Typical of the marvelous carvings at Warther’s facility and gardens in Dover, OH is this K3S Pacific locomotive which entered service on the nation’s railroads in 1914. Below, visitors marvel at the stunning detail in the work of this world-class carver in their very tasteful display facility. Engine #382 is shown lower right—in solid ivory.
DO YOURSELF A FAVOR
and take a peek at...
The Warther Carvings exhibit in Dover, OH. It is world class!
Ernest “Mooney” Warther was born in Dover in 1885. He lost his father when he was 3 and in the pressing economic troubles of those times he was able to attend school only through the second grade.
To help support the family, young Warther would drive the cattle of townsfolk out to pasture in the countryside on a daily basis. He did that for a penny a day and returned them at nightfall. On one of those quiet days he found a pen knife and began whittling.
Once he met a hobo who showed him how to carve an operating pair of pliers out of a single block of wood with just 10 cuts—with no shavings.
He mastered that feat then began to expand the number of sets of pliers out of a block of wood to three then seven, then...he had a vision.
He created a tree with 511 working pliers from a single block of wood. It required 31,000 cuts and took two months in 1913 to complete. Twenty years later that tree of pliers was displayed at the Chicago World’s Fair.
Meanwhile, in 1899, at age 14 he went to work in the local steel mill where he remained during the next 23 years. During that time he also learned to forge and temper steel from the neighborhood blacksmith.
When he could not find knives to suit his carving needs he began to make his own with short interchangeable blades and custom grips. In 1905 he made his mother a small paring knife. Soon, he was making knives for near countless folks and that was the beginning of Warther Kitchen Cutlery which remains the family business to this day.
In 1912 he built a small shop on his home site—by hand, of course—which stands, also to this day, as part of the carving museum and knife shop complex. With the building of that shop Mooney said he “...stopped whittling and started carving.”
Thus began the work of his life; carving The History of Steam. His works of art, virtually all on display in the Dover facility, depict the evolution of the steam engine in sixty four carvings.
In 1924 Mooney’s work was on display in New York City’s Grand Central Station. The Passion Carvers from Oberammergau Germany, then known to be the best carvers in the world, saw his work, admitted they could never duplicate it, and deemed Mooney the World’s Master Carver.
He loved steam engines so much he said he would never carve a diesel locomotive, even if he lived to be 1000. Worther died in 1973 at the age of 87, leaving his last work, The Lady Baltimore, unfinished on his workbench—a steam engine, of course.
http://www.warthers.com/index.htm
and take a peek at...
The Warther Carvings exhibit in Dover, OH. It is world class!
Ernest “Mooney” Warther was born in Dover in 1885. He lost his father when he was 3 and in the pressing economic troubles of those times he was able to attend school only through the second grade.
To help support the family, young Warther would drive the cattle of townsfolk out to pasture in the countryside on a daily basis. He did that for a penny a day and returned them at nightfall. On one of those quiet days he found a pen knife and began whittling.
Once he met a hobo who showed him how to carve an operating pair of pliers out of a single block of wood with just 10 cuts—with no shavings.
He mastered that feat then began to expand the number of sets of pliers out of a block of wood to three then seven, then...he had a vision.
He created a tree with 511 working pliers from a single block of wood. It required 31,000 cuts and took two months in 1913 to complete. Twenty years later that tree of pliers was displayed at the Chicago World’s Fair.
Meanwhile, in 1899, at age 14 he went to work in the local steel mill where he remained during the next 23 years. During that time he also learned to forge and temper steel from the neighborhood blacksmith.
When he could not find knives to suit his carving needs he began to make his own with short interchangeable blades and custom grips. In 1905 he made his mother a small paring knife. Soon, he was making knives for near countless folks and that was the beginning of Warther Kitchen Cutlery which remains the family business to this day.
In 1912 he built a small shop on his home site—by hand, of course—which stands, also to this day, as part of the carving museum and knife shop complex. With the building of that shop Mooney said he “...stopped whittling and started carving.”
Thus began the work of his life; carving The History of Steam. His works of art, virtually all on display in the Dover facility, depict the evolution of the steam engine in sixty four carvings.
In 1924 Mooney’s work was on display in New York City’s Grand Central Station. The Passion Carvers from Oberammergau Germany, then known to be the best carvers in the world, saw his work, admitted they could never duplicate it, and deemed Mooney the World’s Master Carver.
He loved steam engines so much he said he would never carve a diesel locomotive, even if he lived to be 1000. Worther died in 1973 at the age of 87, leaving his last work, The Lady Baltimore, unfinished on his workbench—a steam engine, of course.
http://www.warthers.com/index.htm
In 1933 Warther completed his finest work, The Great Northern Locomotive (above). Done at the age of 48 and like all of the 64 carvings in The History of Steam, it contains thousands of parts and is an actual, working model.
At age 80, he carved another of his great works, the Lincoln Funeral Train. It is carved of ebony and ivory with mother of pearl accents. Young tour children are mesmerized by its exquisite detail including Lincoln who can be seen lying in his coffin through the carving’s windows. 
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