Photos by Daniel Lin | Special to The Roanoke Times

Dan Sayers of Radford shows off a section of the 50-foot-long chain he whittled.

Each of Dan Sayers' canes is adorned with a black snake, an animal that Sayers says he has studied since he was a child. "I've seen many a snake wind its way up a tree," he says.

Has been whittling since he was 12

RADFORD -- Dan Sayers said he could never get wrapped up in a book, but he sure could get wrapped up in whittling.

When he was 12, his father gave him his first knife, and ever since, it seems as though he's never put it down.

Now 86, Sayers has carved hundreds of trinkets and gadgets ranging from small children's toys and games to an impressive 50-foot-long linked chain.

There are no reproductions in his collection of whittled wood -- everything he creates is done from his imagination.

"I don't know how I do it," he said. "I just started whittling."

For most of his life, Sayers has had immaculate eyesight, allowing him to carve detailed and precise canes, chains and sometimes, just odds and ends of things.

The man many might call a natural-born artist was born in 1923 in Draper. Sayers worked at Hercules Inc. and Bondurant as a contractor, and on the side he said he did a little bit of everything.

"I'd come home from work, eat a little supper and then head down to the basement," he said.

In the basement -- or what Sayer's likes to call "the rough" -- he would use two-by-two's of any kind of wood he could get his hands on. He said he'd often stay up until 3 or 4 a.m., dressing down his works with sandpaper or a rasp.

His work requires a lot of patience and attention to detail, something Sayers' wife, Iris, says she's never had.

"I'm amazed by what he does," she said. "He's so patient. ... I don't know how he does it."

The most impressive pieces of his work -- aside from the chain -- may be his canes. Each is adorned with a black snake, an animal that Dan Sayers says he has studied since he was a child.

"I've seen many a snake wind its way up a tree," he said.

It was by studying nature, not books, that Dan Sayers drew inspiration for his carvings. Although he admits not being able to read well, he has a sharp memory that allows him to envision his carvings before creating them.

Iris Sayers says the canes have caused quite a stir in the neighborhood.

"People recognize him by his canes," she said.

The artist, very protective and proud of his work, became agitated one day when a woman didn't believe that he had carved the snakes right into the wood.

"She said, 'I know what you did ... you killed an old black snake, mounted it then glued it on that cane,'" he said.

Dan Sayers has never sold his work but has given a few pieces away to his ever-growing list of grandchildren.

His son, Gary, is following in his footsteps.

"Gary uses a chain saw to carve," Iris Sayers said. "He makes some pretty neat things with it."

About two years ago, Dan Sayers started to lose his sight. Today, he is almost completely blind.

"I can't do much now," he said. "I don't think I'll ever really be able to whittle again."

Doctors have provided Dan Sayers with medications, injections and magnifying glasses -- but to no avail. He needs both of his hands to whittle.

His only hope to restore some of his sight rests in an $1,800 pair of loose bioptic glasses, something he said "no poor boy could afford."

If he was ever to regain his sight, he said he would carve two more canes to pass down to his children.