814-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, May 10,1906
Chunks of Wood Become
Under Evelyn Yonldn's
BY BARBARA MILLER
Lycoming Co. Correspondent
DUSHORE - Many people
today use wood to heat their
homes. But Evelyn Yonkin of
Sullivan County uses wood to
create a different kind of warmth.
Her carved songbirds warm the
hearts of all who possess them with
the natural beauty of hand
polished wood.
Since 1967 Evelyn, now 70, has
exhibited carvings at the Penn
sylvania Farm Show, ac
cumulating at least 20 ribbons,
many of them blue.
“I have about 20 ribbons and am
going to put them in a frame,” she
notes.
Evelyn began carving about 20
years ago when she took a course
offered by the local extension
office. The course, which en
compassed ceramics and stone
mosiacs in addition to wood
carving, was quite extensive,
meeting from 6 to 10 o’clock every
week night for a year. Evelyn says
she learned design from the
course.
“When I took the course I got the
basics...l learned how to make
patterns and put them together,’’
she recalls.
Although Evelyn occasionally
carves other animals, she con
centrates on carving various birds,
usually songbirds such as car
dinals. She has carved ruffled
grouse, pheasants, turkeys and
quail, and last year took first prize
at the Farm Show with her carving
of a wood duck.
One of her most striking car
vings is that of a graceful 1%-foot
falcon caught in the act of landing
with wings extended vertically.
Due to the fragility of the piece,
Evelyn never exhibited it at the
Farm Show.
The wood Evelyn uses comes
from her farm. The Yonkins are
retired dairy and potato farmers.
Robert, her husband, saws the
largest pieces into a manageable
size, which Evelyn regards as the
hardest part of her operation. She
allows all wood to dry at least a
year before she attempts to carve
it.
Evelyn uses only hardwoods
such as cherry, walnut, beech, and
butternut for her carvings. Two
exceptions, she notes, are red
cedar, which she uses because of
its color to create cardinals, and
sumac wood.
Sumac, according to Evelyn, is a
little tricky to work with because it
has two different types of wood and
the wood may “feather.” She uses
it because of its color, which she
describes as “yellowish.” She
observes that ornaments and birds
carved from it show up nicely on a
Christinas tree.
This display includes a number of Evelyn's prize-winning bird carvings. In the
foreground is a walnut duck that won first prize in the 1986 Pennsylvania Farm Show.
The larger one to the right is a ruffed grouse of butternut wood sitting on a pine root. The
taller sculpture is a graceful falcon carved from butternut wood, while the others are
songbirds.
The carving Evelyn holds won first prize at the Farm Show.
Two songbirds sit on this piece of cedar wood.
The first step in the carving displayed in his shop in Dushore
process, Evelyn says, is tracing and he claims many people who
die pattern on the wood. She has a enter the shop stop to admire it
stack of cardboard patterns of Songbirds, Evelyn reports, are
various birds accumulated her most popular item with
through the years. The wood varies customers. Working steadily, she
in thickness from one to three says, she can complete one in
inches and she chooses it carefully, about two and a half hours,
giving special consideration to the What does Evelyn enjoy most
pattern of the wood grain. about her carving?
After tracing the pattern she “Design,” she says, “There are
uses a bandsaw to rough cut the never two that come out alike.”
wood. She employs a belt sander
next to “take all the rough off.”
Next she goes to the flexible
shaft, a small rotating disc of
sandpaper capable of sanding a
small area, which gives her a finer
sanding. Lastly, Evelyn finishes
the more delicate work by hand
sanding and then applies two coats
of lacquer.
Eveyln uses other parts of a tree
in addition to the trunk. She has
several creations fashioned from
the roots of trees.
One of her most unusual
displays, Evelyn notes, was
created from a piece of wood ob
tained from a neighbor who saw its
possibilities and refused to consign
it to the firewood pile. It was part
of a tree which had grown around
an old horseshoe. He gave it to
Evelyn and she crafted an at
tractive wall hanging and returned
it to him. Presently, he has it
Songbirds
Knife
Since Evelyn’s workshop is
unheated, she developed a side
interest that she enjoys through
the winter months. It is quilting.
“I’ve quilted since I was 12,” she
says.
She is currently working on a
Brunswick Star quilt which, thus
far, has taken 60 hours of her time.
Evelyn sells quilts along with her
carved items. She attends the
Flaming Foliage Festival at
Forksville, a large craft show at
Skaneatles, NY and sells directly
to customers from her home.
