Whittling Away Your Time

When Keith Turner retired from his job as a lineman for the telephone company, he thought retirement was going to be a blast. It wasn’t. Turner had nothing to do.

Steve Hageman’s long-time buddy was bored and depressed. Turner’s wife was concerned. She called the Bakersfield College woodworking professor for help.

Hageman and Turner go way back. Fresh out of Fresno State University with a degree in industrial arts, Hageman landed his first teaching job in Le Grand. To earn extra money, he taught an evening woodworking course at Merced College. Turner was in his class.

The men struck up a friendship and began carving duck hunting decoys. They became obsessive over their carvings, spending hours making the decoys look “real.” Hageman moved on to teaching jobs in Bakersfield. But the men stayed in touch.

Hageman continued to carve, but less intensively and mostly creating tiny Santa’s for relaxation. Turner stopped carving altogether.

When Hageman received the distress signal from Turner’s wife, he packed a knife, a couple of basic tools, a leather finger protector and a block of bass wood into a cigar box and drove to Merced County to see his friend.

“Keith, I want you to carve this and I am going to come back and check on your progress,” Hageman remembers telling Keith.

Turner resisted at first, but eventually picked up the knife and started to scrape away at the block. That was six years ago. He now makes little characters for gifts for his family, primarily for his granddaughter.

Hageman is inviting Turner to speak to students enrolled in his four-session “Introduction to Woodcarving” class that he is giving through the Levan Institute for Lifelong Learning at Bakersfield College in October.

“Anyone can carve,” Hageman said, offering his wife, Tracy, as an example. Tracy took up carving about a year ago when she encountered a health problem. Hageman and his wife carve and talk, finding it a good way to relax, have fun and socialize. His wife’s project, a pelican, is nearly complete.

“We will sit in the backyard or at Starbucks and catch up on her day and my day,” he said.

Hageman assumes most of his Levan Institute students will be looking for a hobby or an outlet to relax.

“Carving gives you one-on-one time, without something else interfering. As you are talking away about life, you will see the conversation reflected in your carving. You can set it aside for a while, and then pick it up again.

“Carving is a tangible object of a good time,” Hageman said.

This story written by Dianne Hardisty appeared first in The Bakersfield Californian.



INFOBOX

What: Introduction to Woodcarving

Where: Levan Institute for Lifelong Learning

Bakersfield College



When: Fridays, 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.

Oct. 8, 15, 22 and 29, 2010



Cost: $50 (includes fee and materials)



Enroll: Go online to www.bakersfieldcollege.edu/levaninstitute/