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Date: 12/9/2020
GRANBY – Belchertown resident, Brett Hickey was just a kid when he took an interest in using his hands to make something special.
Hickey, who is now 27-years-old, said he first became interested in woodcarving at the age of 12. “I started when I was about 12, and started with hand tools. I think I had some books on whittling,” he told Reminder Publishing.
He said he first began by “box cutting,” and carving “scraps around the house.” From there, he said his interest was piqued and his passion for wood carving. With a background in small engine repair, he decided to pick up a saw.
“I started with hand tools, and around 14 or 15 [years old] I borrowed my first saw. I come from small engine repair, so I knew how to use one,” he said.
He said it wasn’t long after that he began carrying his carvings around with him during school. “I started carving when I was in high school, started carrying around the carvings in my packing and trying to sell them to teachers,” he recalled.
After graduating high school, he said he did what he thought he was supposed to and got a full time job working in maintenance. “After high school, I thought I had to get a full time job,” he said. However, Hickey said he “was miserable,” and his carving took a back seat for a short time.
Eventually Hickey said he quit his job and returned to carving, making a living out of wood carving full time. “It’s been a full five years of carving,” he said.
In a normal year, Hickey said he would travel across the state doing a variety of craft shows. “I drive all over Massachusetts doing shows, I try to do a different one every weekend. I set up and carve there,” he said.
However, this year, due to COVID-19 he said he was unable to travel and do shows. Instead, he transferred his business online. This, he said, has been successful. “It’s been a little different, I transferred by business to fully online. Overall, I don’t know what’s been going on with COVID, but people seem to be spending money anyway,” he said.
Hickey said at shows he often carves pieces to help people understand that the items he makes are truly handmade. “When you go to a show, when you’re carving – I don’t know if they realize the work that goes in behind it. It puts into perspective what you’re buying, that you’re buying a handmade piece,” he said. “If I’m not carving they’ll ask if it’s wood. It’s crazy that modern day kids don’t know things are handmade.”
He said that while he’s working on setting up a livestream so that people can watch him carve live on social media, it’s a work in progress. Hickey said his most popular requests for carvings are bears, eagles, owls and wolves. Additionally, seasonal items such as pumpkins and Christmas trees are also popular, he said. The most difficult piece to carve, he said, was the human form.
“The human form is the hardest, but sometimes you get orders to carve someone. The easiest are the ones you do every day,” he said, adding that for him the easiest forms to carve were his most requested orders such as bears, owls and eagles.
He said typically, standard items he makes for craft fairs and shows take “a day to two days max” for him to carve. However, custom orders can take a lot longer and range anywhere from “weeks or even months” for him to create.
While Hickey now lives in Belchertown, his shop is in Granby at his mother’s ranch. However, he emphasized that the shop was not open to the public, but those interested in seeing a piece in person could arrange an appointment by contacting him through his Facebook page Chainsaw Carvings by Brett.