Porter Style

[Kustom]

Hello,

I would like to learn what "Porter Style" carving is.

Does anyone have any examples of "Porter Style" carving? What makes it differrent than regular floral carving? Any info would be appriciated.

Thanks, Steve

[skipj]

Last year at Wickenburg a class in 4 styles of of carving including Porter. I also wondered what it was. This doesn't answer your questions but I'm curious too. I didn't realize there was anything except Sheridan and the old floral carving.

SkipJ

[hidepounder]

Kustom & skipj,

I will try to answer your questions regarding Porters style tooling. It is not as easy as one would think! As I'm sure you're aware, Porters was a very large saddle making company located in Phoenix, AZ., where it thrived for many years. Consequently hundreds of saddlemakers/toolers worked in their shop at one time or another, each perpetuating the Porter style of tooling. Old style Porter tooling is most represented by a large flower at the end of a stem which flows out of another flower or stem. There is a logical flow in the pattern where a stem starts, grows into a flower which is continued by another stem & flower, etc. Here are photos of Porter saddles from their 1931 catalog:

As time evolved so did their tooling patterns. You will notice in the photo on the left, that the pattern now flows in interconnected circles, as opposed to the one on the right, which is flowing in a general circle. These photos were taken from their catalog which was being used in the early and mid 1960's:

When considering Porter style tooling you must also recognize Bill Porters Saddle Shop where the Porter traditions were continued into the 1980's, long after Porters had closed their doors. In the next two photos you will see the Payson pattern (left), identical to one of the saddles from the 1965 photo and a Deer Valley pattern (right) which is very close to, and might even be confused with the Sheridan style. These two photo's came from a Bill Porters Saddle Shop catalog used in the 1960's, 70's and 80's:

So here are six examples of Porter style tooling and you can see the evolution to what is now considered Sheridan sytle tooling. What I see published and called Porter style, today, mostly are those patterns as represented by the 1965 photo's, largely because of Ray Pohja's influence, as he is internationally known as a Porter style tooler. I find this particularly interesting because he was primarily responsible for reducing the size of the Porters patterns into what Bill Porters Saddle Shop, produced, as represented by the Deer Valley pattern. Ray designed a pattern known as the Small Payson, where the Payson flowers were the same size as the flowers in the Deer Valley pattern. I don't know, but suspect that Ray may also have designed the Deer Valley pattern. The Small Payson and the Deer Valley were Bill Porters most popular patterns!

How do I know all of this you ask?...................Because I tooled for both Shops !.....................hope this helps to answer your questions!

[Hilly]

Wow! Thanks for the walk through time, hidepounder! Very intersting stuff.

Hilly

Edited November 11, 2008 by Hilly

[BearMan]

Hi Steve,

Here is an example of the "Porter" style that I used to do back in the 80's when I worked at the saddle shop. We actually had 3 diff. Porter patterns, but this is the only one I have a picture of. Hope this helps,,, Ed

Hello,

I would like to learn what "Porter Style" carving is.

Does anyone have any examples of "Porter Style" carving? What makes it differrent than regular floral carving? Any info would be appriciated.

Thanks, Steve

[skipj]

Thanks, thats the best description I've seen.

SkipJ

[Kustom]

Thanks Hidepounder and Bearman, that's a lot of great info. I feel like I have understanding of it now.

[Go2Tex]

Last year at Wickenburg a class in 4 styles of of carving including Porter. I also wondered what it was. This doesn't answer your questions but I'm curious too. I didn't realize there was anything except Sheridan and the old floral carving.

SkipJ

OK, now we know what is the Porter style and the Sheridan of course, but what are the other 2? Any examples?

[skipj]

In my earlier posting I mentioned a class at Wickenburg teaching 4 styles of carving. It was in 2007. Jessie Smith demonstrated 5 styles, they were:

Sheridan

Porter

California

Northwest

Texas

SkipJ

[Kustom]

Is Al Stohlman considered "California style"? What is the typical "California style"? I'm thinking it's what is kind of the standard style, but I could be wrong.