pjsjr
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Grasshopper, you can whittle meat if it stays frozen long enough for you to finish.
Thank you, for your response and gracing this thread with, IMHO, one of your best.
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What's the difference between a 'carver' and 'whittler'?
- Thread starter pjsjr
- Start date
Thank you, for your response and gracing this thread with, IMHO, one of your best.
r8shell
Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
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Old Timer 24OT (6 "blades" which include 4 gouges) they call it a "Splinter Carvin' Whittler" I thinkr8shell has or had one.
To me, a "Whittler" is as described by @MerryMadMonk and @Peregrin
Yes, that is the "Splinter Carvin' Jack" which is a folding set of carving tools.
You have not seen what my father can do to a turkey with one of those electric carving "knives"!
What qualifies as traditional with a carver?GEC has the disconcerting habit of calling their knives whatever they want, ignoring long established conventions. Their carver is only the most recent example.
This is what has been traditionally known as a carver.
When you hear scout, you tend to think of the classic utility knife right?
GEC doesn't care, they call this knife a Scout.
Found these pics online of an old (70 years give or take) Jarvenpaa knife. This is called a carver, and has been for a hundred years.
Says so right on the blade
Scout knives come in many patterns depending on where you live and what sort of scout you are referring to. There are fixed blade scouts, single and multiblade folding scouts, camper pattern scouts, etc.
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Carving wood is the act of shaping it (generally with some artistic design) using any and all tools at one's disposal. Whittling is carving done using only a knife. No chisels, gouges or vices and clamps.
As to the knives:
As several members have pointed out a whittler is a pattern with three blades and two springs. The main blade is at one end, and rides on both springs, and the secondaries are at the opposite end riding on one spring per blade.
In short, one may whittle or carve with a whittler, but one doesn't have to, and one can carve with a knife, but one cannot whittle with a gouge.
As to the knives:
As several members have pointed out a whittler is a pattern with three blades and two springs. The main blade is at one end, and rides on both springs, and the secondaries are at the opposite end riding on one spring per blade.
In short, one may whittle or carve with a whittler, but one doesn't have to, and one can carve with a knife, but one cannot whittle with a gouge.
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I think scale comes into play as well when discussing the activity.
Here in Maine we have big pine trees that some will carve with chainsaws. One doesn't whittle with a chainsaw.
I guess the same could be applied to ice carving.
1354817817 by Pine Moon, on Flickr
Here in Maine we have big pine trees that some will carve with chainsaws. One doesn't whittle with a chainsaw.
I guess the same could be applied to ice carving.
1354817817 by Pine Moon, on Flickr
r8shell
Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
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Yes, indeed. I'd say it's more of a shredder than a carver.
I've suggested that he just use a good sharp knife, but the thing is: He's in his late 80s, and using that thing just makes him so darn happy. He grins ear to ear as he's mangling that carcass. I took some pictures a few years ago.
I think I'll be able to whittle with this carver. Or carve with this whittler?
yablanowitz
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My initial flip response was to the title of the thread, which I took to be the activity of shaping wood. A whittler and a carver may start and finish in the same places (start with a block of wood and end with a piece of art) but their journeys are very different.
The carver takes the woodworking equivalent of the Interstate, using specialized tools to shape the wood to his vision in the most efficient way. For him, it is all about the destination, the finished product.
The whittler takes the back roads, using a knife and patience, feeling the edge biting or skating to get the flow of the grain, shaving off gradually what a carver would cut off quickly with a saw. For him, it's all about the journey rather than the destination. The finished piece is almost a by-product rather than the whole point.
As to the actual question the OP was asking, what makes one knife a whittler and another a carver, it's the name on the box, nothing more.
The carver takes the woodworking equivalent of the Interstate, using specialized tools to shape the wood to his vision in the most efficient way. For him, it is all about the destination, the finished product.
The whittler takes the back roads, using a knife and patience, feeling the edge biting or skating to get the flow of the grain, shaving off gradually what a carver would cut off quickly with a saw. For him, it's all about the journey rather than the destination. The finished piece is almost a by-product rather than the whole point.
As to the actual question the OP was asking, what makes one knife a whittler and another a carver, it's the name on the box, nothing more.
