The knives used for the carving of the Mahogany Relief Carvings were all made by the Wood Bee Carver for his personal use that are called “Other Knives.”  Each one is of an experimental blade design that can be variations of some of the Signature Series knives made by Helvie Knives.  The photos below will show some of the blade designs being used to make specific slicing cuts in the shaping process.

The knives used to Whittle-Carve the Lincoln relief are prototypes blade designs of Signature Series Helvie knives {from left to right} Dragon 2, Buzzard, Zig Zag, Hornet and Dragon 2.  The Buzzard and Zig Zag were used in the major shaping process while the other three were used for the refined detailing process.

The knives used to Whittle-Carve the Indian relief are {left to right in first photo} blade designs like Dragon 2, Zig Zag, Buzzard and a mini Buzzard. The second photo shows a Zig Zag and Buzzard reducing the background and outlining the drawing.

The knives used to Whittle-Carve the Fisherman with Pipe are of the same as the previous four knives mentioned above with the Buzzard blade being the primary one used for the overall shaping.

The knives to carve Old Sage are a mini Buzzard, small Dragon 2, small Buzzard and medium Buzzard design types as depicted in the left photo above. The mini and small Buzzard were used during the detail process.

The next series of photos show various positions of the Buzzard design blade during the shaping process. The Buzzard blade with its curved cutting edge rounding the front of blade makes it to be a versatile shaping blade.  The more it is use the more its virtues are discovered along all of its cutting edge.

Using knives for the basic carving process is to experiment to discover all the various things a particular knife blade design will do while always remembering to utilize the slicing action. While one blade can accomplish most of the cuts needed, yet a variety of blade shapes will make the process easier and more pleasing.  The Wood Bee Carver prefers a curved cutting edge for its slicing action as well are being able to reach into tight areas while a straight cutting edge can only carve in a straight line basically. “Slice with the cutting edge,” has long been the guiding rule for carving using only a knife.