After a stroll inside Ethan Greenlaw’s residence, any person would likely look at wood in a whole new way.

That’s because the wood carver has crafted masterpieces out of the most ordinary, and some of the most extraordinary, looking wood a person could find.

“Oh, I can find useful pieces of wood almost anywhere,” he said. “Some of this wood gets injured in some way and then they take on all sorts of different shapes and designs and makes it look interesting.”

A couple of his favourite pieces are walking sticks that he managed to scoop up from New Brunswick, his home province.

The wood was so stunning that he brought it back with him on a flight that had stops in Ottawa, Vancouver and Kamloops.

“They told me to take the wood on the plane with me,” he said. “Then, when I was ready to board, they told me that I couldn’t take them on.”

That’s when the staff said they would bring them to his destination for him.

“They didn’t arrive, though, in Ottawa and Vancouver, so they told me the only way I could get them was to catch a plane and go back to New Brunswick,” he said.

He was so determined to bring these beechwood walking sticks back with him that he would have likely done just that. But he was relieved to receive a phone call from the airline telling him he could pick them up in Kamloops.

Greenlaw has dozens of walking sticks in his Collettville home, but that only occupies a portion of the hundreds of wood carvings he has completed over his 15 years of work.

But three years ago, his collection was reduced to three items when a fire tore through his home.

Rebuilding has taken some effort while using tools such as the lathe, chisel, bandsaw, planer, drill press, router table and nuts, screws and bolts stored in cabinets that are handmade by, well, wood of course.

While most of his work is practical and representational, a lot is abstract.

“You open them up and look at them, and then see what you see,” he said of a log book he made. “You get all kinds of different things.”

Greenlaw’s collection also includes birds, picture frames, bowls, clocks and candle holders.

His work is available at Vision Quest Optical and at craft fairs.