Retired carpenter now carves whales in a big way
By Maureen Mullen / Boston Globe
Photo: John Earley, a retired carpenter, works on a sperm whale carving made from pine. Some of his wood carvings have won awards at area craft shows.
John Earley took up carving more than 30 years ago, making a mother bear with her two cubs for his daughter. He enjoyed his new hobby, but with a family to raise and a business to run, the Beverly finish carpenter put down his carving knives.
That changed three years ago on a trip to Maine with his wife, Karen Stahle.
“We saw a sign for a carver’s shop,” Earley said. At his wife’s urging, they went inside and met the artisan. “I didn’t want to bother him but we started talking . . . I told him I was interested in whales and he said, ‘That’s what I do.’ ”
Earley, who by this time had retired from his business, was not able to travel to Maine on weekends to take lessons, so the carver gave him an instruction book to take with him. He also began studying with Phil Lowe at the Furniture Institute of Massachusetts in Beverly.
There was one small problem, though: The class project was a cod.
“I said, ‘I don’t want to do a codfish; I want to do a whale.’ So he said, ‘OK, we’ll do codfish and you do a whale,’ ” Earley said.
Earley carved his whale, and it set the standard for the pieces that followed, about 30 so far.
“I loved it. I still do. It’s one of my best,” he said. “I’ve been really dissatisfied with myself since then because it’s hard to get them as good.’’
But his talent has impressed other people.
In 2011 he won best-of-category and best-of-show awards at the Topsfield Fair — with that first whale. In 2013, two whale carvings — the first one and another of a mother and calf humpback — won several awards at the Spirit of Wood show and competition held by the New England Woodcarvers in Bedford.
“As you can see, he certainly took to it,” Lowe said. “I was sort of surprised that he was able to conceptualize what he was doing, because that’s kind of difficult for a lot of people.’’
First-time students usually just have interest in learning to carve, he said, so he teaches them basics such as reading the grain direction.
“Some pick it up a lot easier, and [Earley] was one that certainly could see how things were supposed to be cut,” Lowe said.
Although Earley, 69, spent 33 years working as a carpenter, that probably did not give him an advantage, according to Lowe: It’s a different skill set.
Earley agreed.
“It’s real different,” he said. “Some carvers, you look at their work and think, ‘How do they ever do that and make it so smooth?’ It’s all little tricks. but we don’t really get into that as carpenters.
“I’ve been really surprised with the learning curve. In carpentry everything just came to me. . . . With carving, it’s just total dependency on either books or other people. It’s frustrating for someone who thinks he should know more than he does about this.”
But he continues to improve, he said.
“In the last six months I’ve seen a change in my work,” Earley said, “and I believe it’s getting to the point where I’m really happy with it. I know I’ve got a lot further to go, though.”
Although Earley has carved other animals — including a horse for his granddaughter, a shark for his grandson, along with some cats, birds, and an eagle in addition to those early bears — whales have become his signature.
“I’ve lived on the water all my life, and I see what’s going on with the whales,’’ he said. “They’re losing their numbers, and I think that we’re a good cause of it. So I just felt like the more I can do on the whales and the more attention I can bring to it, hopefully it helps them.”
It takes him about 30 to 40 hours to complete one of his whales, but he has invested up to 150 hours on more intricate carvings. He likes to work in cherry, walnut, and maple, allowing the grain of the wood to add to the final product.
Now Earley, who also carves with a group that meets at the Senior Center in Woburn, sees a potential second career for himself. He would like to be able to place some of his work for sale in galleries and has begun to scout some locations.
He enjoys the challenge of creating something with his hands and working it to near perfection. But he laughs before revealing what else he enjoys about his new avocation.
“I have to be honest,” he said. “I love praise. So when you see somebody who really likes your work and they’re going on about it, you might be humble on the outside and on the inside you’re saying ‘yes!’”
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