Rensselaer Union and Jasper Republican, Volume 8, Number 32, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 April 1876 — A Chicago Man and His Jack-Knife. [ARTICLE]

A Chicago Man and His Jack-Knife.

Tub Chicago Times of a recent date says George 8. Knapp, of that city, has a piece of wood-carving done in black walnut with a jack-knife that is a monument to patience. He “Has worked upon it nights for thirteen years, and proposes to finish it with the same knife he began with. It is about five feet long and one foot broad, and the board from" which it was cut was about three inches thick. A spread-eagle clutches a cross-piece in its talons at the top, and from this crosspiece are hung, by elaborately cut chains, a variety ot strange devices, interspered with frames for photographs. Every link in each of the chains, and in fact every bit of flat surface in the whole work, is carved over with names and dates. There are the names of all the Presidents and Vice-Presidents of the United States, names of 112 distinguished Americans and dates of the commencement and close of the revolutionary war, and the war of the rebellion. The devices, such as anchors, cannons, animals, books, ships and the like, represent war, commerce, agriculture and navigation. Peace is represented by an open bible, and the National flag is draped across the top. The whole is designed to hang upon a walk Not a bit of glue has been used in all the work, nor has any tool except the jack-knife touched it. Mr. Knapp says he commenced upon it in a fit of pique at the success of a rival whittler at an lowa fair, and originally supposed he could finish it in a year or two. He expects to put in four more years upon it before it is done. It has taken a daily average ot two hours of his time. ,