A Shoe in St. Louis

 Marcia of St. Louis Missouri contacted me that she purchased on of the Whittlers shoes from a thrift shop.  Made back in 1974 is looks to still be in great shape.  Even still has the laces.  Thank you so much for sharing Marcia!

Carved Urns

 Towards the later part of my father's career he worked with a company making wooden coffins and urns.  Some where made specifically to not have any metal screws or fasteners and instead were made with wooden pegs and glue. Recently a friend of the family passed and they wanted her to be buried in one of these urns.  Luckily they were able to find three.  This example has a rose theme.  I'm sure Mike would be honored to know they wanted to put their loved one to rest in one of his creations, and thank you for the photos.

A Caricature, A Shoe, & More

 I've been really slacking on updating this site and I'm falling behind.  I'd like to start by thanking Myron from Montana for contacting me about some of his collection.  He was also kind enough to sent some to me. So a huge thank you for that.

My father use to carve these greatly exaggerated cowboy caricatures.  While I remember seeing them when I was young I haven't laid eye on any forever until Myron  sent this one my way.  It's named "The Salesman" and is his typical bow legged, bug eyed cowboy I remember.  He would carve them and then paint them with oil paints which seems to be holding up really well after all these years.

The show was one created by my grandfather back in 1968.  Even has a wooden description label which I've never seen before but definitely in my grandfather's handwriting.  

The last two pieces are Br'er Bear and Br'er Rabbit from the Disney film Song of the South. They have no signature which is strange and I don't recall my father or grandfather ever doing them.  I asked my mother about them as well and she doesn't recall them.  However Myron is certain they were made by them.

I'll try to get some better pics of them and post in the future.  Thanks again Myron.

Some New Shoes Emerged

It's been a quite couple years, with everyone dealing with the covid epidemic and so forth.  I hope everyone is staying safe and health.  I recently received an email from Lindsey sharing a nice story regarding a pair of shoes with an unusual signature on them.

She writes, "I have a nice story you may enjoy about what I believe are shoes carved by your father or grandfather. My grandmother passed away from cancer 2 years ago at age 93 and among her things were a pair of carved wooden shoes. She made a point of sitting my mom down and telling her their story.

My grandmother had lived in England for 10 years starting in the late 1960's and developed a very close friendship with a woman there. When she returned to the US she bought the shoes as a pair and sent one to her best friend overseas. More than 40 years later when her best friend passed away the friend's daughter carefully packed the shoe up and returned it to my grandmother to be a part of the pair again. For a long time, my own best friend was living in Germany and I had decided to mail one of the shoes to her, but then a sudden change of plans had her move back to the US before I got a chance.  I'm holding onto them for the right circumstance to separate the pair again."

What a nice story.  Exciting to hear some have traveled to Europe.  Usually my grandfather would sign his The Whittler and my father would sign his Chip.  So it's interesting so see them signed Bordwell.  First one I've seen this way.  She's shared these pictures.  Thanks Lindsey!

A Complete Pair Found in Peoria

I was contacted today be Inez who said this pair was found in Peoria Illinois.  The bottom says The Whittler '71.  Wow, 1971 pretty amazing.  So glad to see that his creations are still out there and being appreciated.  I hope you enjoy your pair of wooden shoes Inez and thank you for sharing the pictures with everyone.

Another Shoe Found in Branson Flea Market

Brian a woodcarver from the Ozarks found a shoe in a Branson flea market signed "The Whittler" and bought it.  He searched the internet and found this blog and found it was made by my grandfather.  We shared a few emails and he sent these picture over.  Thanks Brian.  I'm glad to see the blog is working.

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.

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