Some of tramp art's defining characteristics include chip or notch carving, the reclamation of cheap or available wood such as that from cigar boxes and shipping crates, the use of simple tools such as penknives, and the layering of materials into geometric shapes through glue or nails.
Although widespread use of wooden cigar boxes in the 1850s sparked involvement in tramp art,[2] it was most prevalent during the Great Depression.
The most common forms were the box and the frame and although there were no rules or patterns to lend commonality in the artists’ work there were objects made in every conceivable shape and size including full sized furniture and objects of whimsy.
It appealed to men who might have made an important body of work such as ‘Sunflower’ artist John Martin Zubersky (active c. 1912 – 1920) or the wonderfully expressive wall pockets by John Zadzora (active circa 1910) but also to men who might have made one piece in their lifetime.
A 1959 article by Frances Lichten in Pennsylvania Folklife used the term "tramp work" to describe crafts constructed from waste materials such as discarded cigar boxes and assembled with a penknife.