17
Dec
MERRY CHRISTMAS ~ 2018
A “Merry Christmas” greeting in the form of a Whittle-Carved Santa ornament (6 ” x 4″ x 1/4″ ~ basswood). Whittle-Carved means carved using only knives to shape and detail the carving.
29
Dec
OUTSIDE THE COMFORT ZONE
Carving “LOU” the Cat was an exercise in carving outside the comfort zone. Woodcarving is a learn by doing process making every carving project a learning experience and a practice carving. Carving a project that is outside the carver’s comfort zone is especially a stretch in the learning process.
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Nov
ROSCOE and RUFUS
Hillbilly caricatures have been a common theme in the carving of figures. Roscoe and Rufus are six-inch-tall hillbilly caricatures Whittle-Carved using only knives to shape and detail the basswood block.
19
Oct
TURNIP BEE Knife Tested
The best way to test a knife is to use it almost exclusively in a carving project to experience all the various slicing cuts it can make to shape the block of wood into the envisioned image of the carving project. In this test a six-inch-tall woodworker is holding a saw in one hand and a hand plane in the other hand. The completed carving is seen in the opening photos.
Whittle Folk Trolls have been an exploration in carving three-inch-tall characters that have bushy hair, beards and mustaches, long muscular arms and bare feet. Each one is a learning carving project and practice carving to learn to make each one a little different with facial characteristics and subtle changes in appearance.
4
Sep
3 Ways of Learning
It has been said that there are three ways people learn, that is, they learn by observation, by reading and by touching the wet paint. The same can be said about learning to carve as it is beneficial to be observant, to read and to touch the carving knife to the wood to experience leaning to carve by carving.
18
Aug
The TURNIP Blade
The TURNIP Blade is an abbreviation of “Turn Up Tip” of a curved cutting-edge knife blade. The tip end of a curved cutting edge normally comes to a sharp and narrow point. The TURNIP Blade intentionally and abruptly “turns up the tip” of the front end of the blade to create a curved skew tip to the cutting edge. The TURNIP blade creates a secondary slicing area of the longer curved cutting-edge making it a multipurpose and multi function slicing tool. The front end of the TURNIP blade can reach into areas where the longer curve of the cutting edge cannot reach and between the longer portion of the blade and the front end turned up tip the sharp radius curve creates another unique slicing area of the blade. These functions are discovered while putting this blade to the test in making various slicing cuts.
16
Aug
The OTHER KNIVES Redux
The “OTHER KNIVES” made by the WOOD BEE CARVER as experimental prototype knives for personal use and for designing Signature Series Knives for Helvie Knives to consider to put into production. Handles are made of butternut, hand whittled while the blade material is either old pocket knives reshaped or a variety of carbon steel blade material shaped into a blade design designed for slicing action and versatility in the Whittle-Carving process. Blade covers at the base of the handles are made by laminating two strips of wood glued together with a mortised blade slot carved before gluing.
More information on OTHER KNIVES and Knife Blade Covers from previous blog postings can be reviewed by clicking on each of these hot links ~ The OTHER KNIVES ~ KNIFE BLADE COVERS ~ KNIFE BLADE COVERS II ~ CARVED BLADE COVERS.
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