whittling

C

camo kid

Joined
Sep 3, 2002
Messages
329
I figured with so many traditional slip joint users here there has to be some whittlers. I was just wondering what some of your favorite whittling projects or other crafts are that you use your traditional blades for, and also what are some of your favorite slip joints to use are. I enjoy making fish decoys, walking sticks, twig roosters, whistles, spoons and some times brooms. My favorite whittling knives are a Queen whittler, Schrade 33OT, Schrade 34OT, Boker barlows, and Case trappers (mini, regular, and slimline). So how about it, What are some of your favorite knife projects, and knives to do them with ? Joe
 
Just recently have tried my hand at this pasttime. I like to use a boker congress and a boker whittler. I'm persistanlty trying to whittle a chain link. I 'm having a rough time cutting out the inside of the links though. Someone said the cedar wood that I've been using is not good for the type of work I'm doing. Who knows? I'm still working on it though. Very relaxing after the 2yo and 6mos go to bed.
 
I'm not particularly good, but I've done ball in cage, chain links, spoons and have tried my hand at a few other projects including a small rooster.

My favorite slippie to use is a Case (yellow) CV Congress.
 
My favorite whittler is a Boker King Kutter stockman, now seriously worn after untold sharpenings. A.E. Tangerman's book Whittling and Wood Carving is a classic; it's been through a dozen reprints and you should be able to find a copy. Lots of good projects in there.
 
mshambone said:
Just recently have tried my hand at this pasttime. I like to use a boker congress and a boker whittler. I'm persistanlty trying to whittle a chain link. I 'm having a rough time cutting out the inside of the links though. Someone said the cedar wood that I've been using is not good for the type of work I'm doing. Who knows? I'm still working on it though. Very relaxing after the 2yo and 6mos go to bed.
Click to expand...

Cedar is soft and easy to carve. Unfortunately, it's brittle and splits easily. Try Basswood on your next project. It's easy to carve with sharp tools and is split resistant.
 
I get my basswood at Michaels arts and crafts store. Favorite whittling projects are ball in cage, chains, scisors joints. Right now, I'm finishing up a ball in cage attached to a chain. Figured I could do both out of one stick so if I got bored with one, I could switch to the other... still on the same piece of wood. My whittling knives are a Tony Bose swayback jack and wharncliffe trapper, both in 440V. The wharncliffe blade on the wharncliffe trapper is perfect for getting chain links apart. I also use Rogers whittlers by Reese Bose and Bill Ruple, and a Reese Bose congress in A2.

Three whittling tips: with a ball in cage, don't cut the ball(s) loose until you have them as round as you want them. Once they're loose you can't do much more to them.

The other tip, on chains, is to make sure the chain links are long enough so that there's room for them to move when you open them up.

Finally, spyderco makes a great ceramic stone. Two sided, in a leather slip case. Ceramic gets the kind of polished edge that you want for wood. The leather case makes a decent strop too.

attachment.php
 
I've used Congress models and really like the older larger models in the CV steel by Case but usually I had to thin them down to get them to work as well as I liked. Next is of course Seahorse style folders, and my teardrop easy opener and all of them work fine. The Wharncliff blades are a bit better for getting into tight spaces but if you are just whittling off flakes to reduce size the tear drop spear blade works about as well as anything when thin enough like on my MSA model and the small pen blade can easily do a lot of the same jobs as the other blades but its just going to take a bit more work and angling it differently by the way you hold it to make like eye sockes and nose cuts along with the mouth and other small detail work like that for faces and what not.

I've had some good luck using older carbon blades over the newer stainless models which are, in my opinion a waste of time to try to work with. Of all the newer knives I've used in Seahorse Whittler style folders the BullDog brand I have is about the best due to the carbon blades it sports. The only stainless model I like is the little take apart knife by Bull Dog also. Both those blade can be made incredibly sharp and they cut a good while and surprise me at how polished I can strop the edges up for push cuts. Those 440C blades do the trick and the little wharny blade is a joy to use in tight spaces.

About the only thing I hate about the take apart knife is the way both tangs stick up so high when the blades are closed. I can't count on both hands how many times one of those has scraped me when I used to carry it some. I stopped just for that reason. Otherwise its a great little folder.

STR
 
You're welcome mshambone.

Basswood can be found at stores that sell woodworking supplies like Woodcraft, etc. You can also find it at art and craft supply stores. The cheapest place I've found with the largest selection of sizes is eBay.

