Whittling with Chris Lubkemann...A Unique Slant on Woodcarving
Information on Chris Lubkemann's carvings, books, demonstrations and programs
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NEW BOOK RELEASED IN 2010 BY FOX CHAPEL PUBLISHING:
TREE CRAFT: 35 Rustic Wood Projects that Bring the Outdoors In
This book presents a wide variety of projects That are both decorative and useful in the home. Just to name some: table lamps, sconces, coat racks, kitchen utensil holders, coasters, napkin rings, bud vases, picture frames, coffee tables, checker boards, salt and pepper shakers, letter openers. The goal was to create a book that was full of "eco-chic" projects that anyone who likes nature and the outdoors and is willing to use a few tools would enjoy making. Chris takes responsibility for the "eco" part and the step-by-step production of each piece. The very talented and creative editorial team at Fox Chapel Publishing has done an amazing job of staging and photography and deserve all the credit for all the "chic" applications of the projects.
For more information: www.FoxChapelPublishing.com
When the DIY Network ran its first series on "Woodsculpting" several years ago, Chris was one of the five carvers featured. His half-hour segment (ad time included of course) ran many times. From anecdotal evidence and personal reports it was very well received. Chris' segment on carving "The Branchcraft Rooster" is in the DIY video library and can be seen on the DIYNetwork site in their videos section. For those of you who are struggling with those rooster tail-feathers, give the video a look. It should help! You'll also get to see one of Chris' great-grandkids...the four-legged variety, that is!
CHECK THE FOX CHAPEL PUBLISHING WEBSITE FOR RECENT REVIEWS ON TREE CRAFT.
www.FoxChapelPublishing.com TREE CRAFT by Chris Lubkemann
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First pile of branches -- MAPLE; second pile -- BIRCH; third -- SYCAMORE
The twigs and branches in the three preceding photos contain hundreds of carving "blanks" that
can be transformed into all kinds of carving projects. Even some of the little branches that are only
1/16 inch in diameter! Contrary to what most people think, most of the wood species that are best
for this type of carving are hard woods. (These would include all of the birches, maple. beech, holly,
several oaks, citrus woods, and quite a few more.)
can be transformed into all kinds of carving projects. Even some of the little branches that are only
1/16 inch in diameter! Contrary to what most people think, most of the wood species that are best
for this type of carving are hard woods. (These would include all of the birches, maple. beech, holly,
several oaks, citrus woods, and quite a few more.)
All shapes and sizes! All carved with the same pocketknife. And they can go quite a bit larger...and even a lot smaller than the littlest ones perched on the base block of the largest rooster.
"The main pocketknife I've used over the past bunch of years is the Victorinox Tinker. I've slightly
modified it by removing the little tab that holds the key-ring and by reshaping the small blade in such
a way that allows me to make smaller radius cuts. The range of sizes that one good knife can do is
pretty amazing. You can go much larger, and much smaller, than the pieces in the following photo.
I've even used my pocketknife in shaping parts of my pumpkin launching slingshot...and even my
treehouse!"
Chris Lubkemann, living in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, since 1987, was born in Brazil to missionary parents. He remembers his earliest attempts at whittling when he was about seven or eight years old, in the Ucayali River town of Contamana, deep in the Amazon rain forest of northeastern Peru. Strangely enough, the first carving projects he recalls making were little dentist tools! You know, little picks and the like. That particular whittling stint was short-lived, however, as his mom thought it wasn't the best idea for jungle kids to be poking around in each other's mouths.
Chris' interest in working with wood continued strong though, and he remembers making wooden toys, doll furniture, boats, rafts, treehouses, slingshots, bows and arrows and traps. Much of his raw material consisted of scraps from around his dad's workbench. And of course twigs and branches were definitely not in short supply in the interior regions of South America.
Now, skipping over to the summer of 1966...we'll pick up Chris' own words:
"I carved my first little forked-branch rooster the summer between my junior and senior years in college. Dr. John Luke, the longtime and very loved minister in the mountains of northwestern North Carolina whom I was helping that summer, showed me in a few minutes how a rooster could emerge from a Y-shaped branch. Granted, my first rooster looked very much like it had gotten into good barnyard fight...and lost! But, hey, it was a start! And I made lots more. In fact, when I returned to school that fall, I decided I might have a viable way (and definitely a fun and interesting one) to help pay for college. As it all turned out, I may have been the first college student in U.S. history to literally "whittle away" a fair amount of his senior year to help pay for it!"
