Thousands of euros donated: retirees set up workshop and sell woodwork for good causes

Created: 01/24/2022, 12:00 p.m

By: Nico Bauer

Creative mind: In his workshop, Rudi Hagn builds boards, lanterns, but also unusual things like a schnapps bar in a nesting box.

© farmer

Rudi Hagn is a special artist.

The pensioner from Großnöbach builds beautiful things out of wood - and has been generating donations for years.

Großnöbach

– In his professional life, Rudi Hagn from Großnöbach (municipality of Fahrenzhausen) had the task of making sure that drivers reached their destination safely.

Now that he has retired, the former master mechanic has looked for a new job – with a creative workshop at home.

He makes people happy with wooden products and accepts donations, which are collected once a year for a charitable purpose.

Most recently, the Freising Hospice Association received 1,065 euros from donations from the past year.

(By the way: everything from the region is now also available in our regular Freising newsletter.)

Rudi Hagn is a loyal soul, which is why the master mechanic worked for 45 years at Autohaus Kern on Leopoldstrasse in Munich.

As retirement approached, the now 76-year-old from Großnöbach moved to the workshop in his own garage.

Here he made himself comfortable, bought tools and built cupboards and shelves for his little do-it-yourself paradise.

"This is my living room," says Hagn in his home workshop, where he works daily from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. and from 2:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.

There are no days off, “because I actually always enjoy my work”.

Sometimes ideas come at night

The retired pensioner is happy about various orders and meanwhile has a standard repertoire of eleven items, ranging from a heart made of wood to nesting boxes and birdhouses in the most diverse variations.

Sometimes there are also strange things like the hidden schnapps bar in a mock nest box or a wooden board with salt and pepper shakers.

"I sometimes get ideas like this at night when I can't sleep," says Hagn.

"I still remember the idea in the morning and implement it right away." He also presents a wooden locomotive with wagons that is so lovingly designed and beautiful that you don't really want to play with it.

Loving craftsmanship: Locomotives are also part of Hagn's repertoire.

© farmer

Rudi Hagn loves to make people happy with his artistic talents.

In the municipality of Fahrenzhausen there are already countless birdhouses by him in the gardens.

Sometimes the wishes are special, but never unattainable for him.

Hagn recalls that a company in the community once ordered an owl nesting house.

Then everything was built a little larger than in a retreat for breeding tits.

He is happy to pay extra for every “order”.

For the Großnöbacher, the handicraft mission has been a great pleasure for 17 years, and he is happy to pay extra for every "order".

The wood products from the Römerstraße in Großnöbach are only sold against donations, and 100 percent of this money goes to the collection fund.

Hagn doesn't charge a cent for material, tools and electricity.

He is very proud to have supported the May prayer Großnöbach more often and in 2021 the hospice association Freising with 1065 euros.

This is the result of around 50 orders a year.

Masterpiece: Rudi Hagn is particularly proud of the wayside shrine between Fahrenzhausen and Weng, which he rebuilt based on the old wayside cross.

© farmer

The classic is the bird house: Hagn's originals are not only in Fahrenzhausen, but also widely scattered in gardens in the Bavarian Forest and even in Holland, reports the wood artist.

But his products are of course particularly present at home.

Around the district of Großnöbach there are also three benches built by Hagn, and "his" field cross is on the road from Fahrenzhausen to Weng.

"I'm really proud of that," says Hagn, who worked on the cross for around six months.

The painter Christian Scheller renewed the two figures and Hagn built a replica based on the old, no longer attractive cross.

Quite a few say that this is the most beautiful shrine in the community.

A real Hagn...