Make sure you or the store clerk doesn't confuse Basswood with Balsa wood. Balsa is lighter and has an open highly visible grain. Basswood has tight grain that hardly shows and it weighs at least twice as much.

Good luck!
 
Michael's is a great inexpensive place for Basswood.

I've carved popper bugs for fishing with mine, with a Case Seahorse Whittler.

Also I used a Buck 105 and a Buck 196 as scrapers on a Maple Canoe Paddle I'm finishing.
 
I've made a few of my own walking sticks as I have a bum wheel under me. I like to find hornbeam or young hickory saplings that I can dig around to see it they have an interesting root to make a handle out of. The best one have a root the goes 90 degrees under the ground. I dig them up and let them age down the basement for several months. Then I'll use a small sodbuster or Opinel to form the root knob into a good handle shape thats comfortable to lean on and looks good. The Case soddie has a nice wide thin blade that cuts through the tough hornbeam root material. Sometimes I'll make the handle similar in shape to a Kentucky flintlock pistol, and I'll put some celtic patterns winding around the stick.
 
One or 2 walking sticks, a couple of spoons and a fork or 3. The forks were rudimentary use-&-burn items.

I'd like to try some more intriocate stuff like the ball & cage, etc, but just don't seem to have gotten around to it.

Over here, we use crook (aka spoon) knives to hollow out the bowl on a spoon. Is there a way to do it with a pocket knife? I've scratched my head for a while over this one, and can't see a way of doing it well.
 
I've done a few walking sticks. For the most part, nothing too fancy. I do have one that is from a small tree that was ripped out by a passing road grater on a gravel road. It had a good root section that I was able to carve away into an interesting piece.

I tried some different knives when I was doing them, but the one that worked best for me was my old, reliable SAK Swiss Champ. I'd have to hit the fine stone with it now and again, bit it just seemed to work best for me. Mind you, I wasn't doing any fancy, intricate stuff.

I need to pick up a good whittling book and some Basswood, I think. Time to start fiddling around with it. I also want to learn to do nice lanyards and knot work too. Seems like a good way to stay out of more pricey trouble.
 
I was really hoping there would be more photos in this thread.

Come on guys, do a little bragging and show us what you whittled!

Stay sharp,
desmobob
 
I like carving walking sticks,faces and whatever else I'm working at turns out to be LOL
I mainly use a vic sak,but some times use a us oldtimer medium stockman or jack,or a well worn case cv stockman.

LOTO
 
freezergeezer said:
Over here, we use crook (aka spoon) knives to hollow out the bowl on a spoon. Is there a way to do it with a pocket knife? I've scratched my head for a while over this one, and can't see a way of doing it well.
Click to expand...

Can be done. Whether it is well or not is another question. Short, sharp, thin blades with a bit of curve to the tip do better than straight edges, like a wharny or coping blade or sheepsfoot, for the bowl. I've done quite a few. All were functional, but some were... less attractive than others. I've used small u-gouges as well, to clean things up. That can work quite well.

I'm currently making my first forked-stick flipper. I had wrist-rockets as a kid, so I never made one, but I was reading something jackknife wrote about making them, and thought - why not? I can make just about anything I want out of wood. I've carved cars, cub scout racers, tiny totem poles, little men, neckerchief slides, heads, hands, chains, even a long cage with a different kind of wood ball inside, etc. Was my major hobby as a kid, and I've been doing it a lot more lately. Made my kids a couple of Harry Potter wands. :D
 
I forged a small gouge for spoons. Before that I used the spay blade on a stockman and sand paper. A.E. Tangermans book is a classic, and part of the reason I love slip joints so much. Joe
 
I do lots of whittling. Ball in cages with chain combinations mostly. Sorry, no pics, I don't have a digital camera. I've used Cases in CV steel, Boker carbon steel and Old timers in carbon, as well as others. Carbon steel works way better than any stainless for wood carving. I pretty much use small fixed blade carving knives for whittling now though. I proved I could do it with the slipjoints and I always have one on me for the odd time I need one, but Two Cherries chip carving knives make whittling a lot more precise, you can do better work with them. The Tangerman book is essential. A good wood to try is Butternut (aka White Walnut). Relatively soft, interesting constrasting grain, all around great stuff for whittling. Alder and poplar are decent woods too. Black walnut and mahongany are tougher to work, but worth the effort for those special pieces. I get most of my wood from broken furniture. Table legs and rails and stuff people give me or I scavange/salvage. Great hobby, I started about 8-9 years ago.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top