OK, so I'm SUCH a gracious host - I start a thread and then go away for an extended period!
Aforementioned Case.
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The Case shield is worn down to the pins, while the blades are barely used.
Lots of carry, little use. But there when needed. It was a gift from my favorite client (golfer).
Connor
That Case is very cool, Connor!
Feel free to display something you whittled with it. (Shoot, I'd show off a decent pencil-sharpening if I ever did one!
)
No Gary, I've never taken apart the Take-apart knife. I'm artsy-crafty, but not mechanically inclined and I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to get it back together.
There's a more detailed play by play of my Opinel modifications somewhere in this old thread:
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/1046919-Carving-Knife-and-Chat-Thread! As well as other discussions about modifying knives for carving.
Just for laughs though, here's an idea of my amateur knife-modding "skills"
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Don't try this at home, kids. And if you do, be sure to put a sack over the blade before you snap it. The end of that blade flew off my porch, 30 feet across the yard into the street!
Yowza, you don't mess around, Rachel!!
I modified the handle on an Opinel #6 last week, and discovered that I'll have to reshape the blade to get the tip back into the new handle. My plan was to try to do it using a file, but now I'm wondering what would happen if I had access to a bolt cutter ...
That's correct. I start with a square profile and use the corner as the center line of the face. More info below.
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I use basswood. I haven't tried anything else--other than messing around with the odd stick--but, from what I've read, it's a favorite because it's relatively easy to carve and holds detail well.
Our own illustrious lutejones posted a wonderful
carve a little character tutorial in the Workshop subforum. That was my introduction to caricature carving. I saw several of his little guys in the
Whatcha whittling these days? thread and thought "there's no way I'd ever be able to do that". But, then I followed along with the tutorial and came up with something that I was very satisfied with for a first attempt. And was hooked.
Before attempting a second one, though, I've been practicing faces by themselves. The face was the most challenging part of that tutorial for me. I don't yet have the skills to reproduce the eyes shown there, so I've been working on a simpler version demonstrated in this
YouTube video and its
second part. The faces I showed earlier were all made following that method. I'm starting to get the hang of it. A few more and I'll try a larger bust.
Greg
Thanks for all the helpful info and links about face-whittling, Greg! :thumbup: I've admired lutejones's work when I've run across it, and I should make more time to spend in that Workshop subforum - lots of cool discussion there! Last summer while I was on vacation, I ran across that SharonMyArt YouTube about carving faces and thought it looked like an approach I could follow, but then vacation ended and I forgot about it until you reminded me!
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Also, I highly recommend wearing a carving glove or some other protective glove on your holding hand. I did at first, then stopped after a while of never needing it to save me. But then one day I was being careless with how I was holding the wood, the piece split out, and I ended up with a nasty cut in my finger. I wear the glove most of the time now.
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I always carry a thumb guard with me that I'll put on the thumb of my knife hand when I'm whittling. I picked up a pair of Kevlar gloves at a gun&knife show, but I usually forget to put one on my "wood-holding hand" when I whittle; I should work smarter, not bloodier!
I noticed that all of your dedicated carvers have only straight blades. Not a belly in sight. I believe the same is true of the Oar Carver. I'll be very curious to hear about your experiences with them as you explore them. Especially since you like the pen blade on your SAK.
I think I've used both a straight edged blade (sheepsfoot or coping) and a curved blade (pen or spey) on pretty much every project I've done and I'm trying to imagine how it would have gone without one or the other.
I suspect that means I still have a lot to learn! 
Happy whittlin',
Greg
Astute observation, Greg! :thumbup: Even outside the whittling context, although I've really been enchanted by the look of wharncliffe and especially sheepsfoot blades, I don't think I'm very skilled at using them. And I certainly feel the same way with the little bit of meeting around I've done with straightedge blades on whittling knives. My suspicion is identical to yours; I probably need to learn HOW to use straight blades effectively.
That's an interesting point. I do most carving with a straight edge, but there are a few things that call for a different shape. The Boker Carver's Congress was designed for wood carving, with a spey-like blade for scooped cuts, and if I ever try to carve a spoon, I imagine I'd need something like that.
While I'm posting pictures, here's a lizard I carved mostly using a #26 with wharncliffe and coping, but I used a few other tools as well.
Thanks for posting a pic of your Böker carver congress, Rachel; I was hoping this thread would get an example of that model eventually.
And I enjoyed seeing your lizard (and GEC 26) again! :thumbup:
I was browsing Chris Lubkemann's website today. He's the author of several whittling books, including the Victorinox Swiss Army Knife Book of Whittling. It turns out that for the past twenty years or so he's been doing all of his whittling with SAKs, usually the Tinker, Recruit, or Hiker. He describes two modifications that he makes:
- Modifying the small pen blade to sort of a mini wharncliffe. He describes it as "tapering the small blade to more of a point".
- Removing the key ring so that it doesn't interfere with pushing the small blade with the thumb.
Both of these sound like extremely useful modifications for whittling. I'm wondering whether any of you have experimented with these or other SAK modifications. If so, how'd they work out? Have pictures?
Interesting Lubkemann info, Greg.
He also has a book (or several) on whittling twigs and branches, right? Yesterday I was looking through a book I bought at the same time as my Flexcut Whittlin' Jack - it's called
Complete Starter Guide to Whittling and has "24 Easy Projects", several of which are from Chris Lubkemann. In that book, he not only mentions making the pen blade on a SAK pointier and filing off the keyring attachment, he also mentions rounding off the "shoulders" on the edge of the SAK's big spear blade; my interpretation is he's recommending a full flat grind for whittling blades, a recommendation I've seen from many skilled whittlers. I haven't tried any of these, but think that I should. The key ring has definitely caused blisters in long whittling sessions (but I kind of hate giving it up because I usually carry a SAK every day by hanging it by the keyring from a little suspension clip on the edge of my left front pocket).
Here's a quick update/review on the Whittlin' Buddy that GT sent me.
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What I think is a fun project for beginners is to carve pencils. The wood is very soft, and Ticonderoga makes a kid's fat pencil, which gives you more wood to work with.
Thanks for your first impressions of the Whittlin' Buddy in action, Rachel! :thumbup: Let us know about any mods/tune-ups you do. Cool pencil project!
I suppose this knife isn't a "dedicated whittler" but I certainly purchased it with the idea that it might become a "go-to" whittling knives for me. It's a Rough Rider lockback cannitler, and it feels good in my hand while carving, but I think it would also benefit from my learning how to reprofile a blade to a flat grind with a 20-24 degree inclusive edge. How acute do you folks like to run the edge of your whittling blades? Am I being realistic here?
- GT
