"Modelbuilder, Bill Herbst turns talents to carving" from the September 11, 1975 Door County Advocate
Turning his talents to other areas Sturgeon Bay's model ship builder William Herbst is nearly finished with this five foot by 32 inch wood carving of the Last Supper. This is only the second time Herbst has attempted a carving.
Modelbuilder, Bill Herbst turns talents to carving
After 40 years of working in various phases of shipbuilding William Herbst, Sturgeon Bay, well known as an expert in designing and building models of "ships and boats, is turning his woodworking talents to another area — woodcarving. Bill's first full-fledged project is by no means small, it's a butternut wood carving of the Last Supper which measures over five feet long and nearly a yard high.
A skilled cabinet-maker by trade, Herbst retired on July 5 after 22 years as an inspector and quality control expert with the Sturgeon Bay Navy Supervisor of Shipbuilding. He says his first love has always been woodworking and in his younger days he was employed to make cabinets for ships. His talents in this field are evidenced throughout his home.
Many of his intricate ship models have been commissioned by the local shipyards, private collectors, the Coast Guard and Washington D.C. Now that he is virtually an expert in creating such models Bill decided to try another aspect of his hobby — woodcarving. I can make a small winch for a crane without any trouble but I've always had a hard time trying to carve a figure, he said.
Years ago Herbst made his first carving of the Last Supper from a small picture. The present carving (nearly five times as large as the first) is over high five feet long and 32 inches high and will adorn the wall in his dining room. He started work on this project last Christmas but was not able to devote any length of time to the carving until after his retirement.
He uses a variety of carving chisels and works slowly to perfect the figures and designs on the large wood block. He says he doesn't consider himself an artist and for that reason it takes him longer to illustrate his ideas on wood.
Herbst is a modest man, who seems a little embarrassed by the praise his work justly receives. Last month he exhibited his sculpture at an art festival in Appleton where he received both praise and offers to buy.
Although he has worked in the shipyards and has designed and built ship models for over a quarter of a century Herbst says he has never really sailed. He once built a 19-foot sailboat which he refers to as a big mistake because he found he never had time to take it out on the water.
Herbst says he likes making models and carvings because of the three dimensional affect they present to the viewers as opposed to one dimension when something is on paper.
Bill and his wife have five children and nine grand-children. Mrs. Herbst always has her eye on her husband's projects to give him encouragement and sweep up the left overs. As if shipbuilding, carving and his grandchildren aren't enough to occupy his spare time, Bill says he is looking forward to a lot of baseball, football and basketball during his retirement.
Now that he has only to put the finishing touches on his Last Supper carving Bill isn't saying what his next project will be. He says he has several commissions for models to finish before he starts thinking about another carving.
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