Slippery Rock Gazette

by Ken Scott

Photos  Courtesy Warner Blackburn, Cliff Dieker, and Debbie Crede

Photo by Warner Blackburn

Cliff Dieker had no way of knowing that a field trip to a museum during his senior year in high school would ultimately lead to a hands-on, lifelong connection to stone. Dieker recalled gazing at the Egyptian Pyramid Block exhibit and being impressed with the way they were able to shape the stone in intricate ways with such primitive tools. From that first observance of the techniques of stone shaping, to developing it as a hobby, then to becoming one of only a handful of craftsmen to restore the Kansas Statehouse to its original grandeur, Dieker’s path was a long and winding one.

But first Dieker felt like he needed a real job. After high school he attended college, graduating with an accounting degree. He went on to have a successful career as both a graphic artist and co-owner of a print shop, but he never forgot the pull he felt to try stone carving for himself. 

In his spare time, he practiced his carving skills on his first home, a one-room stone schoolhouse built in 1880 that he and his wife purchased. So when he retired from accounting and graphic arts, he began his second, much different career, as a stone carver. 

“I was drawn to that stone structure (my first home). We remodeled much of the inside, including the fireplace, and made doorways into windows,” Dieker said. “I was able to develop my skills doing these projects, including adding a stone porch, retaining walls, a stone treasure chest for my son and even a life size lion, which weighed several tons. After about a year, when I finished carving the lion, I realized I had spent about 75 percent of my project time on just looking at the piece of stone, deciding on the direction. With stone, it’s easy to take some off, but you really can’t put it back on.”

Dieker started off using hand tools, not so different from the ancient carvers. Then he progressed to using air-powered pneumatic hammers, chisels and sculpting tools. He went to workshops and said he learned from trial and error, from workshops and almost everyone he ever worked with.

Above: Cliff Dieker was one of a handful of carvers who worked on the Kansas Statehouse restoration. Completed in 2014, the project spanned several years.  Photo by Warner Blackburn Below: Cliff Dieker estimates that he completed between 600 and 700 Dutchman repairs on the Kansas Statehouse restoration, “from fist-size to about 800 pounds.”  Kansas Statehouse project photos by Warner Blackburn (7)

Top half of the “Critter Tree,” a project Dieker created for Missouri Ledge Stone Supply with Tim Crede.

In 2008, Dieker became an integral part of a three-to-seven-person stone carving team, tasked with restoring the Kansas Statehouse in Topeka. The original structure was completed in 1903 and the years had not been kind to the limestone façade. Correcting the issues required working on a custom-designed scaffolding system, which stood 60 feet high, and conducting Dutchman repairs at that lofty height. A Dutchman is a type of restoration technique where a damaged section of the limestone structure is removed and replaced with a new, cut-to-fit replacement piece. 

“These [Dutchman] repairs require smooth, flat cuts so precise that the new piece fits into the structure tight. So tight that after it’s epoxied, it’s not noticed,” Dieker said. “I did between 600-700 Dutchman repairs on that project ranging from fist-size to about 800 pounds.” 

A block and tackle system was used to raise the larger sections into place, but Dieker said many of the smaller pieces were carried up the stairs by hand. The restoration was ultimately successful in returning the statehouse to its former glory.

One of the many stops along his stone-carving path was at Missouri Ledge Stone Supply and Fabrication in Oak Grove, Missouri. Owner Tim Crede had an idea for a “critter tree” and Dieker was just the man to turn that vision into a reality. Standing over six feet high and weighing several tons, the tree, which features raccoons and squirrels (among other critters), spent many years at the KOA Campground in Oak Grove, delighting scores of campers passing through. 

Tim’s wife, Debbie, said that Tim was able to tell Dieker what he wanted and Dieker came through with exactly what he had in mind. The tree has since been moved from the campground and is looking for a more permanent home. “Right now it is sitting at my son’s house in Green Valley,” Debbie said.