Together with his wife, Sheri, and their three children, Chris served in mission work in Portugal from 1972 through 1986, followed by a U.S.-based ministry that took him to a number of foreign countries as well as many parts of the U.S. Wherever he has gone, he has always had a pocketknife or two at hand and a few twigs and branches in his pocket. For the last twenty or so years his airline carry-on bag has usually been one of his small wooden display cases full of an assortment of branch carvings, ranging from a 1/8th-inch tall rooster to a variety of larger pieces, including pheasants, herons, flowers, trees, miniature canoes, and a couple off-the-wall Dr. Seuss type creatures. Airport security checkpoints have provided some really interesting experiences!!
An awful lot of water has passed under the bridge since that summer of 1966. Maybe "an awful lot of woodchips have flown off the edge of a pocketknife" would be a more accurate way to put it. Chris Lubkemann, and thousands along with him, have carved "zillions" of roosters of all shapes and sizes, and countless other figures too. So this fun slant on woodcarving, picked up by a college student over four decades ago in the Blue Ridge on North Carolina, keeps getting shared and passed on the folks of all ages, and the number of branch carvers worldwide continues to grow.
The mascot of this type of carving is the rooster, ranging from miniatures smaller than 1/8th inch tall to ones that are life-size. The branch rooster probably earned its status as the branch-whittling "star" because of its fanned out tail feathers, and maybe also because roosters in general are so popular in folk art and culture all over the world.
But there are many, many other figures and projects that can emerge from a twig, branch, or other scrap of wood. Following are just some: pheasants, herons and egrets, roadrunners, animal heads (dogs, horses, goats, etc.), eagles, songbirds, all kinds of Dr. Seuss type "critters," knives/letter-openers, forks, spoons, salt and pepper shakers, walking sticks, canes, backscratchers, lamps, coat racks, slingshots, and even baseball pitching machines and pumpkin launchers!
Chris Lubkemann has authored what are probably the only books on this type of woodcarving, starting with a two-sided single instruction sheet back in 1972. His two most recent books, published by Fox Chapel Publishing (www.FoxChapelPublishing.com) are Whittling Twigs and Branches and The Little Book of Whittling. Both books have been best-sellers and are widely available in bookstores, woodcarving supply sources, and on-line sites.
Whittling Twigs and Branches has 210 colored photos and 70 drawings and gives step-by-step instructions for roosters, pheasants, herons, roadrunners, knives/letter-openers, miniature trees and flowers, plus suggestions for many other projects.
The Little Book of Whittlling, illustrated with over 380 colored photos, presents 19 projects. Many of these are very quick and easy to carve. They're great for beginning carvers. More experienced carvers shouldn't be turned off, though, as they can take even the plain projects and make them as fancy and detailed as they'd like. Some of the projects included, all with step-by-step illustrations, are knives, forks, spoons, canoes, walking sticks, whistles, slingshots, a little duck, fish jumping out of water (complete with splash!), trees, flowers, and several animal heads.
Chris' interest in working with wood continued strong though, and he remembers making wooden toys, doll furniture, boats, rafts, treehouses, slingshots, bows and arrows and traps. Much of his raw material consisted of scraps from around his dad's workbench. And of course twigs and branches were definitely not in short supply in the interior regions of South America.
Now, skipping over to the summer of 1966...we'll pick up Chris' own words:
"I carved my first little forked-branch rooster the summer between my junior and senior years in college. Dr. John Luke, the longtime and very loved minister in the mountains of northwestern North Carolina whom I was helping that summer, showed me in a few minutes how a rooster could emerge from a Y-shaped branch. Granted, my first rooster looked very much like it had gotten into good barnyard fight...and lost! But, hey, it was a start! And I made lots more. In fact, when I returned to school that fall, I decided I might have a viable way (and definitely a fun and interesting one) to help pay for college. As it all turned out, I may have been the first college student in U.S. history to literally "whittle away" a fair amount of his senior year to help pay for it!"
