One of the Artistry in Wood banquet raffle prizes is a commemorative Helvie Knife and knife holder using the theme of Uncle Sam. This project was a collaborative effort between Don Stephenson, artist, Rich Smithson, Helvie Knife Maker and Don Mertz, carver of knife holder.

Stephenson drew several caricature sketches of Uncle Sam which were used by Smithson to wood burn the Helvie Knife handle in the Uncle Sam theme.

Smithson provided the basswood block, five inches tall and three and three quarter inch square with the blade insertion hole burned into the top of the block. The Wood Bee Carver carved an Uncle Sam bust in the block to make the knife holder. Using the blade insertion hole as the center guideline, the first step was to shape the square block into the roundness for the hat. Gouges were used to shape the hat while removing the excess wood to expose the shape of the hat. The photo shows the hat carved to basic form and the wood under the hat is being removed to narrow the head to begin to fit into the hat.

The photo with the Uncle Sam image behind the carving shows the knives that were used to carve the face, shirt collar, bow tie, hair and beard. The three Helvie knives were the Bumble Bee, the Hornet Bee and the Wasp Bee which did the majority of the carving to basic form and final detail carving.

The “other knife” is an experimental knife being tested as shown in the three photos making various slicing cuts. The “other knife” was made using an old pocket knife blade reshaped and placed in a wooden handle by the Wood Bee Carver.

The Uncle Sam bust was colored using artist oil paint thinned with boiled linseed oil followed by a protective application of lacquer and Howard Feed –N-Wax.