Some Kind Words From Iowa Tom

On the Wood Carving Illustrated forum there was a post from a man named Tom acquiring some of pieces of my grandfather's.

"Hi Chad, I was very happy to see your almost year old posts about your grandfather and father. I'm a proud owner of two pieces that your grandfather made. I have a horse head that we've named Ol' Brownie' and two morel mushrooms together on a base signed by 'The Whittler '73' on the bottom with a pencil.

We've had Ol' Brownie since probably the late '70's. He sets on the wall on our main level. The mushrooms is on my desk at my office. We might have paid $50.00 for Brownie from a local contractor that needed a few bucks to pay bills. I found the mushrooms on EBay 15 or 20 years ago when I was looking for more pieces that your grandfather made. If memory serves, it was in Ohio and they wanted $600.00 for it. I didn't buy it then and about a year later paid 'em $100.00. I was, and am, happy to have both pieces.

He didn't get much money back then for his work. He would sell some to the local auto dealer for no much and the auto dealer would take the pieces out to Montana and resell them and made a large profit of you grandpa's work,

The bank in Hartwick, IA had several pieces of his work there and I stopped there once to see them. Alan Knaack (raised in Vinton) was the head banker there at the time.
I think he's retired and might still live in Grinnell. I'll bet he would have pieces of your grandpa's work at his home.

I would dearly love to have a large relief carving piece that he made. I'm from, and still am, in Vinton, IA and worked at a local gas station in the 60's here and your grandfather and his family (Your dad was probably quite young then.) would stop there, especially on their way to and from Texas in the winter and Minnesota in the summer. They did live near Vinton in earlier years. Seems like they would build log cabins and live there a while and then move on, or so the story goes.

On the back of Brownie is a newspaper print in the Des Moines Register about the big totem pole they was making at, and for, the Iowa State Fair one summer. If I remember correctly, there was a grocery store chain on the west coast named 'Totem' and they made Totem Poles for each store. There might have been some stores in Alaska also.

A very talented local carver here in Vinton, Brian Parr, knew your father and has spoken very highly of him and his talents. You are blessed to have had such talented ancestors."

Thanks for your original post. I'm glad to be able to share some memories.




Thanks for the post Tom. Thanks for the story and glad to hear you enjoy his work.

Original Post

Totem Pole & Other Pieces

I'm very very sorry but I lost track of who sent me the following pictures. Please message me and I'll give credit.

Here we have a lazy Susan with an acorn and oak leaf design.  I distinctly remember this growing up or at least one like it on my grandparent's home.

Next is the mule deer buck relief carving post previously but in this photo it is in my grandparent's house.  Really cool for me to see this one.  That was a long time ago.

Also sent along was a few more picture of the totem pole at the Iowa State Fair and one with The Whittler posing along side a different totem pole.

Richard Bordwell's  Debbie contacted me and shared some photos of a shoe and a Spanish cart created by the Whittler. She also shared a Christmas postcard showing Richard carving a shoe.

Thanks for sharing these and the kind words Debbie.

Sage Words

My grandfather and father were woodcarvers.  It wasn’t their hobby, it was their only source of income.  I grew up helping out whether I liked it or not.  So when I became an adult I ran away from it as fast as I could.  All I saw in it was a lot of work and little money.

Now that I’m older I’m finding you can’t really run from it.  The yarning to make things and have a shop of your own seems like the greatest thing ever.  Woodshops feel like home and I really feel I screwed up and lost something.  I’m financially more stable than my father and grandfather were but I’m less rich.