NEIGHBORS: An eagle is born from woodcarver’s hands

Aspinwall carved this bird out of wood during the earlier stages of his woodcarving classes with his neighbor Lenny Lubking.


Peter Aspinwall, 74, carved this eagle whose wing span is 42 inches. The bird sits atop of ledge in his home at the Bonita Golf Club.

The eagle has landed at the Bonita Golf Club community and Peter Aspinwall, 74, is to thank.

After five years, neighbors will be invited to see the “huge bird” Peter carved out of redwood in his garage.

“I like carving birds ... it takes a lot of patience,” said Aspinwall, while pointing at a number of birds that decorate his home.

He set out to build the eagle after learning to carve smaller birds from his neighbor and friend Len Lubking.

“Lenny said I needed a hobby because our wives weren’t happy that we spent so much time fixing things around the neighborhood,” said Peter, about Lubking whose since moved out of the neighborhood.“I told him I had no skills for wood carving but he said he could teach me.”

And, Lubking not only taught him to carve but the two became fast friends, working on several birds over the years.

“We started this eagle from three pieces of wood and then put them together as we went along,” said Aspinwall, about the eagle whose body is 8 inches at its widest and each wing spans 42 inches.

“This is his baby,” said his wife Rosie, who didn’t know where to display the eagle until it was completed. “It fits perfectly in that space.”

Rosie jokes that the project that took her husband years to finish because passers-by would talk to Aspinwall as he worked in the garage.

“I’d sit in my chair with my grinder and everybody had something to ask,” he said. “It’s great fun to see what people think of it.”

Aspinwall finished the eagle by pinning the wings and tail on and grinding the feathers using dental drills.

“I went in for my appointment and found out my dentist threw out the used drills,” said Aspinwall, about his hometown dentist in Wisconsin. “I told him to save them and send them to me.”

After finishing the carving he read books to get the “colors right” and worked hard the last few months to finish it.

“I painted every groove and watered the paint down so you could see the detail,” he said.

Detailed birds is all Aspinwall carves, but it’s not because birds are his favorite.

“I carve birds because it’s all he taught me,” he jokes. “But it’s great fun and it’s nice when you finish a bird.”

Aspinwall hasn’t decided when he will host an open house to show off the bird but it “will be very soon on a Sunday.”

“Everybody who passes by has seen it in one stage or another but now it’s finally done.”