’t hear is the quiet work being performed by the still-nimble fingers of a group of wood carvers.On Monday afternoon, Hugo Crescezi joked that the wood carving is just a ruse for the small gathering of men that really spend most of their time gossiping and grousing about how they would run the government, if they had the time. The pieces of wood changing shape as they speak, however, tell another story.Ralph LeDrew is working a small piece of wood about the size of cue ball. Under his deft hands it is looking more and more like a sheep, curled down to sleep.”It’s part of a set of a manger scene,” he said. “My daughter paints them.”LeDrew pulled out a flyer that shows and entire hand carved manger scene complete with camels, wise men and other figurines. He said he began carving “some time ago,” which translates to 40 years, for something to do.Robert Szypko has been working with wood his whole life mostly, he said, as a hobby. He built an entire dining room set for his daughter, a roll top desk for his son and grandfather clocks for everyone, but he now works on a smaller scale. In a box that holds assorted chisels and gouges is a tiny dolphin, perfectly smooth about the size of large marble. He admits most of his pieces are not that small.As he talks he is working a piece of hardwood into a head, not unlike a figurehead carved for the bow of a ship, but this figurehead will adorn a cane. He said he will add a long beard that will hang down the cane and the hair blows back to form the rest of the handle.When asked what he likes to carve, Szypko said “everything in general and nothing in particular.”Robert Needham was told to get a hobby and he liked the looks of the guys that were already carving.”In 2002 my heart stopped and the doctor said to pick up a hobby,” he said. “There were a lot of guys here then.”Needham has slowly coaxed a ferret out of two pieces of pine salvaged from an old skid. He has carved it in such a way that it needs little embellishment to what would be the animals coat, because the lines of the wood grain swoop along the ferrets back and curl around his legs so perfectly it looks as if it were drawn into place.”I like a challenge piece,” he said explaining why he chose pine for his piece. “It’s a challenge because the grain is so loose it could easily split.”Working off several pictures, Needham said the grain of the wood is so perfect he won’t paint the piece but merely add some tongueoil to bring out the grain.Along with animals, Needham said he also builds ships, essentially from scratch.Some of the carvers use patterns or pictures to guide them, others like Szypko and Crescezi work solely from their minds.”I’ve been carving for about 15 years and I specialize in nude women and horses,” Crescezi said. “Two of the most beautiful creatures God created.The chesty mermaid whose fingers Crescezi was very carefully creating, is his latest piece. The trick to do something as fragile as fingers he said, is to coat the wood with Crazy Glue. It makes it stronger, he said.Needham smoothed the ear of his ferret with a small chisel.”I never use (sand) paper until the end,” he said. “The grit gets on the wood and dulls your knife. I used sandpaper until a guy said ?don’t do that.’ We learn as we along.”And go along they do. The group meets every Monday at 1 p.m. and anyone is welcome to bring a piece of wood, a small sharp knife and an idea to join them.”We’ve had a few women carvers but none of them lasted long,” Crescezi said. “They’re welcome, we don’t do any harm but we won’t do you any good either.”