The Whittling Corner

[JaxBaron]

Finished this guy up yesterday. Posing with one of my favorites a #68 pony jack. Lets see some projects guys!!

 

[screened porch]

Project to be: whittle things baneful to flies into the handle of my new fly whisk. I don't have access to horses so I used rope-hair. I happened to have this much of a rake-handle left to be the whisk handle, and it already had a hole!

 

[JaxBaron]

Project to be: whittle things baneful to flies into the handle of my new fly whisk. I don't have access to horses so I used rope-hair. I happened to have this much of a rake-handle left to be the whisk handle, and it already had a hole!

Awesome job on repurposing, it looks like it will do the trick!

 

[5K Qs]

I made this knife a few months back and forgot about it, I guess I should do something with it.

Wow, that looks like a professional wood carving knife! Where did you get the blade?

Finished this guy up yesterday. Posing with one of my favorites a #68 pony jack. Lets see some projects guys!!

View attachment 940516

You sure do an interesting variety of characters, JaxBaron !!

Project to be: whittle things baneful to flies into the handle of my new fly whisk. I don't have access to horses so I used rope-hair. I happened to have this much of a rake-handle left to be the whisk handle, and it already had a hole!

Cool fly whisk, Jer! The handle will eventually have fly strips, frog tongues, and karate masters' chop sticks carved into it?? (I just read an interesting internet article about why flies are so hard to swat - something about how human moves are in slow-motion in a fly's perceptual system.)

- GT

 

[Hickory n steel]

Wow, that looks like a professional wood carving knife! Where did you get the blade?


You sure do an interesting variety of characters, JaxBaron !!


Cool fly whisk, Jer! The handle will eventually have fly strips, frog tongues, and karate masters' chop sticks carved into it?? (I just read an interesting internet article about why flies are so hard to swat - something about how human moves are in slow-motion in a fly's perceptual system.)

- GT

Thanks for the compliment.
The blade is made from a piece of a broken 1950's Craftsman handsaw.
I've made a few pairing knives from it as well as a few other things.

 

[screened porch]

Cool fly whisk, Jer! The handle will eventually have fly strips, frog tongues, and karate masters' chop sticks carved into it?? (I just read an interesting internet article about why flies are so hard to swat - something about how human moves are in slow-motion in a fly's perceptual system.)
- GT

"You beginna's ruck!" I'd forgotten that bit of Karate Kid. Chopsticks should be pretty easy to carve, too.
Frogs is a good idea. I was thinking fly-eating birds and fly paper, and maybe a fly-swatter.
(I remembered where the rest of the rake-handle is. It was the same diameter as an umbrella-handle I made a cane out of.)

 

[WhittlinAway]

Nice work JaxBaron .

I’m looking forward to seeing what you carve on the handle, screened porch . Looks like a fun—and useful!—project!

I’ll share a quick project I did a couple of weeks ago:

After drawing the outline, I made several three-cut triangular chip cuts to open up space for the tip of the knife to easily get it for follow-on notch cuts. That’s a technique I learned from the tutorials of Donald Mertz, the Wood Bee Carver.

Then I cut the notches, repeated the process on the flip side, and kept working both sides until I’d cut a hole:

From there, I worked on the outside shape:

After all the carving was complete, I finished the piece with a mineral oil and beeswax wood balm.

The small clip blade of my Camillus 72 did the lion’s share of the work, but I did employ a Donald Mertz Signature Series Viper III from Helvie Knives to help with some areas on the inside curve where there were some tricky grain direction changes. The smaller, thinner blade helped there.

Here’s the duo posing for a shot after the work was complete:

I’m glad to see the recent activity on this thread and I hope others are finding some time to whittle, too. I look forward to future show-and-tells and discussion.

 

[JaxBaron]

Nice work JaxBaron .

I’m looking forward to seeing what you carve on the handle, screened porch . Looks like a fun—and useful!—project!

I’ll share a quick project I did a couple of weeks ago:

After drawing the outline, I made several three-cut triangular chip cuts to open up space for the tip of the knife to easily get it for follow-on notch cuts. That’s a technique I learned from the tutorials of Donald Mertz, the Wood Bee Carver.

Then I cut the notches, repeated the process on the flip side, and kept working both sides until I’d cut a hole:

From there, I worked on the outside shape:

After all the carving was complete, I finished the piece with a mineral oil and beeswax wood balm.

The small clip blade of my Camillus 72 did the lion’s share of the work, but I did employ a Donald Mertz Signature Series Viper III from Helvie Knives to help with some areas on the inside curve where there were some tricky grain direction changes. The smaller, thinner blade helped there.

Here’s the duo posing for a shot after the work was complete:

I’m glad to see the recent activity on this thread and I hope others are finding some time to whittle, too. I look forward to future show-and-tells and discussion.

Great job as always Whittlin’!

 

[WhittlinAway]

I’ve had a copy of this year’s Whittling issue of Woodcarving Illustrated for about a month now, but it was only yesterday that I had a chance to sit down with it, a knife, and a block of wood and attempt one of the projects.

I chose the Whittle Dwarf tutorial by Don Mertz and used the Series 1 Universal Whittler from his Helvie Knives signature series.

