Whittled Whimsey #1
Signed and dated PR Drumm, 2006
Hickory
30” x 2” diameter

Exhibited on World Wide Web, http://www.whittledwhimseys.com

This Drumm Whittled Whimsey #1 was whittled with a pocketknife from the upright of a hickory ladder-back chair. Hickory is a good hardwood and a challenge for a pocketknife carver. The holes for the ladder-back rungs added complexity to the design – how to whittle separate units with chain links all the way from bottom to top, yet incorporate the ladder-back holes into a pleasing design.

The carving was started with standard ball-in-cage, the ball has a hole for the ladder-back rung. The dimensions are set by the wood-turning rings done by the lathe, centering each caged section on the rung-hole. Chain links were whittled in each intervening section.

There are eight cage-sections in all, with seven chain-link sections intervening. A key-ring was inserted at top to hang the whittled whimsey.

Four of the eight cage-sections are shown in close-up view:

Photo #1 is the standard ball-in-cage.

Photo #2 is a box in cage (also with rung-hole).

Photo #3 is a spiral-gear-ball-in-cage where not only the cage is spiral but also the walls of the ball.

Spirals are difficult to carve because they cut across the grain. The whittler has to sense how much to cut without breaking, which is not not easy with spirals.

Photo #4 is a complex geometric shape where the walls of the “ball” are shaped by the lattice of the “cage”.

Whittlers love to carve wood into the most complex shapes. Connecting each section with chain links in increasing complexity ensures appreciation of the entire whittled whimsy, whereas little sections could “get lost”.