But it is evident that Evelyn’s
main interest lies in her wood
carvings. How much longer does
she plan to continue her wood
carving?
“As long as I’m able,” she says,
“I like it-it’s good for an older
person to be busy.” And she adds,
“I just can’t sit around. I’ve never
done that.”
See your nearest
NEW HOLLAND
Dealer for Dependable
i Equipment and Dependable
Service:
| Annville, PA
| BHM Farm
| Equipment, Inc
\ RD 1
t 717-867-2211
Beavertown, PA
3 B&R Farm
{ Equipment, Inc
RD 1, 80x217A
; 717-658-7024
S* Belleville, PA
IvanJ Zook
• Farm Equipment
I Belleville, Pa
[ 717-935-2948
*
J Canton, PA
; Hess Farm Equipment
* 717-673-5143
'* Carlisle, PA
X Paul Shovers, Inc
i 35 East Willow Street
X 717-243-2686
•
Chambersburg, PA
Clugston
Implement, Inc
RD 1
717-263-4103
Davidsburg, PA
George N Gross, Inc
R D 2, Dover, PA
717 292-1673
. • Elizabethtown, PA
X Messick Farm
S Equipment, Inc
» Rt 283-Rheem’s Exit
j 717-357-1319
j Everett, PA
C Paul Ford & Son
S RDI
J 814-652-2051
J Gettysburg, PA
| Yinghng Implements
j R.D 9
| 717-359-4848
I Greencastte, PA
| Myers
5 Implement’s Inc
jJ 400 N Antrim Way
| P 0 Box 97-
S 717-597-2176
Grove City, PA
McDowell Farm
Implement Co
Rt. 173 North
814-786-7955
I Halifax, PA
t Sweigardßros
[j R.D 3, Box 13
| 717-896-3414
tj Hamburg, PA
!| Shartlesville
h Farm Service
| RD 1, Box 1392
| 215-488-1025
|g Hanover, PA
g Sheets Brothers, Inc
i 1061 Carlisle St
Hanover, PA 17331
( 717-632-3660
fj Honey Brook, PA
|| Dependable Motor Co
|| East Mam Street
g 215-273-3131
» 215-273-3737
Honey Grove, PA
Norman D. Clark
& Son, Inc.
Honey Grove, PA
717-734-3682
s*
sj Hughesville, PA
|* Farnsworth Farm
Supplies, Inc
» 103 Cemetery Street
{ 717 584-2106
%
Lancaster, PA
.■*
ij LH Brubaker Inc
350 Strasburg Pike
J 717-397 5179
Lebanon, PA
Keller Bros.
Tractor Co.
RD 7, Box 405
717-949-6501
Witz, PA
Roy A Brubaker
700 Woodcrest Av
717-626-7766
Loysville, PA
PaulShovers, Inc
Loysville, PA
717-789-3117
Lynnport, PA
Kermit K Kistler, Inc
Lynnport, PA
215-298-2011
Martinsburg, PA
Forshey's, Inc
110 Forshey St
814-793-3791
Mill Hall, PA
Paul A Dotterer
RD 1
717-726-3471
New Holland, PA
ABC Groff, Inc
110 South Railroad
717-354-4191
New Park, PA
M&R Equipment Inc
PO Box 16
717 993-2511
Oley, PA
C J Wonsidler Bros
R D 2
215 987-6257
Pitman, PA
Marlin W Schreffler
Pitman, PA
717-648-1120
Quakertown, PA
C J Wonsidler Bros
RD 1
215-536-1935
Quarryville, PA
C E Wiley & Son, Inc
101 South Lime Street
717-786-2895
Ringtown, PA
Ringtown Farm
Equipment
Ringtown, PA
717-889-3184
Tamaqua, PA
Charles S Snyder, Inc
RD 3
717-386-5954
West Chester, PA
M S Yearsley & Son
114-116 East
Market Street
215-696-2990
West Grove, PA
SG Lewis & Son, Inc
RD 2, Box 66
215-869-2214
Churchville, MD
Walter G Coale, Inc
2849-53
Churchville Rd
301-734-7722
Frederick, MD
New Holland, Inc
Rt 26 East
301-662-4197
Outside MD, 800-331
9122
Westminster, MD
New Holland, Inc
1201 New Windsor Rd
301 857-0711
Outside MD, jBOO 331
9122
Washington, NJ
Frank Rymon& Sons
201-689-1464
Woodstown, NJ
Owen Supply Co
Broad Street &
East Avenue