Two or three hours later, I had a little dwarf:

This was a fun, quick project. I have quite a bit of room for improvement before I can match his examples, but I’ll keep practicing and know I’ll enjoy the journey.

That magazine issue has quite a few interesting projects, BTW. It’s worth checking out if you’re looking for inspiration and step-by-step instructions.

Happy whittling!

 

[JaxBaron]

I’ve had a copy of this year’s Whittling issue of Woodcarving Illustrated for about a month now, but it was only yesterday that I had a chance to sit down with it, a knife, and a block of wood and attempt one of the projects.

I chose the Whittle Dwarf tutorial by Don Mertz and used the Series 1 Universal Whittler from his Helvie Knives signature series.

Two or three hours later, I had a little dwarf:

This was a fun, quick project. I have quite a bit of room for improvement before I can match his examples, but I’ll keep practicing and know I’ll enjoy the journey.

That magazine issue has quite a few interesting projects, BTW. It’s worth checking out if you’re looking for inspiration and step-by-step instructions.

Happy whittling!

Awesome job Whittlin’ love the amount of detail in such a little carving.

 

[WhittlinAway]

Awesome job Whittlin’ love the amount of detail in such a little carving.

Thanks, Jon! And thanks for your previous compliment, too.

Someday I hope to be able to achieve the level of detail that folks like @lutejones are able to accomplish. His stuff is amazing. I’ve got a long way yet to go, but I’ll keep practicing and having fun while I’m at it.

 

[JaxBaron]

Thats what its all about praticing and learning along the way. I just started carving around year ago, well besides turning a stick pointy lol. Its amazing how much one can improve in such a short time. I’ve seen some on lutejones figures in some of the threads. He does really impressive work.

 

[5K Qs]

...
I’ll share a quick project I did a couple of weeks ago:
...
After all the carving was complete, I finished the piece with a mineral oil and beeswax wood balm.

The small clip blade of my Camillus 72 did the lion’s share of the work, but I did employ a Donald Mertz Signature Series Viper III from Helvie Knives to help with some areas on the inside curve where there were some tricky grain direction changes. The smaller, thinner blade helped there.
...

Thanks for the WIP post showing some of the stages of your heart project, Greg!! Very cool final result, and I enjoyed envisioning how you got there. The part of your post I bolded (about grain direction changes) just reminds me of how much I have to learn!

(The heart reminds me a little bit of the Möbius band you sent me. Are you going to post that here some day? )

I’ve had a copy of this year’s Whittling issue of Woodcarving Illustrated for about a month now, but it was only yesterday that I had a chance to sit down with it, a knife, and a block of wood and attempt one of the projects.

I chose the Whittle Dwarf tutorial by Don Mertz and used the Series 1 Universal Whittler from his Helvie Knives signature series.

Two or three hours later, I had a little dwarf:

...
Happy whittling!

Congrats on another successful amazing-to-me whittling project, Greg!

- GT

 

[WhittlinAway]

Thats what its all about praticing and learning along the way. I just started carving around year ago, well besides turning a stick pointy lol. Its amazing how much one can improve in such a short time.

Amen to that. One of the things I really enjoy about the hobby is that there is at least a lifetime of learning available in it, both through trying new things and in working to master the ones you've already tried.

I enjoy seeing your carvings and I'm looking forward to seeing what another year brings.

Thanks for the WIP post showing some of the stages of your heart project, Greg!! Very cool final result, and I enjoyed envisioning how you got there. The part of your post I bolded (about grain direction changes) just reminds me of how much I have to learn!

(The heart reminds me a little bit of the Möbius band you sent me. Are you going to post that here some day? )

...

Congrats on another successful amazing-to-me whittling project, Greg!

- GT

Thanks for the kind words, GT.

As to wood grain, you've probably noticed this already, but I'll go ahead and elaborate about what I was talking about. You can carve with the grain with ease and across it without too much trouble when you have a sharp knife. But, trying to go against it leads to rough spots, tear outs, and the knife digging in to try to follow it in directions you hadn't intended. When you're working on a concave surface, for example, it can be tricky to get a smooth surface all along because if you went in just one direction with the knife you'd be going with the grain at some points and against it in others. So, you have to work at it from both directions and pay really close attention to where the two directions of work meet. Grain changes can also happen along straight sections just from the nature of the particular piece of wood.

If you look closely at that Möbius strip, you'll probably notice a couple of spots where I had some challenges with the grain changes in the twists. And, since you asked, here are a few pictures of that project.

Getting ready to start with a Deepwoods Ventures Slim Carver, which was the knife I used for 99% of the project:

Here it is after the rough shape was complete and I was beginning to put in the twist. You can also see here the paper model I used as a guide throughout the entire process, starting with tracing out its rough projection to get the outlines shown in the photo above.

The photo above is about the point where I was beginning to have some confidence that it would work out. From there it was a matter of refining the twisting flat surfaces to make the whole thing more ribbon-like. I did a lot of tracing through it with my finger to make sure I could make it smoothly back to the starting point by following the one surface.

