Carving out a niche for Christmas
When it comes to special reindeer, Santa Claus has Rudolph.
Riverview’s David Mercer has Renoir.
As a cold front skidded through Riverview on Friday, the skies looked wintry. Any similarity to winter ended there as the temperature hovered in the mid-70s. Toiling on a work bench in the front yard outside the apartment on Desoto Road where he has lived for 14 years, Mercer is busily creating handmade wooden Christmas reindeer.
I know Christmas season does not "traditionally" begin until after Thanksgiving, but it never hurts to look ahead.
The reindeer are made from birch plywood and can be used as yard ornaments during Christmas season. They are fitted together with nine interlocking pieces, with four of them devoted to an intricate set of antlers.
“That was my whole concept,” Mercer said.
Mercer knows how to work with his hands. The 62-year-old was a carpenter before he retired in 2014 and ran his own company, Nature Home Maintenance, where he had “2,337 legit jobs over 15 years.” His father was a master carpenter, and his grandfather was a laborer in a crate mill.
Mercer said he had seen large reindeer carvings so he started drawing a downsized version. He has crafted reindeer that stand 24 inches high, are 13 to 14 inches long and 12 inches wide. Prices range from $25 for a simple cut to $75 for a stained and sealed version, and he also sells his work on eBay.
Mercer goes upstairs and brings out the elder statesman of his reindeer, Renoir. This is truly a work of art, stained a dark brown with a red scarf wrapped around his neck.
“He was my first one,” Mercer said of his 2005 creation.
Mercer has been a Hillsborough County resident for most of his life. Born in Tampa, he attended Belle Witter Elementary, Van Buren Middle School and King High. His roots run deep in Florida.
“My ancestors go back 190 years in Central Florida,” he said.
Mercer’s great-great-great grandfather, James Mitchell Keen, served in all three Seminole Indian wars with the Florida Mounted Militia. Another great-great-great grandfather, John Mercer, also fought in the Florida wars against the Seminoles.
Mercer’s father, Caubett “Jimme” Mercer Jr., grew up in the small town of Gardner in Hardee County. He fought in World War II and was part of the second-day wave of troops at Omaha Beach in Normandy on June 7, 1944.
As Veterans Day approaches, Mercer is proud to have served a two-year stint in the Army, which took him to bases in Kentucky, Georgia and Wiesbaden, Germany.
He also was pleased to help in constructing part of the stage for the WWF (now WWE) Royal Rumble at the USF Sun Dome in January 1995.
“I built an entrance where the wrestlers came through,” he said. “It was an international pay-per-view event and my entrance was shown 37 times.
“Yes, I counted how many times,” he laughed.
Because he lives on a quiet street east of U.S. 301, Mercer does not expect to get a lot of walk-up sales. However, for the first time, he has embraced the internet as an option and is selling his items on eBay. He became an eBay member on Oct. 8, and you can find his listing here.
The work is high quality, and since he is out there now working in his front yard, Christmas early birds can get a jump on getting unique decorations. He is considering expanding his handiwork to wood decorations appropriate for Easter and Independence Day, too.
Unlike Renoir (the artist, not the reindeer), Mercer’s works are not museum pieces to be displayed on a wall. However, they make a pretty darned good lawn ornament.