Retired band teacher finds joy in detailed scroll saw art - InForum | Fargo, Moorhead and West Fargo news, weather and sports

MOORHEAD — You won't find his work on Pinterest or Facebook Marketplace.

But retired Moorhead band teacher Doug Engstrom stands at a scroll saw for hours a day — his perfect "year round" hobby.

Wait until you see what he does. With the help of hundreds of pattern pages, he carefully cuts clocks and cathedrals that can take months, even years to make.

During a perfect summer morning in south Moorhead, Engstrom is headed across his back yard to his getaway wood shop.

"This is my sanctuary," he said, laughing.

The magic starts in the shop. Engstrom painstakingly uses the tiny blade of a scroll saw to make some inside cuts of pieces that will soon be added to his latest project: the York Minster cathedral in England.

"Some of the clocks, like this current one, I am at 10 months now working on it, virtually every day," he said.

All over the Engstrom home, there is a special kind of furniture. For the past 20 years, Doug has slowly, methodically created incredible works of scroll saw art. Churches, cathedrals with clocks.

"I had no experience in this whatsoever, it was just to get a scroll saw and start," he said.

Tiny pieces, the size of a pinhead, cut with a saw.

"These little babies are a challenge," Engstrom said of the intricate work on the side of the York cathedral.

"I found this to be a good stress reliever, it got my mind off anything that was bothering me ... I just really enjoy it," he said.

Inside his wood shop, tools and reminders of life's moments.

"So many memories of our motorcycle trips, Father's Day cards, ultrasound pictures of our grandkids before they were born," he said.

And not everyone can stand and saw all day. "I love it," he said.

Especially this kind of intricate work.

"One cut, like these fine cuts, the one cut could take 45 minutes," Engstrom said of the "inside cuts" that are necessary.

And he has learned not to rush the work.

"On this one, 3,800 inside cuts," he said, describing part of the York Minster cathedral. "It is a time consuming thing, but it gives me something to do when I need something to do."

Doug's cathedrals ... at times they are so big, they are made in sections.

"This is the dome clock," he said of a monster piece of work in the living room, almost as tall as he is.

"This is four winters worth of work," he said.

In the end, Engstrom hopes these works of art don't end up at an auction or an estate sale.

"I hope my kids, when I am gone, will take one and keep it as an heirloom and take care of it and think, 'My Dad did that, or my grandpa did that,' that would mean a lot to me," he said.

Doug has created just over 20 of the amazing pieces. He's given some to family and has never considered selling any of them.

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Retired band teacher finds joy in detailed scroll saw art - InForum | Fargo, Moorhead and West Fargo news, weather and sports