For the past three months, Tom Austin of Newton Twp. has spent his weekends along the Lackawanna River chipping, carving, sanding and sawing away at what, on Thursday, would have otherwise been just a dead tree.
Now it looks like an American Indian.
"I always wanted to do a full human figure," said Mr. Austin, who began carving the tree into a 10-foot-tall American Indian in August.
While working his day job as a consultant for the state Department of Transportation, building a portion of the Lackawanna River Heritage Trail in Taylor, Mr. Austin came upon an oak tree that had been axed by vandals.
"The plan was to cut it down," said James May, a spokesman for PennDOT.
But, seeing a canvas in the dying oak, Mr. Austin asked if it would be all right if he used his hobby to help beautify the trail.
With permission from his superiors, Mr. Austin set to reshaping the trunk and, months later, stood on the scaffolding surrounding his creation and said, "To me it's not done yet."
"Every time I start working on it, I see something new to do on it," he said.
Contact the writer: domalley@timesshamrock.com, @domalleyTT on Twitter