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.

The turn up of the tip can be subtly slight or it can be more aggressive in its up-turn as illustrated in the variety of TURNIP blades in the photos above.

The rounding of the turned-up tip takes away the narrow point in the conventional blade which changes the function of the front end of the blade.  A sharp and narrow pointed tip tends to lead itself into the surface of the wood when making a stop and angled cut.  The rounded TURNIP blade makes controlled stop cuts because more of the cutting edge is slicing a shallow cut rather than a deep cut with a pointed tip.

The development of the TURNIP blade into an experimental prototype came about by accident followed by an implied concept of the slicing action of a turned-up tip on the front end of a blade.  The accidental discovery came about while reshaping a blade whose tip had been broken off.  A broken blade reshaped with a curved turning up of the tip end created a curved skew on the front end of the blade that could be used where that kind of cut would be needed. The first photo above shows a broken blade at the top to compare with a blade whose tip is a narrow point.  The second photo shows the squared off broken blade being rounded on a diamond hone. The third photo shows a top knife with a slight curving of the front tip and the middle knife is the first original blade that had been shaped into a turned up curved skew followed at the bottom by the newly reshaped TURNIP blade. [Post Script at the bottom of this post showing two photos of the newly reshaped blade inserted in a wooden handle with a downward angle to assist the blades approach to the wood in the carving process.]

This TURNIP concept was applied to other experimental reshaping of curved cutting-edge knife blades that expanded in additional uses of this particular shape as depicted in the two photos above of four variations of this concept. The two photos below show additional examples of the TURNIP blade shapes and their use in carving the Santa.

The photo visual tutorial trail below will show various positions of a TURNIP blade being used to reach into tight areas and positions of the front end of the TURNIP blade to shape various areas of the carved projects.

The WOOD BEE CARVER is primarily a knife carver who is continuously experimenting with blade shapes that will enhance his carving experience.  Any new concept and shape is put through extensive carving exercises to discover all that the experimental blade will do.  This experience has led to the advice that every carver should do a twenty minute a day work out exercise to explore all the many kinds of slicing cuts a blade or carving tool can make to enhance the carving experience of learning by doing.

The final photos below illustrates two TURNIP blade shapes that are prototypes of this concept to apply to almost any carving project.

[Post Script photos of the reshaped TURNIP blade inserted in a wooden handle.]