Here's the finished result from a few different angles:

 

[street soldier]

Amen to that. One of the things I really enjoy about the hobby is that there is at least a lifetime of learning available in it, both through trying new things and in working to master the ones you've already tried.

I enjoy seeing your carvings and I'm looking forward to seeing what another year brings.



Thanks for the kind words, GT.

As to wood grain, you've probably noticed this already, but I'll go ahead and elaborate about what I was talking about. You can carve with the grain with ease and across it without too much trouble when you have a sharp knife. But, trying to go against it leads to rough spots, tear outs, and the knife digging in to try to follow it in directions you hadn't intended. When you're working on a concave surface, for example, it can be tricky to get a smooth surface all along because if you went in just one direction with the knife you'd be going with the grain at some points and against it in others. So, you have to work at it from both directions and pay really close attention to where the two directions of work meet. Grain changes can also happen along straight sections just from the nature of the particular piece of wood.

If you look closely at that Möbius strip, you'll probably notice a couple of spots where I had some challenges with the grain changes in the twists. And, since you asked, here are a few pictures of that project.

Getting ready to start with a Deepwoods Ventures Slim Carver, which was the knife I used for 99% of the project:

Here it is after the rough shape was complete and I was beginning to put in the twist. You can also see here the paper model I used as a guide throughout the entire process, starting with tracing out its rough projection to get the outlines shown in the photo above.

The photo above is about the point where I was beginning to have some confidence that it would work out. From there it was a matter of refining the twisting flat surfaces to make the whole thing more ribbon-like. I did a lot of tracing through it with my finger to make sure I could make it smoothly back to the starting point by following the one surface.

Here's the finished result from a few different angles:

That’s awesome!
Great job!

John

 

[WhittlinAway]

That’s awesome!
Great job!

Thank you very much, John. It was a really fun project.

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend and that it brings an opportunity for some whittling. If it does, please share it here.

 

[r8shell]

Amen to that. One of the things I really enjoy about the hobby is that there is at least a lifetime of learning available in it, both through trying new things and in working to master the ones you've already tried.

I enjoy seeing your carvings and I'm looking forward to seeing what another year brings.



Thanks for the kind words, GT.

As to wood grain, you've probably noticed this already, but I'll go ahead and elaborate about what I was talking about. You can carve with the grain with ease and across it without too much trouble when you have a sharp knife. But, trying to go against it leads to rough spots, tear outs, and the knife digging in to try to follow it in directions you hadn't intended. When you're working on a concave surface, for example, it can be tricky to get a smooth surface all along because if you went in just one direction with the knife you'd be going with the grain at some points and against it in others. So, you have to work at it from both directions and pay really close attention to where the two directions of work meet. Grain changes can also happen along straight sections just from the nature of the particular piece of wood.

If you look closely at that Möbius strip, you'll probably notice a couple of spots where I had some challenges with the grain changes in the twists. And, since you asked, here are a few pictures of that project.

Getting ready to start with a Deepwoods Ventures Slim Carver, which was the knife I used for 99% of the project:

Here it is after the rough shape was complete and I was beginning to put in the twist. You can also see here the paper model I used as a guide throughout the entire process, starting with tracing out its rough projection to get the outlines shown in the photo above.

The photo above is about the point where I was beginning to have some confidence that it would work out. From there it was a matter of refining the twisting flat surfaces to make the whole thing more ribbon-like. I did a lot of tracing through it with my finger to make sure I could make it smoothly back to the starting point by following the one surface.

Here's the finished result from a few different angles:

So cool! Now I want to try one.

One of the things I like about whittling, is that there's no completion deadline. I can pick it up whenever I feel like it, and put it down when I'm tired or frustrated. Of course, that's why it takes so very long for me to actually finish anything. I'm working on a little something now, and I hope to make some headway on it this weekend, but who knows?

 

[r8shell]

I've always liked whittling pencils. (and I'm fortunate to have lived in a time when whittling on a pencil in the classroom may have been frowned upon, but never involved a call to the police) Well, I saw these "My First Ticonderoga" big fat pencils at the store, and had to buy a pack of them. I liken them to the Opinel Ebauche, made for whittling!

 

[JohnDF]

I've always liked whittling pencils. (and I'm fortunate to have lived in a time when whittling on a pencil in the classroom may have been frowned upon, but never involved a call to the police) Well, I saw these "My First Ticonderoga" big fat pencils at the store, and had to buy a pack of them. I liken them to the Opinel Ebauche, made for whittling!
View attachment 954906 View attachment 954908

Those pencils are really nice looking. Nice work and it seems like a fun past time. I can't even sharpen a pencil without breaking it

 

[WhittlinAway]

I've always liked whittling pencils. (and I'm fortunate to have lived in a time when whittling on a pencil in the classroom may have been frowned upon, but never involved a call to the police) Well, I saw these "My First Ticonderoga" big fat pencils at the store, and had to buy a pack of them. I liken them to the Opinel Ebauche, made for whittling!
View attachment 954906 View attachment 954908

Very cool! I like the variety of twisting and overlapping patterns. Is it hard to keep track of the pattern while you’re carving it? I could imagine myself trying for a basket weave and ending up with a physical impossibility.