Ask most people what they did with their Christmas tree from last year and they’d probably tell you they threw it away, burned it or discarded it some way – never giving it a second thought. For Navy veteran Bill Evans, these trees are valuable heirlooms just waiting to be carved into one-of-a-kind Santa Claus statues.

 Evans, proprietor of Christmas Whispers, has been an avid wood carver his entire life.
“I learned from my father,” Evans said. “He loved carving his whole life and that passion rubbed off on me.”

Evans planned to carry on the family tradition and went to take his five-year-old daughter Kirsten on a walk through the rolling forest on the family’s Western Pennsylvania farm to find a suitable piece of wood so he could teach her how to carve. But, the late-afternoon heat that unseasonably warm afternoon proved too much for the young girl.

“We got as far as the back yard by my workshop and she wanted to go back in the house,” Evans remembered. “I told her we needed to go to the woods to find a tree to carve, and she pointed to last year’s Christmas tree and said ‘what about that tree, daddy?’”

Evans realized the genius of the idea and decided to throw the tree into his kiln to dry it out so he could carve it.
Now, more than two decades later, passionate customers from as far away as Perth, Australia send Evans their Christmas tree trunks for a one-of-a-kind keepsake. The overwhelming majority of Christmas Whispers’ clients commission a new carving year after year. In fact, Evans gets so many requests, he sets a limit of 1,300 trees each year.

                “I can’t do any more than that,” Evans said. “I average five or six trees a day already.”
 

Explosive Exposure

The obvious question you’re probably asking by now is “How does a guy carving trees in a sleepy town in Pennsylvania get customers from all over the world?” All vetrepreneurs understand the importance of marketing and promoting a business. Evans said he just got lucky and got the best exposure he could imagine by accident.

In 1990, Evans was commissioned to carve chair for a customer from Pittsburgh. The woman took the chair with her into her office and a guest noticed the carving and wanted to commission and entire dining room set.  Evans, who had retired from spending 22 years in corporate America, wasn’t carving full-time as a business and originally declined the offer. But, the customer insisted and persuaded Evans to accept the job, and even offered him a bonus on receipt.

“I said no, no bonus. We agreed on a price,” Evans said.
The bonus, however, was not in the form of cash. The customer, needed the carved dining room set as the centerpiece in the pictorial essay featuring her home in Better Homes and Gardens.

“That eight-page spread jumped me right out of craft shows because it brought in so much business,” Evans said. “After that all the local networks saw the spread and started doing ran pieces about me. It was all luck.”
               
 Painstaking Process

Customers send the bottom portion of the tree trunk for a carving. Evans then marks the tree on the base to keep it separate from all the others and throws it in his kiln to dry for as long as three months to prevent cracking. Then, he uses a band saw to cut the basic shape. Then he uses a high-speed rotary tool to grind the contours to minimize the time spent carving by hand, which is the most crucial aspect of the entire process.

Then, Evans carefully hand carves the statue and takes the final carving for a paint job. Each piece is unique as Evans lets the wood dictate the characteristics of the Santa, coupled with the customizable colors during the painting process. Then, Evans hand-numbers each piece and issues a certificate of authenticity to accompany the final package to the client. Evans said his secret to success lies in his pricing.

“There are a million woodcarvers out there that can carve better than I do, but they have a tendency to price themselves out of business,” he said. “Artists try to price their work on what they think it’s worth instead of what it’s worth to the customer.”

Evans said he charges $7.00 per inch for his carvings. So, a painted, 1-foot-tall statue will cost $94.00 before shipping. This number, Evans said, is the right balance between what’s a fair price for his craftsmanship and what his customers feel is a fair price. 
    
Evans said his proudest moment came when his family and friends who thought he was crazy for trying to turn his hobby into a business realized that his gamble turned into a profitable business.

                “When they looked around and said ‘well, I guess you were right,’ that’s when it really hit home,” Evans said.

To learn more about Christmas Whispers and Evans work visit www.christmaswhispers.com.

FUN FACTS

Bill Evans

AGE 62

MILITARY SERVICE

U.S. Navy, 1968-1972

Seaman (E-3)

 THE COMPANY

Christmas Whispers

LOCATION:   Brownsville, Pa.

NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES 1

NUMBER OF MILITARY EMPLOYEES 1

WEBSITE www.christmaswhispers.com

YEAR FOUNDED: 1990

FAVORITE TV SHOW “Law & Order”

FAVORITE FOOD plain hamburger

FAVORITE BAND The Eagles

ROLE MODEL My father

DREAM JOB I have it

ALMA MATER Michigan State

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