Whittling seems a lost art. Back in the day we'd sit on the porch whittling watching the world go by. Now none sit on the front porch, the world goes by too fast to watch and if you have a knife in your hand you'll get reported and maybe even shot by an over zealous Bobby (Oops, Bobbies don't have guns.) Well shot by an over zealous law enforcement officer. I used to whittle letter openers. Useless now. Seldom get letters. Could whittle a whistle now maybe if the custodians hadn't taken my knife away. Said it was for cautionary reasons but I bet someone is using it now, to whittle. Betcha.
@Kalvin Mitnic I am bound to near-addiction to whittling; however, it is only carried out on metals. Frank
Depends on what part of the U.S. a person lives in. In the ranching and farming areas of America, a person could do this on their front porch with no problems. Actually, I think "whittling" with a jackknife has been replaced with a chainsaw and cleaning up with a sculpting knife. When we were at a store in Yellowstone N.P., we seen a number of wood-carved sculptures.
In the early 1970's I learned to whittle using bars of ivory soap, which worked very well. Never graduated to wood, though. Fun to do, maybe should try it again.
Haven't seen a comment about this reply. Guess most on this forum weren't raised on/around a farm or ranch, like I was.
I used to do a little whittling when I was a kid; but mostly just things like carving designs in the bark of soft branches and stuff like that. when I was in high school (or maybe it was Junior High) we learned how to do the soap caving with a bar of Ivory soap, like @Augusta Heathbourne mentioned, and I did enjoy that, although I think that I only did the one piece that we did for art class. I carved a horse head on a pedestal like the knight from a chess set. I think that soap carving might be something that I would enjoy again of I tried it.
I see chain saw carving at fairs some very good but that's hardly what I'd call whittling. Jack knives are passe too with box cutters available in all size. I still carry a knife,always. I have no porch now but sit on the patio and watch the birds/rabbits, read the paper and such. Hey maybe that chain saw aficionado could saw me a front porch?
@Cody Fousnaugh , I grew up on a farm, and my husband and I had a five acre farm from necessity. I grew up carrying a knife. They are so useful,and I still carry one today, and when, (generally a man), someone finds themselves in need of a sharp blade, I have one. And I use a whetstone to keep it and my old fashion steel Case kitchen knives sharp.
I was going to pick that up once, probably in the mid-70s, and I cut myself pretty badly. I never did get back to it.
I'm a city boy but have worked much of my life on the farm or farm related industries. I learned to whittle early. One of my early birthday gifts was a pocket knife. Among my family and circle of friends knife trading was a popular pass time. We sat on front porches and back yards and spit and whittled, many hours on weekends and holidays. Another knife event in my area of the world and it may have existed among the poorest of families back when was mumble peg or mumbly peg, a game with a knife whereby while in a kneeling or sitting position you flipped a knife from your chin, your nose, from each eye, and the top of your head and stuck it in the ground. I've always carried a knife. For some years collected knifes. I'd buy a good carbon steel knife at a garage sailor flee markets or an antique store. None of my knives were special or worth much, they were knifes I liked. In the military while on patrol, in addition to my bayonet which I kept sharpened so that it cut the hairs on the back of any hand and legs, I carried a throwing knife while on patrol. It was allowed because I was proficient with it. Woke up one morning wondering why on earth i was collecting knives? To what purpose? I gave two brothers a knife and sold the collection except three knives given me by a brother, a deceased uncle, and my dad. I have acquired one other knife somewhere, one of those folding lock-back knifes, all small pocket knife except one a friend gave me, a French Farmers Knife he bought on the internet, one each for he and I. Also had a coin collection I both gave away to a brother and sold the remaining. I think I came to think of them as useless endeavors. I was never good at whittling like some were. I did use a knife in my work in agriculture to scrape rust of metal plates in order to read something or the heads of bolts to determine their hardness, and/or whatever. Banning all these knifes and fingernail clippers was/ is a ridiculous endeavor in my opinion, reminds me of someone afraid of their shadow.
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