The pirate was carved as a “trade piece” carving as part of the Annual Meeting of the Caricature Carvers of America.  This year’s Annual Meeting takes place as part of the Dayton Artistry in Wood Show on Labor Day weekend at the new location of Roberts Centre near Wilmington, Ohio.

The Pirate was carved out of a basswood block measuring eight inches tall, two and a half inches wide and two inches deep.  The pose of the pirate is an adaption of earlier pirates carved in a six inch tall version following the mantra of carving the same project several times to learn from each one. This pirate added the new feature of a mermaid carved on the peg leg. My good friend Don Stephenson once drew a cartoon of a peg legged pirate asleep on a coil of rope as another pirate was carving a mermaid on the peg leg and this became the impetus for carving the mermaid on the peg leg.

The next series of photographs show a few of the knives used to carve the pirate with the VIPER series of Signature Knives made by Helvie Knives used to carve the majority of the pirate.  The VIPER is depicted in the first four photos in particular cutting positions to illustrate how the shape of the blade reaches into unique areas.

The SIDE WINDER Knife was used to make supplemental cuts between the arms and the braided hair and the separating of the side of arm from the back.

The knives used to make precise detail cuts for the hair braid as well as the skull and cross bones are called “Other Knives” depicted in the two photos below.  “Other Knives” are experimental knife shapes made by the WOOD BEE CARVER for personal use and may eventually become a part of the Signature Series made by Helvie Knives.

The VIPER and SIDE WINDER knives were once “Other Knives” that became proto types of the WOOD BEE CARVER Signature Series by HELVIE KNIVES ~