By NATE HUBBARD
The Wytheville Enterprise
Published: May 7, 2008

Dickie Patterson wanted a bulldozer.

So he built one.

Then he decided he might as well build a fire truck, train, school bus, Hummer and dump truck, too.

Five and a half years after catching the wood-carving bug, Patterson, 62, is now at work on wooden toy vehicle number 85.

“A guy at work brought a little D-8 dozer down there and I seen it and I said, ‘I got to have one of them,’” Patterson recalled during an interview Friday afternoon at his home on Lead Mine Road. “For a matter of fact he said, ‘You ain’t got the patience.’ So I seen that and I made one and it’s been on.

“From then on, I’ve been making toys,” the Austinville native added.

Patterson puts his heart and soul into each of the miniature vehicles, making sure each tiny gear shift, fire hose and steering wheel looks just right.

He said it usually takes him anywhere from 50 to 100 hours to complete one of his toys, adding that he’ll often spend entire days in his workshop to finish the job in less than a week.

“When I’m in that garage, there’s nobody else in the world,” he said. “I don’t even look out the window. I don’t need anything. And I can go out there and say I’m going to spend two hours and spend five and not realize I’ve even been out there that long. I get completely lost in it.”

Since his retirement from Volvo in December 2007, Patterson said the woodwork has served as a way to keep his mind sharp.

“I have a very hard time just sitting in the house – it ain’t me,” he said. “I think a person should keep busy. I don’t want to come in here and sit down and turn on the TV or something. I think you have to keep your mind occupied.”

Patterson said he started out making the toys from patterns, but has since gotten comfortable enough to come up with designs of his own.

He pointed out a train that stretches across two shelves in one of the rooms in house, saying that some of the cars are his own original creations.

Even when working from blueprints, the woodworking precision needed to create the hundreds of tiny parts on each vehicle out of rough lumber takes plenty of patience.

A school bus he assembled has rows upon rows of miniature windows and seats and even a “Wythe County Public Schools” sticker.

“Most of the wood ends up in sawdust,” he said.

Patterson said he does all the cutting, gluing, sanding and shaping of each and every part on the wooden toys.

The toymaker started out using pine and oak on his first few vehicles, but Patterson said he’s found he prefers working with maple and walnut.

“I try to make the hard things first,” he said, adding that wheels are often particularly challenging. “It’s just so many steps and you can mess up in so many steps and then you just have to throw it away.”

Patterson seems to have the meticulous personality needed to master the intricate details on each of his toy vehicles.

His workshop Friday was strikingly neat and organized, with each tool in its proper place. Around his house, the completed vehicles were orderly displayed on shelf after shelf.

“I can work on a piece for an hour, mess it up, throw it away and start it again,” he said. “If I’m going to get upset with it, I might as well not start.”

If anything will stop him, Patterson said it will be that he’s simply running out of space for all his creations. Out of the 84 he’s made so far, he said he’s sold only four of them and gave away two to one of his daughters.

Trying to come up with a price to sell his wares is tough, Patterson said. He recalled selling one to an acquaintance at work for $400, but then later unsuccessfully trying to buy it back.

“I can’t price them, that’s my problem,” he said.

He’s started making duplicates of some of his favorite vehicles, which Patterson said makes him more willing to part with one.

Anyone who is interested in purchasing some of Patterson’s creations or just taking a tour to look at the wooden vehicles can call him at (276) 699-6327. 

Nate Hubbard can be reached at 228-6611 or .