'Amazing work.' Area man excels as chainsaw carver
SHERRODSVILLE ‒ Using a chainsaw and a few other tools, Dan Kidd can transform the stump of a dead tree into a work of art.
Kidd, 66, owner of Conotton Creek Woodworks in Scio, has been carving wooden figures with a chainsaw full time for the past eight years.
"I do a couple hundred carvings a year. It keeps me busy all year round," he said, while taking a break recently from carving an eagle with spread wings at a private residence in Sherrodsville. "My only really slow time is January and February, because the Christmas rush is gone. But I still stay busy enough to keep it going.
"As soon as the weather starts turning good, I get busy again. Then it goes totally crazy in the fall because people ordering things for Christmas gifts. It gets hard to even keep up then."
Most of carvings are custom-ordered. He doesn't keep much stock on hand at his business.
Bears, eagles and dogs are popular subjects
He has made more than 2,000 carvings in the past eight years ‒ everything from cement trucks to tattoo machines.
But what his customers want most are carvings of bears.
"They're cute. People like them," he said. "It's an animal that stands on two legs, and so it fits into a log nicely, as opposed to a four-legged animal. You can do so much with a bear caricature-wise. You can make them look funny, you can make them look happy. You can make them very people-like. People like that."
His next most popular carvings are of eagles, followed by dogs.
"I do lots and lots of dogs," Kidd said. "People send me pictures of their dog, and then I'll carve it and paint it to look like their dog. A lot of those are memorials. They've lost the dog, and so they just have a memorial carved to remember the dog."
He charged $1,600 to carve the eagle in Sherrodsville. The price of a carving depends on the size and complexity of the project.
Kidd has a process he follows when visualizing his next carving.
"It's figuring out what the customer wants and then from there figuring out what will fit inside of that stump," he said. "You basically have to visualize it. Sometimes, I will sketch it on paper to get it in my head. This is the diameter and the height of the tree. What can I get there to fit?"
He tries to get as much life and movement into his carvings as possible.
"I don't want a stagnant looking carving. That's always the challenge to try to make it move, even though it's not moving, make it look like it's moving," he said.
Kidd's carvings can be found throughout the area
His carvings can be found throughout the Tuscarawas Valley, at cabins along Atwood and Leesville lakes and private residences in the area.
One of his largest carvings was a 13-foot statue of Sir Walter, the mascot for athletic teams at Walsh University in Canton. Kidd transformed a dying oak tree in front the Gaetano M. Cecchini Family Health and Wellness Complex into the carving in about 25 hours in October 2016.
University officials found Kidd by doing a Google search for chainsaw carvers.
"The Sir Walter wood-carved statue was commissioned nearly a decade ago by our then Assistant Athletic Director Mark Heffernan," said Teresa Fox, interim vice president for advancement/vice president for marketing and communications at the university.
"We were thrilled with the result and the carving proudly greeted all guests outside of Walsh University’s sporting venue, the Cecchini Arena, and served as a great emblem of Cavalier pride! Though the elements have unfortunately taken their toll on Sir Walter, we’ll forever be indebted to Mr. Kidd for his amazing work of art."
The carving was recently taken down because of its condition.
The largest concentration of Kidd's carvings can be found at Wood's Tall Timber Resort outside of New Philadelphia. The resort has about 20 on display, according to Jamie Herron, Tall Timber's manager. He described Kidd's work as amazing.
"It just adds a little bit of fun to the resort," Herron said. "We get a lot people who ask questions of who's done that work. So Dan's name is thrown out a lot out here at the resort, because a lot of people are very impressed with the carvings that he does.
"He can pretty much do whatever you want him to do. Anything that we've asked him to do, he was able to do."
Learning chainsaw carving from a library book
Kidd is a native of Mingo Junction. He moved to New Philadelphia in 1973 and lived there for the next six years, graduating from New Philadelphia High School during that time period. He moved west in 1979, living there for the next 17 years. During that time, he worked for a high-end custom cabinet shop in Colorado that catered to residents of Aspen and Vail.
He moved back to Ohio in 1996 and settled in Scio. He built spiral staircases for awhile before opening his own cabinet shop.
He learned to carve figurines with a chainsaw from reading a library book. His first carving was of a bear cub with its head sticking out of a tree stump.
"It's a real common carving. You'll see carvers do that one a lot. I've still got it at home, pretty crude looking," Kidd said. It sits on his front porch.
"A lot of people think I probably own a lot of carvings, but I really don't. Every once in awhile, my wife will say, 'I'm keeping that one.' I don't have a yard full or a whole house full of carvings."
Reach Jon at 330-364-8415 or at jon.baker@timesreporter.com.
This article originally appeared on The Times-Reporter: Dan Kidd of Scio uses chainsaw to create works of art.
