Capital Woodcarvers Association

Featured CWA carver Andy Hiroshima. Andy was born to Dr. William and Ruth Hiroshima in a Japanese Relocation Camp in Hunt Idaho, near Twin Falls. He was the youngest of five, four brothers and one sister, and just six months old when the family was released from the camp. His parents were living in Sacramento. Andy’s father was a physician and chiropractor in when the internment began. Everything was taken from the family. When they were released from the camp, his father restarted his medical practice n LA. The family faced significant bias and discrimination as they tried to carry on a normal life. In order to buy a home in a nice neighborhood in LA his father had to have a non-Japanese friend purchase it for him. Andy met his future wife Lily while in high school. After dating for seven years, they were married and celebrated their 53rd anniversary this year. They have two sons and five grandchildren.

Andy has had some interesting jobs early in his career. His wood working roots were born in a job making wooden crates for shipping. He learned how to use tools and met some famous movie stars when helping them pack for moving. At Hanna Barbera Studios Andy had a crew of 13 operating a huge camera that put the drawn cartoon images on film. He was also a mail boy for the city of Los Angeles. All the time he was working at these part-time jobs he was attending night School.

In 1967 he was a student at Cerritos College. The Tet offensive was on in Viet Nam and he was drafter along with 32,000 others. He was trained as a medic and assigned to Ft. Sam Houston. Since, he was an accomplished swimmer and the base needed both a swimming coach and an instructor, Andy was assigned those duties and spent his military service time at that fort. He was the only one with competitive swimming experience, and he was exceptionally good at multiple events. So, the unit entered Andy as their swim team in competitive meets. He competed in all the individual events, but even Andy couldn’t figure out how to compete s a four-person relay!

Realizing he would need more education, he enrolled at Cal State LA on the GI Bill. Taking a large 22 units a term, he got his business degree in two years. After graduation in 1974, he went to work for PG&E, retiring 30 years later.

Andy’s woodcarving history began for real in 1975. While strolling through the shops in Mendocino he spotted a sculpture of a barn owl that he admired. He decided he would try some sculpturing in wood.  His tools were a coping saw a hack saw and sandpaper. His first carving was a hammerhead shark in white oak (see picture). He also did a porpoise in pine and a great white shark red oak.  Each carving took months to do. Andy’s first experience with bass wood was to carve a ball and chain.  At Woodcraft he met Jim Hansen who introduced him to CWA and he joined in November 2005. Joe You invited him over to see his caricature carvings and Andy was hooked.  He started carving caricatures and has not looked back. CWA member Judy Coffee taught him how to make knives using blades from straight razors. He especially likes making handles from a variety of woods, some more exotic than others. The resulting knife is a thing of beauty as well as a functional tool. He figures he has made over 150 knives. Many have been given to fellow carvers.  

Andy doesn’t spend all his free time carving; he is also an avid cyclist.  He has made 7 coast to coast trips with groups of 35 to 60. Each trip is about 3800-miles over 52 days, with 5 days rest along the way. Andy rides 4000 miles or so in training for each trip. On one trip in the Colorado Rockies some residents took exception the cyclists and threw nails and tacks in their path. Despite these events, Andy had a great time and traveled with people from Australia, Africa, New Zealand, China, Singapore Japan Africa, Russia, Germany, France, and Spain. They saw great natural sites and many wild animals. He has also made 2 North South trips of 37 days.

Back home, Andy built a stand-alone shop that is packed with hand tools and a few power tools.  Most of his power tools (lots) are in his spacious garage. He keeps most of his completed carvings, giving some to family and close friends. He also enters them in various shows including CWA, the Dessert Wood Carving Show in Mesa Arizona. and the annual California State Fair competition, where he has won ribbons. Andy seems to especially like carving dragons—he has done fourteen of them. Like most accomplished carvers Andy has taken courses from some of the most recognized carvers in the country. One of the carvings Andy is known for is walking sticks with very realistic painted snakes carved into the handle so the mouth is inches from the person using the cane.  While in Placerville looking for straight razors to use for knife blades Andy walked into a gem store with one of his snake canes. The owner asked if the snake was real, a great compliment since the guy was a taxidermist. He ended up buying the cane and mounting a gem in the handle. Andy made several others that the gem store owner bought for $1200 to $1500. During the renovation of the state capital the contractor came to Woodcraft for help in replacing the rosettes on the doors. They approached CWA and Andy took on the job. The result was attractive qrosettes that matched the original ones very well. They are on the South entrance to the Capitol.

While all of Andy’s accomplishments are significant, the most notable is his willingness to help others.  He is always available to help a fellow member sharpen a tool, learn how to hold a knife or carve a face or a myriad of other similar tasks. The Club benefits as well. The registration of all entries to the show falls to Andy.  This includes record keeping and handling late arriving entries. If there is a task that needs to be done during the show Andy is there.  I have never seen him refuse to help, no matter how busy he was at the time. A remarkable thing about Andy is that he seeks no credit or praise for any of this activity. In fact, he avoids such praise, pushing it aside. Andy Hiroshima is truly a gem in the CWA. We are lucky to have a man with such kindness and broad expertise as member of our club.