Rich and Holli Smithson, owners and manufacturers of  HELVIE KNIVES  are known primarily for their quality carving knives and their unique basswood handled knives that can be used to carve one’s own design into the handle.  What is not well known is that Rich is also an artist at heart who sometimes creates beautiful wood burned and painted designs and scenes on handles of  HELVIE KNIVES.  Rich and Holli have graciously given me permission to post some of his artist creations so that others can appreciate another art form.  The gallery of knives that follow can be seen in a larger format by clicking on each photograph. Read the rest of this entry »

Rich and Holli Smithson, owners and manufacturers of  HELVIE KNIVES of Tipton, Indiana have  a growing collection of carved basswood handled Helvie Knives.  Basswood handles on Helvie Knives suitable for carving have been a staple among the many popular knives offered in their inventory.  Carvers from around the country have submitted their creations to add to this collection and Rich and Holli have granted me permission to post photographs of their collection.  This is in addition to the Caricature Carvers of America collection of carved handles as depicted in a previous posting.   Take a photographic journey to see this marvelous collection of creative and unique carved knife handles.

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HELVIE KNIVES of Tipton, Indiana has invited members of the Caricature Carvers of America to carve a caricature into a specially designed basswood handle of a Helvie Knife as a display collection.  Several CCA members have already carved a handle to highlight the great variety of caricature theme  that can be carved.  The photograph at the left shows a few of them together  while additional photographs that follow will show two views of each individual knife already in the Helvie Knives display collection.

Helvie Knives have become very popular with many carvers with multicolored handles as well a cherry handles with a variety of handle shapes from which to choose.  Some of the CCA members also have autographed their signature collection of knives.  Read the rest of this entry »

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. Read the rest of this entry »

Ralph E. Long of Kernersville, North Carolina has been making quality carving knives for over sixteen years.  The reputation of his carving knives has led to a high demand among carvers so much so that on occasion his stock of knives in certain patterns have been exhausted.  Ralph and his wife Dot are delightful and gracious people who are very accommodating be it by phone or at woodcarving shows where they set up there display. Read the rest of this entry »

The three knives pictured to the left have  an upsweep or scimitar blade shape that were made by Ralph E. Long.  They are pictured here to represent the blade shape that I have come to utilize in ninety nine percent of my carving with a knife.  That was not always the case as my journey of knife carving has taken several revolutions in the evolution of discovering what blade shape works best for me.

As a boy growing up on a farm three miles south of Poneto, Indiana in the early 1950’s, a pocket knife was a constant companion for whittling and making many of my toys.  When the “carving bug” bit me in the early 1970’s in a serious way, the pocket knife was my first choice and repeated choice while learning to carve.

The photograph  above contains four  representatives of more than can be counted pocket knives rescued at flea markets, junk stores and garage sales over the years.  The top knife in the photo is one that combined the blades from one knife  transplanted into the body of another with tiger maple wood strips inserted into the handle.  The third from the top is a “favorite” knife from 1966 that started me on the road of wood carving before I knew what I was doing.  The blades were sharpened by trial and error the best way I could at the time while still not knowing what I was doing.  These experiences were the beginning of the journey of “Accidental Learning,” which continues today and will continue in the days ahead because so much of learning is accidental.

Accidental Learning begins with the first photo of two old pocket knives that have survived repeated sharpening by previous owners.  The large blade in each is a “spear point” and the smaller blade in each is a “pen blade” which was a miniature of the spear point shape.  Over the years of repeated sharpening on a whet stone the cutting edge became straight almost to the shape of a “wharncliffe blade” shape.  It is the “wharncliffe” or “straight cutting edge” blade that is most commonly called the “carving knife blade” or “bench knife.”  The most popular and commonly used carving knives all have a straight cutting edge. Read the rest of this entry »

Charles Simpson, a carver and knife maker of Guntersville, Alabama has been making carving knives for many years.  He is an active member of the Huntsville Carving Club and sells his knives at their show and other shows in the Alabama area.

I first became aware of his knives while I was teaching a class at Charles Leverett’s studio and one of the students, David Wilson gave me a couple of Charles Simpson knives.  Those two knives cut like a dream and I was intrigued that Charles makes them out of Personna floor scrapper blades.  Since then I have purchased three more that are pictured along with the two previous knives received as a gift. Read the rest of this entry »