Just when does a "Tradition" start?

[Lynn O. Doughty]

Exactly what is "Traditional Woodcarving" and when did it start? As power carving has been around for at least one generation can it now be considered traditional if it's passed on to the next generation? Traditional Power Carving? What about the use of Chain Saws. Has that been around long enough to be considered a tradition. What about carving before knives and chisels came along? Wouldn't that warrant being called more traditional than what came later? (While I'm typing this I keep hearing the song "Tradition" (( YouTube - Fiddler on the roof - Tradition ( with subtitles ))) in the background. I'm trying to picture a bunch of woodcarvers singing along while they carve. Of course if some of them are using chain saws ...... well you get the picture.)

What is traditional to me? As far as carving goes it's getting up early, kissing the wife, fried eggs & bacon, then heading down the hill for some whittling which incorporates knives, saws, Fordums, drill presses, lathes, or anything else that will help me get to where I want to go. I'm hoping that tradition lasts a long time.

We haven't had a good opinionated discussion around here since we kicked the life out of what constitutes "hand carved". Maybe this will get the ball rolling again.

[pallin]

Lynn - It's just another of the abuses of language. My pet peeves are the use of "absolutely" or "exactly" to mean "you may have a point there." A tradition implies something that has been repeated for some period of time, but I've seen events advertised as "the First Annual. . ."

[Cottonwood]

Here ya go, Lynn. This will tell you all you need to know about traditional wood carving.

[Lynn O. Doughty]

Did you note the publication date of that book? 1911!!! Hopefully Tradition didn't stop there!

[brent]

To me.....tradition is something that has been tried over and over and it still stays around no matter how many times someone tries to change it. Hell, after all, how can one change something that is perfect!!! (statement, nota question) IMHO, Federal furniture has to be the most perfect furniture any human has ever created. I consider that traditional.......among other things.........Christmas, Santa, Halloween, Thanksgiving, high school graduation, proms, family get togethers (?), cookouts on Memorial Day, Fourth Of JUly, Labor Day, etc., etc........and on and on.......

Basically, it starts when you or I say it starts!!

[whittlinJim]

Good Question Lynn!
I think you do have traditional schools of power and chainsaw carving, things become traditional when a method is used over a long period of time and becomes a standard practice. Traditions do evolve over time. How many people here carve using Flint knives and axes?
There are some people on the fringes who try to push the envelope, but me, I try to avoid the cutting edge!

[Claude]

I suspect that when the first bronze knives were made (roughly 3300 BC), that the traditional carvers scoffed at the new tool because everyone knew that knapped flint was the traditional tool. And then, only around 2200 years later, some upstart invented iron knives. Traditional carvers didn't think much of the new tools, as carving had always been done with bronze. And so the progression goes: iron to steel, then power, then laser...
I'm waiting for Kyocera to bring out ceramic carving knives that don't have to be stropped. I suppose it's too much to hope that the mono-molecular-diamond-edged cutting tools will show up during my lifetime...

Claude

[Ed Redwine]

Last week I gave a program on Woodcarving to the Seniors group of my church. I did a lot of research especially as to how woodcarving was tied to the early church and later glorified in the Gothic period. But my research went back further even to the few remaining examples found in early Egyptian tombs. Many specimens did not survive because of the nature of wood. Going back so far puts a new spin on tradition for me. I would rather think that nowadays we think of the "whittlers" of the 19th century and the folk art carvers that were taught in the folk art schools in Applachia in the 20's as being tradition. I don't really argue with that... mainly because there have been enough generations pass that I think some of it now can be called "traditional". Ask five different carvers and get five different answers.

[Josef]

Perhaps 'traditional' applies more to the subject matter than the methods of arriving there? My question would be then, what makes 'traditional' any better than modern? I am not of the old school in anything other than manners I reckon. A person has to move along with the times as they see fit. Some carvers are more comfortable with mallet and chisel, where as I could not abide the time it took to whisk away wood at that pace. Everyone has their own uniqueness and tastes, I don't think anyone should be judged by whether or not their work is 'traditional' or not.

[whittlinJim]

Claude, are you a traditional Mono Molecular Diamond Edged Carver?