Hobo & Tramp Art Carving
by Adolph Vandertie & Patrick Spielman

Review by Mark Gezella – November 2003

You may recall an interesting show-and-tell item our President brought at the last meeting. It was a box carved by an itinerant that has been in his family for many years. It was carved in a traditional style of Tramp Art that evolved by those who made a life traveling the rails. That brief presentation inspired me to write this month's review about this style of carving.

This new library entry is co-authored by Patrick Spielman, author and woodworker and Adolph Vandertie, a foremost collector of hobo and tramp art. You may be familiar with Mr. Spielman from various books he has written. Our library holds several; Router Handbook, Router Jigs and Techniques, etc. Mr. Vandertie has second-hand experience of hobo life, relaying stories of "hobo jungles" he visited as a boy. In later years, he turned to whittling "hobo style" to help quit smoking. He has a vast collection of hobo carvings to complement his own creations, and even has a wooden chain that appeared in "Ripley's Believe or Not" years ago.

I never really considered hobo/tramp life to relate to any type of craft, much less consider them to be an authentic part of a tradition, but I soon learned differently. The book does well to convey a sense of honor and pride that hoboes possessed. Since so much of their time was idle as trains covered the miles, they pursued carving to pass time and provide them with a form a payment for services rendered during stops along the way. Many hoboes were poets too, and the book holds a variety of poems written by some of the more colorful transients.

Would you believe there's even a hobo capital in the United States?! Mr. Vandertie claims it's in Britt, Iowa where a National Hobo Convention has been held every year since 1903! Each year a new King and Queen are elected based on some sort of criteria. However, the ranks have dwindled over the years to just a small group. In a way it's kind of sad to hear there are only a dozen or so true "rail-riding" hoboes left in the country. It's definitely the end of an era.

Did you know there is a stark contrast between a hobo and a tramp? A hobo, coined from a derivation of an English term for "hoe boy", could be any of the earliest migrant workers who would tend gardens for the rich. After the Civil War, the hobo flourished by traveling the rails, working in track repair, harvesting wheat, mining, building bridges, etc. And don't ever confuse a hobo with a bum!

The tramp on the other hand, was not a worker. Most tramps survived by their wits, but mostly as it applied to stealing and sometimes malicious crimes (including murder). The hobo was afraid of the tramp, conversely the tramp scoffed at the hobo for being a "...sucker for working...". Their "work ethic" contrasts with the fact that they created such numerous carvings, but I guess that was akin to the hobo's reasoning that carving helped pass idle time.

Just about all of the art work in the book was created with a pocket knife. These nomads traveled with a minimal amount of possessions, and their tool collection was no exception. The two types of travelers differed in what they made; hobos typically produced penknife carvings, while tramps tended toward chip-carved objects. Materials were easily obtained, since they were most often discarded cigar boxes and scrap wood.

One of the last pages presents a sampling of hobo signs. These are symbols etched on curbs, doors, mailboxes, gates, etc. with pencil or chalk, to let those that follow know what to expect; a safe campsite, clean water, a good place for a handout, a good road, etc.

While a fair portion of the book describes the lives of these fellows, it is also a pretty good how-to reference. If you ever wanted to figure out how to carve a ball-in-cage, chain-link from solid stock or chip-carve a box, you would do well to investigate the instructions in this little gem.

This book is available for checkout in the Guild library. I hope you can take time to borrow it at some point. I think it helps to clear some misconceptions about these persons and that they really did make a contribution to the world.