The two antique pocket knives in the photo above represent the important role the common pocket knife has played in the journey of wood carving for the Wood Bee Carver.  Both knives were made by the Challenge Cutlery Company over one hundred years ago.  The top knife is called an “Office Knife” and the second knife is called a “Jack Knife.”  It is this Jack Knife that became a “challenge” to begin the serious endeavor of carving.  Almost every boy and many girls growing up in the late 1940’s and early 1950’s carried a pocket knife which was occasionally used for whittling activities.

Read the rest of this entry »

Making carving knives using blades from old junk pocket knives has been a fascination for the Wood Bee Carver.  The four knives in the photo above are the result of rescuing four blades from a well-worn old souvenir knife with “Paris” and the Eiffel Tower etched on the plastic handle cover.  The only clue as to its origin was the etching on the master blade of the name “PRADEL”  which is a famous cutlery company founded in 1920 in France by Mr. Pierre Dubost. The first photo below depicts what a similar pocket knife looked like in better condition showing it multiple blades while the second photo is the junk knife used to make four carving knives.

Read the rest of this entry »

How many knives does a wood carver need is the question and the answer is what the Old Carver sez: “One is dandy, two are handy and three are never enough.” And so, it is for the Wood Bee Carver who is a doodler and tinkerer at heart.  Even though the collection has long ago surpassed the “enough” yet the Wood Bee Carver from time to time will dabble in making a few “Other Knives” for personal use.  That is what this posting is about with photographs and written description in case anyone else would like to explore this relaxing obsession.

Read the rest of this entry »

The knives used for the carving of the Mahogany Relief Carvings were all made by the Wood Bee Carver for his personal use that are called “Other Knives.”  Each one is of an experimental blade design that can be variations of some of the Signature Series knives made by Helvie Knives.  The photos below will show some of the blade designs being used to make specific slicing cuts in the shaping process.

Read the rest of this entry »

The best way to test a knife is to use it almost exclusively in a carving project to experience all the various slicing cuts it can make to shape the block of wood into the envisioned image of the carving project.  In this test a six-inch-tall woodworker is holding a saw in one hand and a hand plane in the other hand.  The completed carving is seen in the opening photos.

Read the rest of this entry »

The TURNIP Blade is an abbreviation of “Turn Up Tip” of a curved cutting-edge knife blade.  The tip end of a curved cutting edge normally comes to a sharp and narrow point.  The TURNIP Blade intentionally and abruptly “turns up the tip” of the front end of the blade to create a curved skew tip to the cutting edge.  The TURNIP blade creates a secondary slicing area of the longer curved cutting-edge making it a multipurpose and multi function slicing tool. The front end of the TURNIP blade can reach into areas where the longer curve of the cutting edge cannot reach and between the longer portion of the blade and the front end turned up tip the sharp radius curve creates another unique slicing area of the blade. These functions are discovered while putting this blade to the test in making various slicing cuts.

Read the rest of this entry »

The “OTHER KNIVES” made by the WOOD BEE CARVER as experimental prototype knives for personal use and for designing Signature Series Knives for Helvie Knives to consider to put into production. Handles are made of butternut, hand whittled while the blade material is either old pocket knives reshaped or a variety of carbon steel blade material shaped into a blade design designed for slicing action and versatility in the Whittle-Carving process. Blade covers at the base of the handles are made by laminating two strips of wood glued together with a mortised blade slot carved before gluing.

More information on OTHER KNIVES  and Knife Blade Covers from previous blog postings can be reviewed by clicking on each of these hot links ~ The OTHER KNIVES ~ KNIFE BLADE COVERS ~ KNIFE BLADE COVERS II ~ CARVED BLADE COVERS.

For a complete guide to all the postings on this blog go to “Main Menu” and click on “Blog Index Map” which is a table of contents of all postings or search the “CATEGORIES” box to search the various postings by category.