Stephen Crede, Debbie and Tim’s son, watched the tree come to life. “Cliff had tons of talent,” said Stephen. “The carving is so realistic-looking. I’d say he is one of the top stone cutters in the world. There aren’t very many out there who still do carving like he does.”

The several-ton free-standing sculpture is carved from a single piece of stone. 

Another interesting project Dieker worked on was the exterior restoration of the Riverfront Community Center in Leavenworth, Kansas in 2014. “Built more than 130 years ago, that structure still stands and looks magnificent,” Dieker said. “Originally it was a Union Depot Train Station, built in 1888, and the deterioration to the stone was severe. Years of cracks widened by moisture and freezes, required us to remove, carve to match, and replace blocks of stone. Fortunately, much of the carving work could be done in the shop and transported to the site.” 

Above: The Riverfront Community Center in Leavenworth, Kansas, is a restored Union Depot train station, built in 1888.   Below, Left: Top Ledge Cottonwood limestone monument. The hawk and tree were carved from one block of stone for Missouri Ledge Stone and Supply. Dieker explains, “The tree was basically complete before I was asked to carve the falcon. Tim Crede of Missouri Ledge provided a model of the falcon, set up a generator and compressor on site, and erected scaffolding to work from. It was all the convenience of a shop set up in the great outdoors.” Dieker says “This was really a fun project. The tree was basically complete before I was asked to carve the falcon and Tim Crede of Missouri Ledge provided a model of the falcon, set up a generator and compressor on site and erected scaffolding to work from. It was all the convenience of a shop in the great outdoors.” Feel free to edit as you wish. Below, Right: Tigers Cubs, inspired by the veining in this Georgia White marble. “I tried to convey the playfulness of cubs and the eventual lethality of their fangs and claws.”   The tigers was inspired by the veining in the Georgia marble. I tried to convey the playfulness of cubs and the eventual lethality of their fangs and claws. I’m curious Larry; did you see them as cubs?

Below, Left: Top Ledge Cottonwood limestone marker for a basketball court a friend donated to Reading Elementary School, in memory of his son. Below, Right: Dieker installs a Top Ledge Cottonwood limestone sign at William Allen White Elementary School in Emporia, Kansas.

Below, Left: Carved Indiana limestone pillars for a housing development – a Missouri Ledge Stone project, c. 2006. Below, Right: Bottom Ledge Cottonwood limestone mother and child sculpture, c. 1998. Dieker says, “This was the first piece I carved of a human figure, no air tools used. I carved it for my wife.”

Below, Left: Dieker: “The pagoda was started at one of the first of many carving workshops I attended. It is Cottonwood limestone and sits on a wall in my yard. There is a small lightbulb in the base so at night it looks like the lights are on inside.”   Below, Right: This six-foot tall limestone tree trunk, inhabited by various woodland “critters,” was once the focal point of a KOA campground in Oak Grove, Missouri, and a joint project of Dieker and Tim Crede.

Below: Ramp and twist structural banister of Indiana limestone for pool construction at the LeMay residence in Kansas City, Missouri.

Below: Georgia marble sculpture for the Didde Catholic Campus Center, Emporia State University, in Emporia, Kansas. Size: approximately 40 inches tall.

Today, Dieker says he is mostly retired. But if the right piece of stone were to present itself, who knows? He just might pick up his tools again and get busy carving. Dieker said when he discovered his desire to shape stone, he couldn’t resist it and couldn’t stop using tools to create and restore stone objects. 

“For years I didn’t think of stone carving as art, but it really is,” Dieker said. “They say, to a man with a hammer, ‘every problem looks like a nail.’ But I say, to a man with a hammer and chisel, ‘the world looks like a sculpture.’ ” 

If you’re interested in owning a piece of stone carving history, the “Critter Tree” is currently available, and looking for a permanent home. Contact Debbie Crede at Missouri Ledge Stone Supply and Fabrication for details, d.crede54@gmail.com