The idea of sculpting first came to DiSalvo 30 years ago.

"I saw an Indian head in a Willow Glen business and decided that when I retired I would make one."

DiSalvo's wife, Phyllis, thought woodwork a good hobby for her husband as well.

"I was looking for a Father's Day gift and my daughter suggested some woodwork tools from the Home Depot."

His hobby-time officially began when a limb fell from a tree near their cabin in Tahoe a year ago.

With no prior training, DiSalvo decided to create the top portion of a totem pole out of the fallen pine limb. He carved a thunderbird and painted it pink, yellow, purple and blue. It now stands watch over the couple's Tahoe cabin. He also has an unfinished bust of a Native American sitting at the cabin as well.

"I figured we Italians are related to Leonardo DaVinci," DiSalvo says.

Since the totem carving, he has finished three busts of Native Americans. One is a somber-looking medicine man with a pronounced jaw named Whirlwind. DiSalvo worked on it for 60 hours.

His current project, a small buffalo, is his first animal piece. It is made from a leftover piece of redwood that DiSalvo cut from the last bust. He's spent 10 to 12 hours on this particular piece just creating the shape of the buffalo.

"That's just the hard work," he says. "The grinding and detailing will take about 10 to 15 hours."

When it's completed, he envisions carving the base to look like the buffalo is standing in water.

His makeshift studio consists of a stand in the middle of the back lawn. This setup allows him to move completely around the piece while using his chainsaw and grinder, his two primary tools. The accents on the sculptures, such as the hair accessories or jewelry, he carves out of fish bone. The end result leaves flecks of redwood on the grass like confetti.

"I sit there and play for hours," he says.

For his inspiration, he uses pictures found in books or online. He has experimented with different finishes--satin, gloss and matte--and has tried both dry and wet wood.

"I can't use the dry wood because it has too many worm holes," he says.

So he works with wet wood. The downside is that it is very heavy. The piece he finished the weekend of Aug. 13 weighs 80 pounds.

"It will take it two years to dry out and by then, it will only weigh 40 pounds. Creating the lips, nose and eyes are the most difficult aspects of the work. Once they are cut out, the basic forms are there, but that's when the work just begins.

"I never know how it's going to look," DiSalvo says. "I know how I want it to look. By the time you start, you wonder whether the nose looks right or if the eyes are in the right spot," he says.

Not many people know about DiSalvo's artistic hobby and those who do have seen it predominately in pictures.

"I never imagined he'd do what he does," his wife says. "I'm so proud."

For the time being DiSalvo plans to carve strictly for his own enjoyment.

"If I acquire enough pieces, maybe I'll have them in a showroom or see if they're worth selling," he says. "It depends on how many I get in a series."

DiSalvo says he likes carving Native Americans but also wants to work on the Founding Fathers.

"It's really mind clearing. You don't think of anything else when you're trying to get an eye right," he says. "It's something I think that you do when you have time. I always thought I had artistic ability but I never really had the time to sit down and play with it."