The knives pictured above are left to right: VIPER II, VIPER, DRAGON, SIDE WINDER and SIDE KICK.

The WOOD BEE CARVER has been primarily a knife carver for over forty years and during this journey knife blades and handles have been developed through experimentation of trial and error discoveries of what carved the best.  A curved cutting edge produces a slicing cut and is the most efficient in reaching into areas that a straight cutting edge cannot reach.

A few knife makers have been kind enough to make knives of the WOOD BEE CARVER design that include the late Ralph E. Long, Bud Murray, Dave Lyons, John Dunkle and Rich Smithson of Helvie Knives.  It has been Rich Smithson who has been eager with encouragement and skill to incorporate a variety of these designs into the HELVIE Signature Series of knives.

The process is for the WOOD BEE CARVER to make a prototype of the blade design in the process of experimenting how any new designed blade will perform during the carving exercise.  The proto type is sent to Rich who in turn will make a HELVIE Prototype which in turn will be tested by the WOOD BEE CARVER.  When the HELVIE Prototype passes testing and refinement then the new design will be put into production.

The WOOD BEE CARVER carves from a block of basswood using only knives to shape the wood first into the basic form of the project followed by knives that will carve details into the good foundation of the carved basic form.  This process is “design by carving” that begins with a mental image of the project to be carved and as the cutting edge of the knife slices away wood the basic form begins to take shape.  Continuing to refine the basic form will bring the project to the detail portion of the carving process that even refines the details with fine slicing cuts.

The two photographs above show a front view and a profile view of Mother and Child carving project carved out of a three and half inch square by six inch basswood block.  On either side of the carved to form project are four HELVIE Knives and one prototype knife that were used to carve the basic form of Mother and Child.

The two knives on the left are VIPER II and VIPER Signature Series knives and the two knives on the right side are DRAGON and SIDE WINDER Signature Series knives all made by HELVIE KNIVES.  The fifth knife on the right is a prototype called SIDE KICK that is being tested in its initial stage.  Each of these knives is designed to be slicing tools and the angle and position of each blade in a pistol shaped handle allow for an efficient approach to the slicing action. The longer blade design allows for the principle of the lever and fulcrum to come into play as does any portion of the curved cutting edge enhances the functionality of the slicing action.  Any knife, be it a curved cutting edge or a traditional straight cutting edge knife is most efficient when the carver experiments with all kinds of cuts to discover its versatility.  It is like what the WOOD BEE CARVER often says, “The more one carves the better one carves,” and so the more a carver uses the knife in a slicing action that much more the carver will appreciate all that the carving knife can do.

To learn more about any of the knives mentioned here, visit the “Knives” Category on this blog along with the “Helvie Knife Guide” listed under “Cool Links.”  To order any of the Helvie Signature Series Knives go to “HELVIE KNIVES” under “Cool Links” or call 765-675-8811.