MOONEY The Life of the World’s Master Carver by John P. Hayes

“Unbelievable,” “Amazing,” and “Impossible” . . . those words are uttered countless times a day in several different languages in small-town Dover, Ohio, because people can hardly believe what they see. They are the tens of thousands who visit the backyard museum of Ernest “Mooney” Warther, billed as the world’s master carver, to look at what the Smithsonian Institution said are “priceless works of art.” During a span of nearly 50 years, Mooney recreated the history of the steam engine, and major events in American history, by carving 64 scale models (one-half inch to the foot), each with intricate details and moving parts. One model required more than 7,200 parts and consumed nearly 1,400 hours of work spread across 16 months.