Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1884-01-09
WHITING WONDERS.

MarveIs Produced by a Jackknife-Pin-
GERS Made of a Match-A Tree Carved
with Balls Within Balls. f..
[From the San Francisco Chron:ce.l
What will you have-a pair of pin
GERS, fan, cross, a butter-kuife,
chain or a wooden snake? will whit
tie any one of these articles out of this
match in fifteen minutes" said the
speaker and he held up an ordinary par
lor match to the reporters view.
Let's see you make the pincers.' -
'All right" said the whittier, a red
whiskered and gray. eyed man of about
40 years, whom his acquaintance called
Maj. Forbes, and he began work In
earnest on his diminutive material with
the small blade of an old knife. The out
side of the match was first smoothly
showed, the head cut of, and then MI
mute mcisions were made about the CEN
ter of the stick. Twisting, turning and
cutting very quickly, but carefully, the
article approached completion within
the promised quarter hour, though the
minuteness of the labor and the dexter
ity of the performer rendered the whole
process utterly inexphcable to the unin-
itiated beholder.
"There you are, " said the whittier,
triumphantly, and he held up perfect
wooden imitation of pair of pincers,
capable of as complete working motions
as real pair, though not as practical
in their operation.
But that's nothing" continued the
major. "Look here" and he brought
down little tin box lined with cotton
h 81 -
" Now don't show these to every
body" remarked the whittier, as the lid
was removed" but they are the smallest
and most difficult specimens of this
kind of work that I ever executed"
The contents of the box proved most
unique and interesting. There were ten
pairs of pincers cut out of a parlor
match, joined together perfectly. the
different sections opening and shutting
in surprisingly neat manner. An
other match was made into four pairs of
pincers and fan, and two others were
worked up into more fantastic but less
difficult shapes.
I" Now [ will show you my ball tree"
and the whittier retired from the room
for moment, leaving the reporter to
look around at the other wooden curl
osities there to be seen. Immense
wooden chains were suspended from the
ceiling, or hung around the walls of the
room, while fans of immense size. fig
ures, canes, belts, knives, nut crackers,
cups, wine glasses, and other articles,
were displayed on shelves or pegs in
great profusion.
''Ah, you are looking at my chains,
| said the major as he re-entered the
room. 'sThls one has seventy-four
links, and there are twelve balls in one
of the links. Seel" and the object was
held up for inspection. The balls were
perfectly round and each about an inch
IN diameter. It was impossible to ex-
tract them from the link, in which they
rolled about, without breaking or cut
ting the wood.
''And you whitfield out the chain and
balls with common knife?"
"Yes, sir-a plain jackknife. But
| look here" and the attention of the re-
porter was called to long chain, with
large and small links, which, after max
ing the circuit of the room, passed
through transom into another apart
ment.
"That chain is made from an old fir
tree, and is 179 feet long. 1t was made
with this knife. It has just 2, 900 links,
200 balls are cut into different links of
the chain, and, as near as I can calcu-
late, there are ], 900, 900 cuts in the en-
| tire chain.
"And you expect it to be believed
that you did this work alone, with
iackknife as your only tool?'' asked the
reporter, taken somewhat aback by the
magnitude of the labor and the figures
given by the whittier. Besides the work
of cutting them out, each link had been
beautifully carved with neat figures.
Some of the sections of the chain were
over foot long and others only few
inches.
''You may believe it orInot, as you
choose. Here, though, is better sam
pie of whiting than any of the others.
It was tree, fifteen feet long, cut up in
six short pieces, joined by links. On
this tree were cut 257 fans, which stood
out like branches from one end to the
other. Besides this rare and valuable
specimen there are two smaller trees, re-
sembling the larger one IN design and
finish, and fully as beautiful. They
were the most delicate and artistic speci-
mems that the wonder-worker had to
offer, and were of fine, hard maple.
Sc Here is the ball tree which brought
in to show YOU" A novel object was
displayed to the reporters gaze. It was
half inches in diameter at the base, hav-
ing several branches. In the body of
the tree and branches were cut seventy
five balls. These balls were of various
sizes, and were all of a dark color, cor
responding with the inner growth of the