I've converted......

I like the bar of soap idea, thats great...

I just got through sharpening a couple 110's that I have. They were already sharp but it never hurts to give them a little touch-up.
I don't know what it is, but everytime I sharpen the 110's, I cut myself.

Tonight I was really focusing on the tip on one of them, and accidentily got the palm of my hand up against the tip. Guess what, I stuck the tip into my palm..
The plus side of this is that I barely touched it, man is it sharp:D
 
Boy, the soap idea brings back memories. When I was in grade school, we had to carve something from a bar of soap for an art class. Many of us had our own pocket knives, and we had to share with those that didn't have a knife. Many lessons were learned from being prepared, to sharing with others. Those with knives also learned how to teach others.. Imagine the mess if a teacher tried that today.
 
The soap Idea brought back memories of my first knife, a cub scout camillus and the smell of carved ivory soap...kinda missed that...told my grandsons about whittling on a bar of soap, now they're pestering me to show/teach how lol
 
pvicenzi said:
Boy, the soap idea brings back memories. When I was in grade school, we had to carve something from a bar of soap for an art class. Many of us had our own pocket knives, and we had to share with those that didn't have a knife. Many lessons were learned from being prepared, to sharing with others. Those with knives also learned how to teach others.. Imagine the mess if a teacher tried that today.
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Geeeze, ain't that the truth to be sure. :eek: :eek:..

~ ~ ~ ~ ><> ~ ~ ~ ~ <>< ~ ~ ~ ~

Anyways, we get to do some kind of whittling projects around here most every weekend. Here is one I started this morning for the little neighbor boy down the road to show him how to whittle out an old Toy dugout Indian Canoe.. I made this one for him to use and to play with for his Lego folks.. :)

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Anthony
 
Great little boat, Anthony. I bet that kid was overjoyed to have it.

Tried the soap carving with the kids today. They enjoyed it. I was able to show them how to carve off small pieces as opposed to bigger pieces and explain to them the fact that once you carve it off the main piece, you can't put it back on.

The biggest issue at the moment is that they want to carve all sorts of intricate designs, and jump ahead of the basics. I'm working on getting them to understand that successful carving takes time and patience. Rome wasn't built in a day, but it was built. Or more appropriately for kids, slow and steady wins the race(tortoise and hare story).

I dug out some seasoned black walnut that I have in my shed and showed it to them. (I'm always checking out woodpiles that people put out to the curb when they take down trees and such. It's a free and simple way to build up woodcarving stock.) They were suitably impressed with it, and I told them that once they get a grasp of the basics of carving I will let them each have a piece to carve whatever they want out of it. So there is something for them to work towards.

One other benefit of the soap carving was that it made the backyard smell pretty nice (Irish Spring was on sale). There were a lot of soap chips floating around the yard, but better there than on the deck.
 
Anthony, Isnt it nice to wittle with children. Interesting to give them something from the world before computors and TV. Here in nothern sweden one meter of snow quickly turns into water since its now intense springtime. This is the time to take the shildren to countryside and forest to look at animals and to wittle barkboats for all the water streaming through nature towards lowest point. Soon its the time the bark is easy to loose from the trees and its posible to do wistles. my oldest son, soon to be seven, sat many hours this saturday outside our buildingplace and wittled a sword and a sailingship.

Bosse
 
street soldier said:
Picked up a Buck Trapper for the oldest, a Buck Stockman for the middle one, and the youngest wanted a Boker Stockman. Of course, Dad needed something, so I went with a smaller Buck Stockman and Buck Trapper.
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Welcome! I salute not only your choices, but also your commitment to stimulating the economy! :D
 
steet soldier and NirreBosse,

It was fun whittle working on the little boat for the neighbor kid and my son got into the act too and whittled some oars for the Lego characters to use so we just had us a time out on the picnic table behind my home in the backyard. We actually got it to float in the pond :D too.. It is pretty cool watching little children's faces light up over something so primitive and watch them utilize they're own imagination to have fun and play innocent little games.. IMO, the electronic computer gaming industry has done irreparable damage to our youth in recent decades. I am not going to get into a discussion about it here and now, but I've personally noticed young children who are introduced into this e-gaming early on show a sort of stunted imagination development compared to other kids that are not allowed to play video games..

Back on topic.. But of coarse your right, its so relaxing and a real stress reliever(at least for me) to whittle something out of an old tree branch from discarded tree cuttings or off the Forrest floor. As far as the soap carving, I find that street solder is correct in that the kids envision a lot of detail when considering figures to carve. They way I did it with my son is I instructed him to carve a basic turtle figure: (1) That is a shell, with a head, a tail and four legs. When that was complete, then (2) eyes, nose-snout and a mouth, (3) then the webbed feet with claws and marking the square designs on the shell,, and so on, and so on.. After a while my kids developed a real knack for this and thought a lot about they're little subject projects. To the point in fact that they would even pencil sketch them ahead of time. We always had a lot of fun whittling together. :) :thumbup:


Anthony
 
Welcome Streetsoldier. Old traditional knives are very rewarding but highly addictive. Something about a traditional slip joint knife that makes you feel good even better when it comes in handy. Also, whittling is fun, relaxing and enjoyable. I use basswood but I may to see if I can find a better wood to use. You will like this place nice folks here.

RKH
 
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