Post #226102 by J.S.G. on Tue, Apr 11, 2006 2:02 AM

Hello,

I'm new to this forum. I'm developing an interest in Witco. I first heard about Witco thru Michael who chainsaw carved in the 1964 World Fair in New York, he also made chainsaw carved furniture similar to Witco. So who came first McVay or Witco?

Also there is Ken Kaiser who carved many of the mural at the Trees of Mystery in Northern California in 1960. The simplistic style that he uses is because of the heaviness of the chainsaw, back in the 1950's. He would burn his pieces real heavy as did Mike. Carving with a heavy saw would leave things rough, and burning was a technique to smooth out the slivers.

I wrote a book called the Art of Chainsaw Carving, in in I mentioned the book by William Westenhaver and Ron Hovde as the first on Chainsaw Carving, (1978)

You can see one of Kaiser pieces and some of the early pioneer chainsaw carvers here http://www.groeschen.com/book.html under the chain of events.

I was not familiar with the Witco style until after the book was printed, but more pictures and info can be added in the revision.

Anyway, hope this discussion continues

[ Edited by: j.s.g. 2006-04-23 11:09 ]

[ Edited by: J.S.G. 2006-04-23 11:11 ]

[ Edited by: J.S.G. 2006-04-23 17:38 ]