At the Oregon Commission for the Blind's workshop, clients who cannot see are learning to use table saws and wood planers.

And it's here that a newly blind contractor from Molalla discovered he could still earn a living with his hands.

In March 2015, Mick Yoder slipped off a metal roof and tumbled head-first into a tree. He cracked his skull, broke five ribs, and lost his sight after internal bleeding damaged his optic nerve.

Suddenly, the proprietor of Mighty Mick's Construction, who'd worked in the field for 50 years, lost the job he loved.

"It's a big transition," said Yoder, 66. "I was at the top of my game. Even through the recession I was busy... and then all of a sudden, you're not the go-to guy anymore."

Yoder was totally blind after the accident, but he's since gained some limited close-range vision.

"If you were standing in front of me, given enough time, I could see your face and I could be able to identify you, but I need time to do that," he said.

Yoder had always worked with wood. When he wasn't constructing buildings, he was a hobbyist carver, creating Christmas ornaments and small relief carvings of animals and angels.

After his injury, Yoder knew he wouldn't be contractor, but he hoped to turn woodcarving into a full-time job.

The Oregon Commission for the Blind helped make it happen.

A few months after his injury, Yoder moved into one of three on-site apartments at the commission's Portland location for a six-month crash course in living without sight. Most of the commission's clients are adults with late onset blindness who are learning to adapt to their new reality. Classes cover how to read Braille, cook, use computers and operate power tools.

That last one might come as a surprise, but wood-shop instructor Trina Johnson said her program is all about building confidence.

"Once you're able to go 'Whoa, I just used a chop saw,' from then on, they take that confidence and they take it out to the street," she said. "I can see confidence building with just using one tool one time."

The commission's wood-shop includes a lathe, miter saw, drill press, wood planer and table saw. The only thing different here is the use of a click rule -- a measuring tool that's tactile and audible -- rather than a tape measure.

Unlike most clients, Yoder was already comfortable with tools. His dad taught him how to use a scroll saw before he was 6, and he'd been hand-carving since 1978. And yet, he said, he was scared the first day in the shop.

"The fear came from not knowing if I could do it or not," Yoder said. "I knew what I could do from before. I didn't want to do less than what I was doing. I didn't want to go backward."

With help and encouragement from commission staff, Yoder began carving again, albeit adapted to his new abilities. He wasn't able to see the detail of a Christmas ornament, so he now creates larger pieces, up to 4-feet long. His work is more textured, his cuts more defined. He uses mostly pine and Western Red Cedar. On those lighter grains - and with a swing arm lamp inches from the wood - he can see the lines where he's marked his designs.

"With the light down below my eyes, I can see a pencil line with my magnifiers, and I can get my knife to the line," Yoder said. "When I cut the line away, I can feel where the cut is with the edge of my knife, and I can use what sight I have, plus tactile feeling, to tell how deep I'm going."

Yoder spends about eight hours a day working in a small studio -- formerly a chicken house -- at his home in Molalla. As with his contracting business, most clients discover Greater Visions Wood Designs through word of mouth. One former contracting client is commissioning him to carve company gifts this Christmas.

Yoder, a religious man, long knew he had an aptitude for carving, but until he lost his eyesight, he didn't know why God had given him that gift.

That changed when he brought a nearly 4-foot carving of a cougar to the Commission for the Blind. A woman who had been without sight since birth picked it up.

"She must have spent 20 minutes, maybe. She was feeling the ears and the teeth and the eyes and down the back and the muscles," Yoder said. "She took enough time, thankfully, that I could focus a little on her and I saw her looking at this cougar with her hands."

And he knew that while he had lost many things along with his sight - the job he loved, the freedom of driving - he'd gained something beautiful.

"OK, God," he said. "I know why now."

Prices for Yoder's work range from $400 for the largest pieces, $100 for smaller carvings, to $15 for hand-carved letter openers. To inquire about purchasing his work, contact Yoder at 503-830-2081 or mickyoder5@gmail.com, or visit mickyoder.com.

-- Samantha Swindler

@editorswindler / 503-294-4031

sswindler@oregonian.com