Arts & Entertainment

Award-winning Duck Carver Calls Stratford Home [VIDEO]

Hank Sprouse, a retired dentist, recently placed second in an international wildfowl carving contest.

Stratford resident Hank Sprouse didn't stop working with his hands after he retired from a successful career in dentistry in 2007.

After 41 years as a dentist practicing in Fairfield, Sprouse decided to take his number one hobby -- wildfowl carving -- to the next level.

"When I got really serious is when I retired from dentistry," Sprouse said from his living room, which is adorned with ducks and birds he has carved recreationally over the last 25 years. "[After retiring] I devoted eight hours a day, five days a week to doing carving."

And earlier this year at the 2011 Ward World Championship Wildfowl Carving Competition, that serious approach was recognized as Sprouse won second place in the advanced decorative life-size floating waterfowl group.

Sprouse said his awarding-winning duck stood out because it was the only one in the competition that was carved in a sleeping position.

"That immediately draws your attention," said Sprouse, adding that a blue wing also pleases the eye.

The 71-year-old said he first fell in love with duck carving -- which he says is "a true American craft" and usually involves four steps: carving, sanding, burning, painting -- about 25 years ago when a patient came into his office with a box of half-completed duck decoys.

"I had a patient come in with a box one day and he said, 'I just want to show you that other people have talent with their hands,' and he opened this box and he was halfway through a class where they were carving and painting a duck," said Sprouse, who shortly thereafter enrolled in the class.

Sprouse said he carved about two ducks or birds a year in classes leading up to 2007. There are at least a dozen carvings floating around his Stratford home. "At this point, my wife has to love it" to have it displayed in the house, he said.

He admits that his background in dentistry was a "great help" in his attempt to perfect the carving craft. In fact, some of the same tools he used as a dentist he now uses while carving in one of his four work stations set up in his Chickadee Lane home.

Outside of competing, Sprouse is available for private hire, and he says as long as there's an idea, there's a carving.

"If you want something carved, I'll carve it for you," he said. "All it needs is the idea and the inspiration and I'll try it."


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