“Cutting Edge Sharp” refers to the end result of sharpening a knife blade by hand using various abrasive degrees of fineness and stropping on a leather strop to create the “true cutting edge.”  The drawing diagram  at the left (click to enlarge) of the “cross section of a blade being sharpened” describes what happens in the sharpening process.  Read the rest of this entry »

Tinker Knives were introduced in the May 25, 2008 post and since then the “tinkering mind” has been active in experimenting with another way to install a pocket knife blade into a wooden handle.  That is the way the “tinkering mind” works, trying to make something out of nothing by trying different approaches to come to the same conclusion of  “I made this myself.” Read the rest of this entry »

“Wood carving is more the journey than the destination,” and an important part of that journey is learning to sharpen one’s carving knives.

There is no magic formula or method as each have their own way of sharpening.  However the “KEY” is to practice to develop what works at this particular time and place on the journey because sharpening is an ever learning process that will be improved upon further down the wood carving journey.  Read the rest of this entry »

Ralph E. Long of Kemersville, North Carolina has been making wood carving knives for over 15 years.  His knives have become favorites by many in the South who purchased knives from him at wood carving shows in the South or who had heard of his knives by word of mouth from satisfied customers.  I first became acquainted with REL Knives through my good wood carving friend, Mike Sullins from South Carolina who gave me two as a gift.  Read the rest of this entry »

The fine art of “tinkering” is one of those activities that travels down another path of creativity often trying to make something with a hands-on trial and error experimentation of making something useful. Some may consider “tinkering” as a waste of time for old geezers “to putter” at their work bench. But for the honest to goodness “tinkerer” there is nothing that is ever a waste of time as there is also the slim chance of making something better even if it is in the “mind of one who tinkers.” Every “tinkerer” is a genius incognito waiting for the acceptance of normal people and a little appreciation for being more than eccentric. Read the rest of this entry »

The WOOD BEE CARVER begin whittling as a farm boy in the late nineteen forties and early nineteen fifties.  Every farm boy had a pocket knife and if one had a pocket knife one tried to whittle.  So when wood carving became a passion in the early nineteen seventies it was natural to use pocket knives as the main carving tool.

So much of wood carving and its related activity is to learn by doing along with reading books on wood carving and talking with other woodcarvers.  It was at this growing interest in wood carving that I read over and over again Andy Anderson’s book “How to Carve Characters In Wood.” In that book Andy described how he made his own carving knives out of old straight razors by mortising in a piece a wood an area to receive the tang part of the razor and glue a matching piece of wood to complete the handle. Read the rest of this entry »

The WOOD BEE CARVER has always preferred pocket knives that have been refurbished into carving knives as his primary carving tool.  Perhaps it is the nostalgia from boyhood days of whittling with an old pocket knife that adds a little romance to carving with a knife.  Read the rest of this entry »