Hollis's Hand-Carved Cat Back Scratcher
Hand-Carved in the Blue Ridge Mountains
By Hollis Vance, 76 · carving from a single block of basswood for 44 years · one of the last of his kind
“I didn’t set out to make a back scratcher. I set out to carve my cat — her morning stretch, that reaching paw. Turned out the paw landed on the one spot a man can never reach on his own back.”
What arrives at your door
1 Carved Cat
A single hand-carved basswood scratcher, ~19 in long
Biscuit’s Story
A printed card with the story behind the carving
Care Note
How to oil the wood so it lasts a lifetime
Gift-Ready
Arrives clean and simple — ready to hand to a cat lover
Why one carved cat outlasts a drawer full of plastic
The One-Block Carve
Head, arched body, reaching paw and tail handle — all carved from a single block of basswood. No joints, no glue, no molded seam to crack.
The Biscuit Stretch
The curve is copied from a real cat’s morning stretch — the exact arc your arm needs to reach the dead center of your own back.
The Rounded Claw
Each little wooden claw is hand-rounded: sharp enough to hit the itch, smooth enough that it never scrapes the skin.
The Linseed Finish
Rubbed down by hand with linseed oil. The wood only grows smoother and darker with the years and the touch of your hand.
Full 19-Inch Reach
Long enough to reach the middle of your back with room to spare — no twisting, no straining, no missed spots.
Made By Hand, Not By Machine
No two are identical, because no two are stamped. Each is cut, shaped and smoothed by the same pair of hands.
“Basswood is the carver’s wood — tight, even-grained and warm to the touch, with no splinters to raise. Carved from a single block and finished in oil the way Hollis does it, a piece like this doesn’t just survive decades of daily use; it improves with them. This is the kind of object that used to be normal and has quietly become rare.”
Made for…
The quality you can feel in the hand
Solid basswood — real weight and real grain, not hollow molded plastic.
One continuous piece — nothing to snap off, nothing to come unglued.
Hand-rounded claws — scratches the itch without scratching the skin.
Hand-carved face — two eyes, two ears, a little different on every one.
Oil-finished — ages beautifully; a quick re-oil keeps it going for generations.
A note on handmade: Because each cat is carved by hand from natural basswood, the grain, color, exact face and the position of a knot vary from piece to piece. Yours will not look exactly like the photos — that’s the mark of a real one, and the whole point.
The details
| Material | Solid basswood, single block |
| Finish | Hand-rubbed linseed oil, natural wood tone |
| Length | Approx. 19 in / 48 cm |
| Shape | Stretching-cat silhouette, carved face, reaching-paw scratcher |
| Made by | Hollis Vance, Blue Ridge Mountains, North Carolina |
| Use | Back scratcher & wall-hangable keepsake |
| Care | Wipe clean; re-oil lightly once a year |
| Each piece | Hand-carved — no two exactly alike |