This posting is a visual and written description of this Study Cuts Stick that was used when teaching wood carving classes. The WOOD BEE CARVER would place small boxes on the student’s tables that contained pencils, band aids, leather strops, a couple carving knives and a Mertz Study Cuts stick for reference during class sessions.

The STUDY CUTS Stick illustrates the basic cuts utilized in the Whittle-Carving style of carving using only a knife.  The cutting edge of the blade is made up of micro mini teeth similar to the teeth on a hand saw.  These teeth function best when the blade is guided through the wood in a slicing action either as a pushing or a pulling stroke.  Think of slicing a tomato or slicing bread as being the kind of movement used in carving with slicing cuts.  Forcing the blade with a downward action is to create a wedge cut which squashes wood fibers rather than separating them in a slicing action.  Next to the slicing cut the most efficient cuts in shaping the wood in the carving process include using the slicing action to create a notch or “V” shaped ditch and the three cut triangular chip cut which slices the front end or tip end of the cutting edge into the wood to remove a pyramid shaped chip making a three-sided hole.  Both the notch and triangular cuts are the way to open up the surface of the wood so that additional cuts can continue to be made in the sculpting process…

The STUDY CUTS Stick illustrates the basic cuts utilized in the Whittle-Carving style of carving using only a knife.  The cutting edge of the blade is made up of micro mini teeth similar to the teeth on a hand saw.  These teeth function best when the blade is guided through the wood in a slicing action either as a pushing or a pulling stroke.  Think of slicing a tomato or slicing bread as being the kind of movement used in carving with slicing cuts.  Forcing the blade with a downward action is to create a wedge cut which squashes wood fibers rather than separating them in a slicing action.  Next to the slicing cut the most efficient cuts in shaping the wood in the carving process include using the slicing action to create a notch or “V” shaped ditch and the three cut triangular chip cut which slices the front end or tip end of the cutting edge into the wood to remove a pyramid shaped chip making a three-sided hole.  Both the notch and triangular cuts are the way to open up the surface of the wood so that additional cuts can continue to be made in the sculping process.

The “Round Corners” photo above illustrates how to Whittle-Carve a ball, berries, grapes or tassel ball at end of Santa’s hat.  Draw a box or diamond shape abound what will be a round object and then using the cutting edge of the blade make notch cuts the shape of the box or diamond.  Think of it as being a ditch surrounding the round object. Next, slice off the corners of the diamond inside the box and then continue to round off the corners of what will be the ball until it is the appropriate shape.  This process allows for keeping the size of the round object large enough so that it can be made smaller during the shaping process as necessary.

The next photo illustrates the carving a holly berries and leaves in which the “Round the corners” is applied to the holly berr  ies.

Three holly berries were drawn as a round circle initially but only two remain as the third berry is carved almost round.  The two circles that remain show how a combination of three cut triangular cuts were made along with notch cuts to encase the circles. The corners encasing the berries will be rounded to be like the third berry that is already carved to its rounded shape.  Notice that slicing off the corners is done at an angle away from the drawn circle to give some width to the berries when they are carved into their final shape.

The same process is done with outlining the left holly leaf in that the slicing cut with the front end of the cutting edge and tip cuts on the outside of the line at an angle away from the line in order to keep the leaf as large as possible.  It can always be made smaller but never larger.  The holly leaf on the right has had the start of background removed around the leaf with background lowered and removed when the carving is completed.

The “3 cut triangle cuts” illustrations above show different shapes that can be made with three cut triangular cuts.  Three angled cuts that meet together at the bottom of the first cut for a hole in which additions cuts will be made in the ongoing shaping process.  Both the notch cuts and the three triangular cuts are used to open the wood surfaces for additional cuts to be made.  One cut is not a cut to end all cuts but is the beginning for additional cuts to be used in the Whittle-Carving process.

At the right end of the study stick are three progressive steps for Whittle-Carving and eye utilizing a combination of notch cuts, three triangular cuts and rounding the corners all in a slicing actions.

The illustrations above are what appear of the back side of the Study stick that give the directions for laying out pattern for braiding hair in the Whittle-Carving process.  The first illustration is the full length of the pattern. The middle illustration shows the first step of drawing a zig-zag line down the entire length of the braid. The next part of the illustration is the second step of drawing upward angles lines from each zig and zag on either side.  At the junction of the zig and angled line and junction of the zag and angled line, make a three cut triangular cut at each junction.

Illustration 3 is a continuing of the previous process with the added feature of carving the braids of hair into a braid so that it appears that the hair is woven into a braid by rounding the corners of the lines.  Click on BRAIDY BUNCH for an earlier tutorial on carving braids.

Study the illustrations on this study stick and then practice doing these various cuts to complete the study.  “Would be carvers would be carvers if they would carve wood,” is the motto that emphasizes “we learn to carve by carving and the more we carve the better we carve.”  “Keep carving and carving will keep you carving,” in the mantra for always being observant, always dreaming and always trying the carving process because every carving project is a learning experience.  “Continue to learn while continuing to carve.”