Rich and Holli Smithson, owners and operators of HELVIE KNIVES Commissioned the WOOD BEE CARVER to carve a Depression Era Gangster. Research was made of several historic photographs and images with a few chosen to be a visual and inspirational guide while the block of basswood was being shaped into a gangster figure. The visual images were fed into the imagination mixing machine of the mental image workshop of creativity to come up with an image toward which to release in the block of basswood. Essential in the design was to have the gangster holding a Tommy Gun, a shoulder holstered pistol, a cigar in the corner of his mouth and wearing a pin striped suit, fedora hat and wing tipped shoes. The gangster was carved in a basswood block nine inches tall, three inches wide and two and a quarter inch thick.
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Rich and Holli Smithson, owners and operators of HELVIE KNIVES commissioned the WOOD BEE CARVER to carve a World War I era airplane pilot. Research was made of several historic photographs and images with a few chosen to be a visual and inspirational guide while the block of basswood was being shaped into a pilot figure. The main image chosen wore a leather flight coat, white scarf and a leather helmet with googles. The pilot was carved in a basswood block nine inches tall, three inches wide and two and a quarter inch thick.
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Posted by: woodbeecarver in Knives
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.
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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.
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The Wood Bee Carver is primarily a knife carver who enjoys the challenge of using only knives to carve various projects. Relief carving is a challenge of combining a three-dimensional image on a two-dimensional surface using a variety of slicing knife blade cuts.
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A tutorial that the WOOD BEE CARVER did for the “Whittle & Chips” blog a few years ago may be viewed by clicking on HOBO JOE link. The tutorial does a series of step by step photos and verbal descriptions of carving in the Whittle-Carving style of using only knives to carve a figure. The complete “Whittle and Chips” blog is listed under Cool Links in the right column on this Home Page.
