During recuperation, Schessl did, in fact, discover that woodcarving was a way to regain coordination and strength in his limb. He exercises three times a day from a pulley attached to the ceiling and has slept with his hand against the wall to stretch the ligaments. For two years he couldn't even pick up a pencil without pain in the reattached arm.
Schessl said that he didn't sit in a corner and say "why me?" and his determination put him back to work and led him to become a master woodcarver.
"I believe a person is only handicapped if he thinks he is," said Schessl, who retired only a few years ago from his job as a construction inspector of Oklahoma City.
When looking at one of his woodcarvings, you might think a random piece of wood needs nothing more than Schessl to transform the formless wood to art.
Schessl's carvings of ducks and other birds, which look amazingly lifelike, have been sold to people from 13 states for as much as $1,400 each. He spends 200 to 300 hours on a bird or duck, with painting taking as much time as the carving. All of it is done in his garage and back room.
He has earned 175 awards for his work, of which 95 are first place and 25 are best of shows. He and his wife, Beverly, have held several offices in the Oklahoma City Woodcarvers Club.
He has given seminars on carving the goldfinch, thereby teaching his self-learned endeavor to others.
The Schessls live in a home they built themselves after the accident. Carvings of wild fowl, songbirds, birds of prey and game birds grace their rustic home.
Schessl, who gets around like a man half his age, gives a sample of his easy laugh when he says a person needs three things to succeed as a woodcarver: money for finger bandages, patience and "a very understanding partner."
With that, he turns toward his wife and proclaims, "She gives me the strength."
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