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| From time immemorial, various outdoor workers, such as sailors and loggers, have made items in their spare time out of necessity, or simply to pass the time. Sometimes the items were utilitarian and associated with the activities involved (e.g. tools and equipment, fishing and hunting accessories, storage containers, etc.) and other times they were made for amusement or as gifts for sweethearts and children back home. This category is devoted to some of these items. |
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| Spruce gum (hardened sap from Spruce trees) was collected by itinerant loggers in the North woods of New England and Canada and chewed like modern-day gum. Spruce gum boxes were carved by the loggers in their spare time to house the supply of gum. Usually the boxes were made in book form with sliding lids for access. Many were made as gifts for wives and sweethearts back home and featured carved and painted hearts and floral designs. Others were used by the logger himself and have initials, dates, suits of cards and a wide variety of other decorations. They are only rarely found today. Spruce gum barrels also were made to house larger supplies of gum in the Canadian maritime provinces and are especially rare. |
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| Crooked knives were first designed and used by Native Americans for carving various items, including bows and canoe paddles. They were used as "one handed draw-shaves", the user reaching out and pulling them back toward him or her. Later, woodsmen in the north woods and sailors, who had witnessed them in use, made and used them for carving. They were cut from a crook in a hardwood branch, with the larger section serving as the portion the thumb was placed against. Some had plain handles, and others had finely carved hearts, figures, dates, names and inscriptions. Most had blades made from old files that were hammered flat on one side and sharpened, while others used old straight razor blades. The blades were secured in a split in the distal end of the smaller section with a peg. That end was then wrapped with piano wire, rawhide or sailor's linen twine to bind it tight. |
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| These items also probably originated with Native Americans in what is now the northern US and Canada, although they were later made and used by trappers and woodsmen, who often called them "belt cups", since they were often tied or otherwise secured to the user's belt. The waters in the early days were mostly potable and the user would simply dip the cup in the lake, stream or spring to get a drink. Usually the bowl end of the cup was fashioned from a small burl and the handle from the adjoining branch. Some of the earliest cups were quite plain, although as time went on, intricate carvings, berry stains and paint were employed to create decorations. |
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