While everyone else invited to Jen Chau’s holiday cookie swap was kneading dough and heating up ovens, her father, George Chau, was sharpening his chisel. He has spent the last 20 years carving everything from practical jokes to politics out of wood. So, it would only be fitting that he would bring wooden cookies to his daughter’s annual swap, but he doesn’t let the joke go too far.

“I put out a sign in case some people made a mistake, and they were going to take a bite,” says Chau.

Chau teaches woodcarving classes out of his Forest Hills shop. He is also a member of the Woodcarvers Club of New York and attends monthly meetings held at the Queens County Farm Museum in Little Neck. The group has about 40 members.

“Once you get it in your blood, you can’t stop,” said member Jim Neenan, who comes from Staten Island to attend the meetings. He is known for carving wooden ducks, which he said fill every spot in his house.

“I just had a fight with my wife yesterday that she’s burying my ducks in the basement. That’s why we come here. Nobody wants to talk to (their) wife about woodcarving,” said Neenan.

Neenan gives his wood-carved ducks out selectively. 

“I feel like you’ve really got to deserve one of my ducks. It takes 40 hours to make. Like my surgeon—I gave one to my surgeon,” said Neenan. He wants wants his ducks to stay in the family. “I made my kids promise that when I go, to never dump my ducks.”

Another member, Nancy Weindl of Queens Village, also has a specialty. Weindl has carved around 40 dolls over the past five years.

“I just love the 1920s,” said Weindl. “It takes about one week to carve a doll. I get the clothes in the dress shop. Everything is handmade,” said Weindl. She showcased her latest creation—a birdcage carved and decorated so realistically that it even includes crystal bird droppings.

Possibly the most unusual series at the meeting was not out of wood at all but out of golf balls.

“That’s the only way I play golf,” said Kenneth Wang of Fresh Meadows. He carved faces with every expression imaginable into hundreds of golf balls. “The golf ball is much easier carving than wood,” said Wang.

The group agreed that the craft relaxes them and relieves stress.

“It’s like meditation,” Weindl said.

Members also said it’s a great way to unwind after work—some, even during work.

“I wood-carve on the job at lunchtime and coffee time,” said Don Quigley of Brooklyn. 

Others, like Eleanor Lunn from Jackson Heights, found a deeper meaning in it.

“I find it’s almost spiritual for me. I love to watch the wood come away,” said Lunn. She has been woodcarving for two years since first enrolling in Chau’s beginner woodcarving class.

According to Chau, his woodcarving school is unique because students don’t use power tools.

“This is the only school in New York City. It’s all hand carving,” said Chau.

Liz Menzer from Elmhurst regularly attends Chau’s classes and described the wood in such a way that it makes your mouth water.

“When you carve mahogany, it smells like vinegar. When you carve cedar, it smells like a cedar closet. And when you carve butternut wood, it smells like buttered popcorn,” said Menzer.

Maybe there’s something to be said about George Chau and the smell of his freshly carved cookies after all.