Together with his wife, Sheri, and their three children, Chris served in mission work in Portugal from 1972 through 1986, followed by a U.S.-based ministry that took him to a number of foreign countries as well as many parts of the U.S. Wherever he has gone, he has always had a pocketknife or two at hand and a few twigs and branches in his pocket. For the last twenty or so years his airline carry-on bag has usually been one of his small wooden display cases full of an assortment of branch carvings, ranging from a 1/8th-inch tall rooster to a variety of larger pieces, including pheasants, herons, flowers, trees, miniature canoes, and a couple off-the-wall Dr. Seuss type creatures. Airport security checkpoints have provided some really interesting experiences!!
An awful lot of water has passed under the bridge since that summer of 1966. Maybe "an awful lot of woodchips have flown off the edge of a pocketknife" would be a more accurate way to put it. Chris Lubkemann, and thousands along with him, have carved "zillions" of roosters of all shapes and sizes, and countless other figures too. So this fun slant on woodcarving, picked up by a college student over four decades ago in the Blue Ridge on North Carolina, keeps getting shared and passed on the folks of all ages, and the number of branch carvers worldwide continues to grow.
The mascot of this type of carving is the rooster, ranging from miniatures smaller than 1/8th inch tall to ones that are life-size. The branch rooster probably earned its status as the branch-whittling "star" because of its fanned out tail feathers, and maybe also because roosters in general are so popular in folk art and culture all over the world.
But there are many, many other figures and projects that can emerge from a twig, branch, or other scrap of wood. Following are just some: pheasants, herons and egrets, roadrunners, animal heads (dogs, horses, goats, etc.), eagles, songbirds, all kinds of Dr. Seuss type "critters," knives/letter-openers, forks, spoons, salt and pepper shakers, walking sticks, canes, backscratchers, lamps, coat racks, slingshots, and even baseball pitching machines and pumpkin launchers!
Chris Lubkemann has authored what are probably the only books on this type of woodcarving, starting with a two-sided single instruction sheet back in 1972. His two most recent books, published by Fox Chapel Publishing (www.FoxChapelPublishing.com) are Whittling Twigs and Branches and The Little Book of Whittling. Both books have been best-sellers and are widely available in bookstores, woodcarving supply sources, and on-line sites.
Whittling Twigs and Branches has 210 colored photos and 70 drawings and gives step-by-step instructions for roosters, pheasants, herons, roadrunners, knives/letter-openers, miniature trees and flowers, plus suggestions for many other projects.
The Little Book of Whittlling, illustrated with over 380 colored photos, presents 19 projects. Many of these are very quick and easy to carve. They're great for beginning carvers. More experienced carvers shouldn't be turned off, though, as they can take even the plain projects and make them as fancy and detailed as they'd like. Some of the projects included, all with step-by-step illustrations, are knives, forks, spoons, canoes, walking sticks, whistles, slingshots, a little duck, fish jumping out of water (complete with splash!), trees, flowers, and several animal heads.
Below:
Front and back covers of the German translation of The Little Book of Whittling. This book, Kleine
Schnitzereien, is available in Germany. As of December 2008 it is published both in paperback (ISBN
3-87870-597-2) and hardback (ISBN 978-3-86630-938-8). The German publisher's website is
www.HolzWerken.net.
Both of these books are written and illustrated so even folks who have had no previous experience
in woodcarving can do all the projects. Naturally, the first rooster you carve might not look quite like
one whittled by someone who has had 40 years of practice. Currently some of the
best branch carvers on the planet started out doing some pieces that were pretty "scruffy."
The all-important rule (stated on page 9 of WHITTLING TWIGS AND BRANCHES and on page 7 of
THE LITTLE BOOK OF WHITTLING is: "Make sure your knife is sharp!" If the knife you carve
with is truly sharp, your carving with be much more successful, fun, and even safer. A less-than-sharp
knife, on the other hand, is actually more dangerous bacause you have to push harder as you make
your cuts, and the knife blade will have a tendency to skid.
Besides doing outside programs and demonstrations, Chris is the "resident woodcarver" at the Amish Farm and House in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, working in his shop Monday through Saturday, April through October. Visit the farm's website:
www.amishfarmandhouse.com
www.amishfarmandhouse.com
