Wood carver turning old tree stumps into enduring works of art
Cam Dockery of Whitharral moves into world of art after years of farming
In an abandoned cotton gin midway between Levelland and Littlefield is a farmer with a chain saw.
At least Cam Dockery used to be a farmer. Then he discovered he had a talent for turning tree stumps into enduring works of art.
“I have lived in Whitharral my whole life. I was a farmer. About 13 years ago, I bought an old cotton gin and turned it into a carving place,” he recalls.
Dockery discovered something else, too: West Texas residents are willing to exchange money for art they appreciate.
“I stopped farming – I carved for one year while I was farming – and then I started my carving business.”
In what may be a reference to the vagaries of farming, Dockery calls his business Bearly Making It Chainsaw Carvings.
His wife, Angie, teaches third grade at Whitharral Independent School District. Their family includes sons Cray, 9, and Cale, 4.
“They’re the reason I’m doing this – they are more important than all this carving stuff anyway.”
But all of his carving stuff is filling aesthetic needs across Texas. From a home tree stump he fashioned as a memorial to Belen Garcia’s husband of 47 years in Lubbock, to a towering tree stump at Heritage Ranch Country Club north of Dallas, Dockery and his chain saw are in demand.
He wears ear plugs when carving to keep ear damage to an acceptable level, but knows the hearing loss can be cumulative.
“Probably 95 percent of the wood comes off with a chain saw,” he said.
Then he fashions in intricate detail the features of wildlife, angels, footballs, tractors and combines, and covers the entire edifice with spar varnish.
Dockery works closely with the wishes of his customers. “I give them a drawing – I have done 6,000 of these carvings – so I have a really good variety of pictures to show them as examples. But I always sketch it out for them just to let them know.”
Referring to Garcia, he said, “She already had a little figurine that she liked, so it was going to be very similar to that. I didn’t sketch it out for her. But if it’s a new idea, I sketch it out because what I have in my head may be totally different than what they have in theirs.
“Sometimes they have better ideas, so if they want something changed, I can draw it different.”
For stores in New Mexico and Colorado that buy wholesale from him, Dockery imports wood. “I haul in a lot of wood because I’m definitely not in a forest out here at Whitharral.”
He became interested in carving at home. “I had bought a house out north of Whitharral, and it had a bunch of old elm trees around it that had died. So, I cut them down and made a few carvings. I’m off Highway 385 that goes way north and a way south, and people would stop by and order something on their way to Colorado, then pick it up on their way back.”
Some of the smaller tree stumps are carved for a fee of $300. Larger projects are more, though some standard-type carvings go for $200 or less.
“You can carve on something for a month and still not have it perfect. I give them an idea of price, and whatever they want to stick with, that’s how much carving I do. I could just keep going and keep going, but it would just cost more and more, and usually there’s a happy medium in there,” he said.
“On the ones in golf courses and cemeteries, those are going to be seen by a lot of people, and they’re also going to be touched by people a lot. So, you have to do certain things to those so they will withstand it.”
Dockery typically has a backlog of work, but he also has plans for complex projects in the near future.
“At the end of this month, I’m starting a bunch of carvings down at Comanche, Texas, at their park. There are a bunch of trees that have died down there. Their clubs – like the Kiwanis, and they have a car club and a Chamber of Commerce – each one of those sponsor a stump, and I will carve each stump kind of how they would want it.”
He also is planning a major project at the heavily trafficked Houston Zoo, and his enthusiasm is building.
“It’s a 14-foot carving that 2 million people a year will get to see. The vice president guy told me that on the phone. It’s going to be a neat one,” he said.
“There’s something different every day.”
ray.westbrook@lubbockonline.com
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