While living in the outskirts of Milwaukee in 1970, I worked as a field service engineer and was occasionally invited by sales reps to eat lunch, usually at one of several great German restaurants. Without exception, they were decorated with woodcarvings of all shapes and sizes. My favorite of these restaurants was Mader’s, due to the three very large wall carvings created in Oberammergau, Germany. These were base-relief depictions of family and friends enjoying themselves at Hofbrauhaus, a beer hall in Munich. The carvings, as I remember them, were very thick and approximately 4’ high and 5’ long and made from linden wood. They were just marvelous.
After work one day, having had lunch at Mader’s, I stopped at an import/export shop and bought a set of six Japanese carving tools made from what looked like metal from a band saw blade. The entire set cost less than ten dollars and I was excited. My wife Sandra and I had five young children at the time, and if the tools had been more expensive, I could not have afforded them. When I got home, I took a tool out and started to make cuts in an exposed wall stud in the garage, just to see how it felt. It felt very good! My first completed carving was a base-relief of a tulip in scrap fir wood, and I still have it. Over the next two decades, I carved extensively, with a special focus on floral motifs, waterfowl, eagle, etc.
After being transferred to Chicago in 1973, I met someone who was restoring an old apartment in the Gold Coast. He needed to replace some rotting architectural detail above the doors, but the woodcarver he normally utilized for this work had retired. When I expressed interest, he brought out a piece of pine carved with the classic acanthus leaf motif. I looked it over, said I could do that, and he then said I needed to prove it. I had a piece of Honduras mahogany at home and – using his original as a pattern – carved my offering. He was very pleased and gave me an order for six of the pieces.
When I delivered the order, he had a print made of a window valance 12′ long by 24″ at the widest point in the center as it looped down into a large curve with a carved fleur-de-lis pattern in the middle, and with leaves and vines trailing off to the ends of each side. He needed two of them. I made the two valances, on which he planned to gold gild the floral decorative parts and wax the clear wood not covered in gold. Once he had approved the pieces, he asked me into his office to talk about my taking on this type of work for himself and several other decorators, builders, and restorers. This unfortunately did not fit into our family plans at the time, so I had to decline.
After moving to Houston in 1992, my house lacked space for a workshop, and extensive business travel left me no time to indulge in my hobby. It would be twenty-four years before I picked up another carving tool.
In 2016, as I approached retirement, I took a brief carving course to see if I might still be interested in carving. The course was at Lie-Nielsen Toolworks in Warren, Maine, and the instructor was Mary May of Charleston, SC. This experience reignited my interest in carving. Shortly afterward, I took a class on carving a sperm whale, instructed by Wayne Robbins in Bath, Maine. There was little question then that what I wanted to do on an almost full-time basis is carve wood.

(1) In July 2021 this Eagle was hung on the wall of Portland VFW Post 6859…60” wingspan, 23k gold gilding, Eastern white pine.
I then retired from work in 2018 and have since carved eleven of the New England classic sperm whales, two canvasback decoys, four Western and Eastern screech owls, two 32”-tall Santas, one snowy owl, a full-size loon decoy, two miniature carousel animals, four eagle head canes for veterans, and started on a 1/3-size carousel horse, at which point I discovered John Haley Bellamy.
In the spring of 2021, I decided to stop carving just for family and friends; I wanted to devote my time to carving for veterans. Inspired by my father who was a career Naval Officer, I saw firsthand the sacrifices that not only the service person makes for the country, but also the sacrifices made by the family. It is impossible for the country to thank the military personnel and their families enough for what they do for us. The logo for Eagles for Veterans notes that we should “Honor Their Service” and it speaks to the service members and their entire family.
The idea to carve Bellamy-style eagles for veterans grew out of my carving the eagle head canes that various woodcarving associations around the country promote to their members. One of my canes was donated in 2020 to the WWII museum in New Orleans so that they could present it to Laurence Brooks, who at 110 years old, was the oldest living WWII Veteran. The second eagle head cane recipient was a 98-year-old Veteran, also of NOLA, whom I worked for on several business projects.

In late January 2022, this eagle was shipped to New Orleans to a 98-year-old WWII Veteran who navigated B-29s over Japan. The pattern for this Eagle came from a photograph taken of an original John Haley Bellamy eagle that was completed in the late 1800s. Wingspan of 62.5”, 23k gold gilding, Eastern white pine.
In November, 2021, this eagle was hung at American Legion Post 82 in Norway, ME: 75” wingspan, 23k gold gilding, Eastern white pine.
The eagles are made from Maine-grown Eastern white pine and – except for the power tools and drill used for prep work and attaching the head to the body – the work is accomplished with hand gouges and knives. I use a special adjustable wooden fixture to hold the eagles while I carve them. This fixture was designed by John Shortell who offers the plans on his website. He also offers patterns for the eagles themselves.
For my first eagle, I purchased a rough-out from Paul White in Cape Cod. Paul is a well-known sign maker and carver of eagles. He shared a great deal of information with me when I drove down to pick up the wood. The second eagle was carved from a rough-out that had been started several years ago but the gentleman who started it passed away, and it lay in a garage for some period. It was very helpful to start this program with the two blanks, as at that time I had never seen a Bellamy style eagle in person. The remaining eagles I have carved, and will continue to carve, are started from a rough piece of clear white pine direct from a sawmill.
All the best,
James F McCain, Woodcarver
This page is a modified version of the story published in the Summer Issue of Chip Chats Woodcarving Magazine on pages 16-18.
Our Impact
I invite you to see the smiles when the veterans and their families see their Eagle hanging on their wall for the first time. It is very heartwarming to have their family members and friends express how good they feel for their friends/relatives to receive the recognition that the Eagle represents.