More Practice With the Knife

OK! some more items to practice whittling.  First some mushrooms then a donut.  But just between us, donuts seem to offer more challenges than the Morel mushroom.  I will have to remind you all that I personally whittle small things.  Several reasons for this.  Well I like too, I can carry several in my pockets with my pocket knife,  I give them away to kids and kids like small things, they are fast to whittle, and very little wood is used.  And last, but not least, I'm cheap.

But all kidding aside, there are lots of whittling techniques that come into play when whittling the Morel mushroom.  The three cuts below are probably the most useful.

For a right handed whittler, grasp the wood in the left hand, place the thumb of that hand against the thumb of the right hand holding the knife.Next, pivot or lever the knife towards you, working against the right thumb.  With a little pressure from the thumb on your left hand against the thumb on the right hand, while levering the knife  to make the cut, it will provide a lot of control.

 

To whittle away from you, place the left thumb against the tang or back of the knife blade, and lever or pivot the blade into the wood to make the cut.

Avoid using the knife in this manner, unless you are making a hot dog stick, and nobody is standing near you.  There's little knife control, and this can be dangerous.

Another worthwhile cut is towards your thumb, but in most instances to a stop cut.  Using this cut without  having it stop at a stop cut; may mean that it stops at your thumb.  So thumb protection is a must.

Seems to me that whittling mushrooms does provide worthwhile practice with the knife.  It doesn't make any difference about the size of the whittled mushroom either.

And of course I'll use these little mushrooms in scenes like the gnome and the flying pig.