Granite Falls man, 91, loves carving ducks
by Larry Magrath
Growing up on a farm near Watson in the ‘30s and ‘40s, Vern Olson of Granite Falls recalls planting the seeds of what became his latest hobby, carving. He and his brothers made the toys that they spent hours playing with.
“I think one thing that might have contributed to my abilities, if you want to call it that, we never got boughten toys, so me and my brothers we would make our toys. A six-shooter for cowboys and Indians and we’d make the guns. We made a lot of our own toys so I kind of had a knack for making something close to resemble the real thing.”
After a career as a machinist and in quality control at Victor Fluid Power in Granite Falls, Olson, 91, tried his hand at carving wood. He settled in to carving duck decoys but also dabbled in other birds including two Loons, a Cardinal, an Eagle, and a goose, fish, and an airplane.
After he retired in 1998 the couple visited their daughter Julie in Arizona. A friend of his wife Velma was a carver.
“She was the only one in this class with other men,” Velma said. “It was a carving class, so she gave me this Cardinal and a knife when I had coffee with her, and I took it home to him and he started kind of on his own.”
He read an industry magazine and thought he’d give it a try for a year. He set up what he called his shop in his basement, but when a friend visited he just noted that it was his furnace room, he said with a chuckle.
Recently the couple moved into senior housing and that move, as well as arthritis in his hand, have forced Vern to retire from the hobby of decoy carving. The couple have a son Brad in Arizona and their daughter, now of New London, as well as three grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.
Although still called decoys, Olson’s works fall on the art decorative side rather than a working decoy intended to be tossed in the water to lure ducks into shooting range.
Minnesota-grown basswood is commonly used for such carvings that have ended up decorating the homes of his friends and family. The ducks common to Minnesota and the ones he grew up hunting are what he is most familiar. Those ducks include the Canvas Back, Mallard, Wood Duck, Wigeon, and Pintail.
“They are a beautiful bird,” Olson said. “The Wood Duck is probably one of the most beautiful birds you’ll ever see.”
Because of the size of the piece, his decoys are made of two pieces of wood, the body and the neck. He orders blanks of wood from a Paynesville-area farmer. Basswood is preferred by carvers due to its tight and straight grain.
“I draw my own patterns. I draw them with the computer and get all the colors and dimensions and everything right.”
Several styles populate his portfolio of around a hundred decoys. He’s made contemporary, like shoppers might see in a furniture store, as well as distressed or antique-looking decoys with cracks and worn paint to indicate age.
The most artistic pieces though are detailed pieces in which the feathers are carved into the wood as well as painted.
“You can feel in the feather each line and in the feather, I have dimples that are carved. I use a small grinding wheel to do each line in the feather,” Olson said.
Once he gets started, a carving can eat up a few days of solid work. He figures a detailed life-size version of a duck takes 60-75 hours of work.
The goal is always to create a realistic-looking bird and his daughter’s cat can attest to that.
“When she put that bird in the house the cat attacked it, chewed it all up. It was good enough to fool the cat.”
As a retirement hobby though time is not money to Olson. Awards at the trade shows were also of no interest to him. He’s been to shows where nearly everything is for sale, and he’s been offered an amount of money for some of his works, but he’d rather not share details.
“I don’t sell ‘em,” Olson said. “If somebody really wanted one and would enjoy it, I enjoy giving it to them. “I have special close friends, and I really enjoy giving it.”
Not only did Olson teach himself to carve wood but he learned the painting as well.
“I think painting is harder because you have to mix every color. You can’t just buy that off-green or purplish color. You got to mix them in a pot to get the right color and then put it on.”
Trial-and-error comes to mind. The good part about painting mistakes is that he is able to repaint a bird until he achieves the look he wants.
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