Whimsy in wood
By ELIZABETH BETTENDORF
Published December 17, 2006
ZEPHYRHILLS - Roger Eidson found a little house in paradise - right in the heart of this historic Old Florida town: A 1,200-square-foot concrete block house with a back yard full of citrus trees and enough room for a couple of woodworking sheds.
"I'm from the country and had to get back into the country," says Eidson, 51, who moved to Florida two years ago, first settling in the community of Ozona in Pinellas County.
Pinellas wasn't for him.
Too much traffic, too many people, says Eidson, a spray technician at the Lake Jovita Golf Course.
He liked Pasco because he could still buy a house for a reasonable price in Zephyrhills and have the peace and quiet to do what he likes to do best:
Build and carve exquisitely rustic birdhouses.
A lifelong birdwatcher descended from generations of carvers in the little northern Alabama town of Alder Springs, Eidson builds his bird cabins from wood he collects on the farm homesteaded there by his grandparents in the 1890s.
He fashions them from walnut, cedar, ash, poplar, weathered barn wood, even scraps of driftwood he collects from the nearby Green Swamp.
The houses, built spontaneously without fancy plans or a lot of analyzing, look like cabins deep in the Wisconsin or Maine woods, picturesque as illustrations from a Hans Christian Andersen tale, only with a twist: Knotty cypress knees, carved birds and free-form creatures adorn the exteriors, usually A-frames with curved walls and antique flea market spoons to attach them to branches. Some sport additional ornaments like the window knob from a 1942 Studebaker or a stainless-steel rod-holder from a boat.
"Anyone can make a square birdhouse that's the same as the rest, but mine don't look like anyone else's - no two are alike."
Holes in the front make the houses ideal for bluebirds, though some customers prefer them just for show.
"Some people like them so much they never take them outside, but they're built to hang outdoors," says Eidson, who has been carving birdhouses for nearly two decades. He has customers in Wisconsin, Michigan, Canada, Arizona and California. Some buy a new one annually, sight unseen.
Homeowners in Lake Jovita are fans, too.
One woman in Orlando owns a dozen.
Another customer filled his sunroom with them.
"A lot of people say, 'Just make me one,' or, 'You pick it out,' " he says.
Rugged beauty aside, part of the attraction may be the humble price tag: $35 to $45 for a custom house, signed by Eidson.
"I want everyone who wants one to be able to own one," he explains. "If I sold them for $85 apiece, that wouldn't happen."
Right now, he's trying to make 70 birdhouses for the Kumquat Festival in January, but he can't quite reach his goal: "I can't make them fast enough - people keep buying them - and I'm happy to keep making them."
Eidson, who lives with his wife, Diane, was first a bird carver. He keeps a couple of specimens around to show visitors, including a delicate bluebird in a glass box.
Carving has always remained a hobby rather than a full-time job for Eidson, who learned the skill from his father, who surrounded his family with inspiration. He picks up an elegant wooden church with a tall steeple, stained glass windows and a music box housed deep inside, built by his father.
For years in his spare time, Eidson carved the creative and whimsical. Besides birds and birdhouses, he made wooden silhouettes of animals for the sides of barns, and tall Frank Lloyd Wright-inspired chairs, each with its own built-in birdhouse. He made his real living working for Lowe's and running a motorcycle sales and repair shop with his brother. He enjoys riding his Suzuki 800 Volusia motorcycle in his spare time. He's also known around town for his famous dry-rub Alabama ribs that he cooks in a smoker and sometimes sells at local events.
His boss at Lake Jovita jokes that he's worried Eidson's going to start carving birdhouses full time, but he'll probably keep doing it on the side, at least for now.
He's happy to come home from work and build his fanciful bird hideaways in a 10-by-10 foot shed arranged with a table saw, a radio-arm saw, a band saw and drill press.
It's a paradise for a man - and the birds.
"Carving is peaceful; it relaxes me," he says. "I start carving a birdhouse, and I don't ever know what it's going to look like until I'm done."
Elizabeth Bettendorf can be reached at ebettendorf@hotmail.com.