Vineland Vagrant is a cousin of Hillsboro Hobo and Ft. Worth Hobo (earlier hobo carvings) being the third version of hobos with almost identical features and design.  These hobos begin as a two inch square by six inch tall block of basswood. Bud Murray Knives were used exclusively to carve each hobo.  To find out more about these knives visit the Cool Links listing and click on “Bud Murray Knives.” Read the rest of this entry »

A simple design for carving a Santa ornament in the Whittle-Carving style can also be adapted to carve a standing Santa and even elf like characters.

The original Santa Ornament design was given to me by Greg Douglas of Alabama who carved his using gouges, V tools as well as a knife.  So Thanks to Greg’s design a whittled version has become a good carving project. Read the rest of this entry »

Every carving project is a learning experience of learning about the subject being carved as well as the creative process to do the actual carving.  Carving a skull out of a basswood egg contains several lessons for carving the human face.  Wait a minute, the skull is bone and how does carving a skull teach about the human face which is muscle and skin?  The lesson is that the skull is the foundation and form which molds and shapes the muscle and skin to cover the bone skull. Read the rest of this entry »

The WOOD BEE CARVER Signature Series  knives by Helvie Knives has grown into a “second generation” of knives with a new handle shape, art work designs and new blades sizes and shape.  While maintaining the basic concept of the original blade design, yet with slight variations in size and shape, each knife maintains the high quality associated with Helvie Knives.   The basic concept of the design of the Whittle-Carving Universal Blade is a slicing blade with a curved cutting edge from the tip of blade to notch in the heel of the extended tang of the blade. The blade fits into the shape of a twelve degree slope of the back edge.  The twelve degree slope creates a versatile angle of approach of the blade to begin the slicing action.  The extended tang allows for longer reach as well as a comfortable resting place for the index finger when choking up on the blade for detail carving. The blades with the concaved back edge similar to a scimitar blade shape allows for reaching into tight areas that another blade shape would not fit. All blades lend themselves to a quick roll out of the slicing stroke and are most efficient when using a “slice and roll” action in either the push or pull stroke. Read the rest of this entry »

Perhaps one of the most challenging processes of carving the human face is the carving of eyes. The secret is to PRACTICE carving eyes over and over again to find the method that works best. Read the rest of this entry »

Carving an ear in the Whittle-Carving style of carving only with a knife is presented here using notch cuts and a three cut triangular cut procedure.  Such cuts are ways to open up an area of wood for additional shaping and refining with detail carving. Read the rest of this entry »

Cowboys have always been heroes in the romantic nostalgia of Western lore. In the classic ballad, “The Streets of Laredo,” is the line that says, “I see by your outfit that you are a cowboy.”   It is the outfit that a cowboy wore that made him a “dude” or a “gun fighter” or a “saddle tramp” or a “buckaroo” or a “cowpoke” or quite simply a “cowboy. Read the rest of this entry »