WoodBeeCarver

The Old Carver’s Law says, “Leave no wood uncarved,” so it became a challenge to carve faces out of a hard maple bottle topper on English Leather bottles.  Using the knife  in front of the bottles  in the photograph which was made by Charles Simpson out of Personna floor scraper blades, a slicing cut was required with every cut in this very hard wood.  Besides the hardness of the wood, the challenge is also to carve a different looking face with each carving.  Such a challenge is a way to learn to carve faces as every face carved becomes another learning experience that fulfills the saying: “The more one carves the better one carves.” 

The rogues galley of faces that follows gives a close up view of faces carved using only a knife in very hard wood.  It is something that can be done but basswood is a more enjoyable wood to carve.  Carving bottle toppers is done for the novelity and fun of carving while learning with every new carving.

The WOOD BEE CARVER is primarily a knife carver with the photograph at the left representative of the various knives used in Whittle-Carving.  On the right are two pocket knives representative of the very first and most often used knives for carving.  The two knives on the left are small handled pocket knives that have been “tinkered” with larger wooden handles.  The knives in the center represent custom made knives that are also used in the carving process.  The top and the fourth down are Ralph E. Long knives.  The second knife was made by good friend Larry Piety.  The third knife down is an old Herb Dunkle knife and the bottom knife was made by Dave Lyons.  Even though each of these knives are adequate for carving, yet making one’s own knife is a fun project.

Charles Simpson from Alabama made the knives in the photograph on the left using Personna eight inch floor scraper blades.  He has been making them for years with many satisfied carvers using his knives. Other carvers have also used the floor scraper blades to make knives so it was only natural for the WOOD BEE CARVER to tinker around again with another knife making project.  A search on the Internet for “eight inch floor scraper blades” will bring up Personna blades as well as Better Tools scraper blades to be purchased.  Personna floor scraper  blades (five in package - .036″ gauge) can also be purchased at Lowes Home Improvement stores in the flooring department for about seven dollars.  Make sure that scraper blades are at least .036″ gauge because any gauge less makes the blade more susceptible to breakage. 

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The first photograph shows the scraper blade tube package, a full length blade and several smaller blade sections cut off the larger blade.  The next photograph shows the dulling of the sharp edge of the scraper blade in order to work with it.  Wear eye protection and a safety glove while working during the cutting of the blade into smaller sections and the shaping of the smaller blades on the belt sander.  A Dremel tool with a cut off wheel is used to cut the larger blade into smaller sections.  The smaller blades are shaped on a one inch by forty two inch belt sander  laying horizontally using 120x grit Aluminum Oxide or 120x grit Blue Zirconia belts.  Use new belts because as the belts are worn down they heat up the metal quickly.   Dip the blade in water every so often to protect against burning the metal and drawing out the temper.

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The top photograph shows a cut blade blank and a shaped blade ready to be assembled into a handle.  The second photograph shows two strips of wood for a handle with one strip receiving a mortise cut to receive the end portion of the blade which will all be epoxied together using five minute epoxy.   Once the epoxy has cured the wooden handle is whittled and sanded to shape. An assembled knife is also shown to depict the finished knife.  The third photograph shows several knife blanks along with finished knives.  The blue handled and chucked knife is used to hold the blade during the shaping process on the belt sander.  Once the blade is shaped and secured in a handle then the blade is sharpened and stropped to make ready for carving.

The middle three photographs show finished knives all made using Personna floor scraper blades.  The bottom three photographs show Better Tools floor scraper blades and the knives made from this brand of scraper blade.  Both Personna and Better Tools blades are high carbon steel, .036″ gauge and have adequate hardness and temper to make usable carving knives.  Granted they are not as good as a custom made knife by Long, Lyons, Dunkle or any of the other fine knife makers.  But for the carver who likes to tinker at making a suitable carving knife, this is another project that will do the job.

Practice SAFETY  always while working with making knives and also when carving.  Any tool is only as sharp of the person using the tool, so always BEE SHARP.

ELKHORN III was carved out a three and half inch square by eight and half inch tall block of butternut with traditional carving tools.  Boiled linseed oil is the main finish with a coat of Deft brushing lacquer to protect the oil finish.  Wood burning highlighted some areas with darker coloration.  A butternut base was carved into an oval shape with tool marks giving random texture so that the eye does not stop at hard lines making the base non-descript. 

 The head dress and hair treatment was embellished with several motifs and flowing lines.  The facial expression and gaze of the eyes gives a far off look towards an imaginary horizon of unfulfilled dreams.  The robe has continuous flowing lines and soft folds and wrinkles to give the impression of the movement of the wind surrounding Elkhorn as he clutches the robe tight and  cradles a peace pipe.

ELKHORN III is the latest interpretation of a carving theme of a Native American.  The first one was carved out of basswood in February of this year.  A second one was carved like this one out of butternut in a little larger format. 

Every carving project is a learning experience of learning while carving changes that could have been made.  By carving a second of similar design other learning experiences take place while making refinement to the first edition.  Carving a third edition is still learning to refine the design.  Even though the same design is carved several times, yet each possesses its own characteristics and personality making each one unique in its own right.

  The subject of “Elkhorn” is not completed as there will probably be additional editions of this same noble design.  This photo essay is simply a peek at another interpretation of a similar theme.  A comparison may be viewed with the first Elkhorn posting at:  http://woodbeecarver.com/?p=2621.