Woodcarver honours nature in his lifelike woodwork

Bill Majewski examining carvings of three black-capped chickadees that he made.

Bill Majewski sat in the garage workshop of his home in Duluth’s Smithville neighbourhood in Minnesota, the United States, and fired up a small rotary tool ­sounding so much like a dental drill that it produced involuntary cringes among guests.

But instead of fillings and caps, Majewski’s work is turning wood into copycats of nature. He calls himself a carver but he’s also a sculptor, a grinder, a sander, a burner and a painter. He turns pieces of butternut, basswood, ­cottonwood, tupelo and other woods into wildly realistic replicas.