Wood Carving discussions on techniques, projects, beginner, basic, general and advanced skill levels
Monday, July 20, 2009
Beginner Knife Tip
While whittlin with my coffee at the local in town diner I forgot a really important knife rule. No! no blood, at least not from me. Had the Santa been real, he'd have lost blood along with most of his nose.
You should strive to know your knife so well that you will always:
A. Know exactly where the knife tip is when carving.
B. Know exactly how much pressure to use when making any cut.
C. Never use more pressure than necessary.
Now how do you do this, you might ask!
PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE. and I might add, don't keep switchin knives. Stay with one. At least until you feel you have mastered it.
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3 comments:
Excellent advice Tom .. Good common sense
Gene
And when you're done practicing, practice some more. I hate to sound all samurai here, but your knife should become part of your hand, an extra finger, but a very sharp one so don't scratch your nose with it! One bad habit that I have that I'm trying to break is to tuck your knife between a couple of fingers on your left hand while holding your carving so you can draw some lines on it with your right hand. Or at least with the pencil in your right hand. Put the dang knife down! It ain't that much work to pick it up again. Deep breath. OK, sermon over. Move along. Nothing to see here.
Bob
I agree with all that has been said. I just joined a carving club and one of the members had his wife make him a bag about 4 inches by 8 inches that was filled with rice. Nice compact bag and you can lay your carving on it and kind of use it like a third hand. It has a few spot with duck tape that would been a knick on the hand I imagin,
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