The Old Carver’s Knife Law:” One knife is dandy; two knives are handy and three knives are never enough.”

The Wood Bee Carver is primarily a knife carver who carves most carving projects using only knives to carve in a style called Whittle-Carving.  Thus, the essential element in any carving is the “knife” as the instigator of the project guided by creative imagination nurtured in a skill continually being developed in the process of carving.  It becomes second nature then to occasionally return to the making of Other Knives as a sideline activity of the carving process.

The latest endeavor continues the previous process of utilizing old pocket knife blades to be reshaped, sharpened and secured in a comfortable wooden handle.  There are several posting on this blog of previous instructions and illustrations of the Wood Bee Carver’s process of making knives for personal use.  Click on Other Knives I and Other Knives II to see previous postings for further study.

The photos for this postings are a composite of the before and after to give an idea of the condition of the old blades and then the finished results.  Each knife is designed upon the principle of a curved cutting edge with most utilizing the “serpentine” blade shape. Four reshaped blades have the curved crescent moon scimitar cutting edge blade at the end of a narrow-extended tang to allow for a fulcrum/lever action of the cutting action. Note also that the cutting-edge portion of the blade sits below an imaginary center line coming out from the handle. This allows for the cutting edge to enter into the wood at a lower center of gravity line for a more comfortable approach to make the slicing cuts. All blades have individual characteristics that allow for making cuts unique for their function. These blade designs have been tested for being the most efficient for the style of Whittle-Carving done by the Wood Bee Carver.