The WOOD BEE CARVER is primarily a knife carver and ever since boy hood days of whittling with an old pocket knife, the knife, any knife, remains a favorite. Even though the WOOD BEE CARVER uses and highly recommends knives made by Helvie Knives, Bud Murray Knives, Dave Lyons Knives, and Dunkle Knives all who make knives designed by the WOOD BEE CARVER, yet from time to time OTHER KNIVES are also used.

OTHER KNIVES are knives the WOOD BEE CARVER has made for his own personal use by using old pocket knife blades to reshape and re-handle into a carving knife. OTHER KNIVES come from the mind of the “Tinker Thinker” whose mind explores the day dream adventures of tinkering with knife blade shapes for making experimental carving knives.

A blog posting on May 25, 2008 ~ “TINKER KNIVES – Customized Carving Knives” describes the process of transforming small handled pocket knives into experimental carving knives. Many of these knives received another experimental transformation recently when a long reach and thinner blade was needed for carving in narrow areas of a carving project. The result was the five knives pictured in the first photo above.

The middle photo above with the four knives pictured with each having a brass tubed tang are based on another way of using pocket knife blades as was first described in the blog post of June 15, 2008 ~ “TINKER KNIVES II – Another Way to Tinker”. The four blades came from one pocket knife whose handle was way too small to comfortably use for carving.

The third photo above with nine knives pictured shows the continuation of experimenting with blade shapes that have been inserted into butternut pistol handles. Each handle is four inches long and is fairly thick to make a comfortable handle that will not fatigue the carver’s hand during long periods of carving.

The process for making OTHER KNIVES will be briefly described using photographs and written explanations for a variety of the knives pictured. The two previous blog entries mentioned above are more descriptive so it is recommended to read those postings as well.

The shaping of any blade was done by using a hand cranked grinding wheel, a one inch by forty two inch sanding belt, a Dremel equipped with a small sanding drum and diamond hones for hand sharpening followed by hand leather stropping. During the shaping process of using grinding wheel, sanding belt and drum, cool the blade often by immersing in water so as to not draw the temper out of the blade.

“TINKER KNIVES II” posting describes how to insert the pocket knife blade’s tang into a crimped end of a five sixteenth inch brass tube. That was the process used in making the four knives in the middle photo above with the brass tube extended tang. The extended tang allows for a longer reach by putting the business end of the blade away from the handle. The first photo below shows the various stages in the process. Top illustration shows a stainless steel wire, a five sixteenth inch brass tube about two inches long and a pocket knife blade. The second blade down shows the wire inserted in the hole of the tang and the start of twisting the wire along with a brass tube. The third blade down shows the twisted wire and a crimped brass tube ready to receive the twisted wire and tang into the crimped area. The fourth blade has been inserted into the crimped brass tube ready to receive epoxy inside the tube and around the twisted wire.

The second photo shows the two part five minute epoxy bottles, the knife blade stuck into a block of wood with the mixture of epoxy put inside the brass tube and the yellow jar lid used for mixing the epoxy.

The third photo shows the brass tube and blade after the epoxy has cured and the wooden handle blank with drilled five sixteenth inch hole ready to receive the blade and tube assembly. The fourth photo shows the blade and tube assembly inserted into the wooden handle that has received a mixture of epoxy. Note that about an inch of the brass tube is extended on the outside of the handle to allow for an extended tang for the carving blade when finished.

The two photos below show the finished results of making a carving knife using the blade out of a plastic handled advertising knife. Who knew that such advertising knives possessed blades that make excellent carving knives? This is what happens when any “Tinker Thinker” experiments with surprising results.

The next two photos below show how the blade is inserted into one half of a wooden handle ready to be epoxied to the other half of the wooden handle and the second photo shows the glued up knife along with a pattern for the pistol shaped handle.

The next series of four photos below begins with an old pocket knife with a much worn blade before it has been reshaped and then removed from the pocket knife frame. The second photo shows the reshaped blade with twisted wire tail lying on top of one half of wooden handle and the other half of the wooden handle mortised to receive the tang portion of the blade. The third photo shows the blade with wire tail seated in the mortise ready to receive epoxy gluing of the two handle halves. The fourth and final photo shows the finished knife.

The three photos below begin with a photo of an old Colonial pocket knife to show the “before” condition before the blade is reshaped. The second photo shows the reshaped blade with twisted wire tail being epoxied in the mortise of the one side of the wooden handle. The third photo shows the finished knife.

The three photos below begin with a photo of a pocket knife made in Germany to show the “before” condition before the blade is reshaped. The second photo shows a hand cranked grinder wheel beginning to shape the blade. The third photo shows the finished knife.

The three photos below begin with a photo of a Camillus electrician’s knife to show the “before” condition before the blade is reshaped. The middle photo shows a hand cranked grinder wheel beginning to shape the blade. The third photo shows the finished knife.

The four photos below begin with a “before” photo of an old Utica electrician’s knife followed in the second photo of the finished carving knife. The third photo is an old Utica pocket knife with its blade reshaped followed by the fourth photo of the finished carving knife that used the blade from the previous photo.

The next two photos below begin with two pocket knives whose blades have been reshaped. The top knife, an old knife made in Germany, is the subject that will be used to make a carving knife by removing its blade and epoxy the blade into a wooden handle as in the second photo.

The next two photos below show a very old pocket knife with a previously reshaped blade that will be reshaped again as depicted in the second photo. Then the following two photos begin with an earlier tinker knife with brass tube construction in the first photo and the reshaped new blade profile shown in the second photo.

The first photo below is of an old hunting knife whose tip of the blade had been broken off years ago. It was reshaped by grinding a notch in the blade in front of the handle to create an extended tang so that the cutting edge could be curved into a radius. The back edge was ground with a concave curve to meet the angled blunt tip. This knife is used for heavy duty roughing out slicing cuts. The second photo show the traditional wharncliffe blade shape that has been re-handled with the cutting edge angling up from the tip towards the handle to create a “reverse skew” cutting action that when any way it approaches the wood it automatically begins a slicing action.

These photo examples illustrates that the “Tinker Thinker” is always seeking to experiment with innovations in a blade design and will often re-work a previously reshaped blade into a revised shape. Each reshaped blade is then put to the test by carving with its new shape to discover its effectiveness in the carving process. These reshaped blade designs often become ones that Helvie knives will make for the WOOD BEE CARVER to put into the Signature Series. From the mind of the “Tinker Thinker” come blade designs tested in the carving process as the OTHER KNIVES are used as experiments in carving projects. The photo below shows three OTHER KNIVES that were used to carve the Mountain Man in a walking stick.

There will always be OTHER KNIVES and even more OTHER KNIVES as the Tinker Thinker WOOD BEE CARVER will continue to day dream imaginative ways to round out his carving experience. As fellow “whittler” Billy Stephens once said, “There is never a dull moment for a boy who has a knife and a piece of wood.”