Repurpose, recycle and re-use!

Something to spout about—Harwich man transforms trash into nautical-themed treasure

Photography by Cape Cod Whale Carving

Rich Benson of Cape Cod Whale Carving in East Harwich specializes in exquisite carvings of whales, which he mounts on attractive, seasoned wood. “I come across these old, old beautiful pieces of wood and I just can’t throw them away,” Benson says. “I know somewhere down the road I will use them so I have to keep every bit out of the dumpster.”

While Benson often uses new wood, whether sugar pine or bass, for the whale carving itself, he says he would never dream of mounting his one-of-a-kind carvings on an ordinary piece of stock lumber. That same philosophy recently inspired him to work on a crumpled old piece of copper, hammer it flat into a whale shape, and present the piece as an artistic Christmas present . . . to the client on whose property he found the copper piece in a trash pile.