Craftsman, 80, Excels Despite Inability to See

The spinning drill bit bites into soft pine an inch from Ed Beherns’ left index finger, finding its mark precisely over and over.

Behern’s skill at making wooden toys would be remarkable by anyone, but this 80-year-old craftsman is blind.

No hint of his handicap can be seen in the finished wooden tractor-trailers, little railroad steam engines, pickup trucks, wheelbarrows and animal figures that he makes in his basement shop.

“I know just about where everything is--unless somebody moves it,” said Beherns, who easily finds his way about the narrow and twisted passages of his workshop, where the aromas of freshly cut cedar and pine fill the air.

He says he finds joy in building toys, children’s rocking chairs, tables and doll cradles. He sells his products for just enough to cover his expenses.

And he is looking ahead to a new challenge.

In his mind is a blueprint for a working steam-powered threshing machine. It will be a scale model of the one his brother, Harry, used to own. It will be 18 inches long and an alcohol burner will make the steam.

The thresher will be made of metal and Beherns will use the metal-working skills he developed during the 31 years he worked at a Kankakee factory.

He started working with wood 10 years ago, shortly after he began losing his sight to glaucoma. A blind craftsman from Champaign visited him and suggested that he try building birdhouses.

Now, Beherns has a backlog of orders from people who want to buy one of his custom-built birdhouses to give as holiday gifts.

His interest in toys began when he was growing up on a farm in Illinois.

“When I was a kid--you know, there wasn’t too much money in those days--I used to make my own toys,” he said. “I made trucks --a whole construction outfit, even a crane, and I made a Caterpillar tractor and put an alarm clock (mechanism) in it to drive the thing.”

He said that his blindness makes him a better toy maker, because now he feels the contours and tests the smoothness of finished surfaces with hands made extra sensitive by his lack of sight.

“Before,” he said, “I’d only look at the pieces.”