Thursday, June 28, 2007

On Whittling

In his self-titled autobiography, Harry Hearnstable recounts with characteristic clarity his surprise at the difficulty in getting whittling recognized as an Olympic event: "Where am I?" 1

Yet, for the time-crunched urbanite, whittling combines the time honored enjoyment of woodwork with cardio benefits of macramé. Indeed, an hour of even casual whittling can burn up to 4 calories.

The current whittling renaissance has been fueled by such celebrity devotees as Harrison Ford and Kelly Rippa, whose DVD "Whittling My Way," is available on amazon.com.

1 Whittling first and last appeared at the 1956 Winter Olympics in Haute-Savoie, France. Hungarian-born Bennett Canvas, representing the Ivory Coast, was awarded the Gold medal after he whittled a five-foot elm branch into splinters in under seven hours. 2

2 Canvas was posthumously stripped of his medal when his cadaver tested positive for cornmeal.

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