Beginner kit advice.

[Jon D]

Interested in starting to whittle a few bits, what would be the basic kit to do this, kinda baffled with the various different knives available. Thanks in advance.

[MadZ]

Hi Jon

i would say it depends on what you want to make really, a good starting point in my eyes would be the mora 120http://www.moraofsweden.se/craft/wood-carving-120 and a mora 106 http://www.moraofsweden.se/craft/wood-carving-106 the 106 being the larger blade, these come sharp out the pack, a scandi grind that holds an edge really well, they are laminated steel, you can get these so sharp you can shave your face with them cleanly.

and for spoons etc look at there hook knifes, all the blades mentioned you can pick up for around £15 to £25 delivered, amazon is a pretty good place to source them from, i cant fault mine to be fair.

one thing i would recommend is some carving tape to protect your fingers and thumb tips as you will be using this part of the thumb alot for push cuts, also look into a Kevlar glove for the hand your holding your work in, i berried my 120 into the palm of my left hand about a 3rd of the blade went in and it left a nasty cut and this was with minimal force, so i cant stress enough how important some protection is, maybe even think about a thick leather pad to go over your leg as well.

check some youtube videos on cut techniques the pull, push and stop cuts are going to be the main three cuts your going to use as a beginner to be fair, combining these three types of cut you can do so much too, then you start getting into the V stop cuts and other various types of cut but that said the first three will be the main ones to get dialed.

you could also check out flex cut carving knifes, a different style to the mora completely, you could make your knifes your self though to give yourself a unique blade thats handle to how you want it and to what feels comfortable to you, this can play another big factor in weather or not you actually enjoy carving with your knifes, i have used some knifes for carving that other people hate to the extreme, currently cant find my little carving knife i made, when i do i put a pic up for you i mad it from a cone nut spanner from my bike tools that i no longer use a park tools one to be exact.

hope this has given you some light and a bit of direction to where you want to get mate.

cheers

Madz

edit PS you can also check out youtube on how to make your own carving knife that can be done pretty much in the kitchen from old saw blades, spanners even drill bits and paint scrappers.

[MadZ]

heres a little video from a guy recycling a reciprocating saw blade, i have tried this with an old jigsaw blade and am currently making a hook knife or spoon knife,
also you will see people calling hook or spoon knifes crook knifes this terminology is incorrect a crook knife gets its name from the blade being handled of set hence the name crooked or crook normally a straight blade bent slightly and mounted into a handle offset or crooked these were used in a palm up fashion in a pull cut style fashion like a one handed draw knife, again a very interesting you tube video about the difference between a crook/hook and spoon knife

sorry to rant on hope it helps you some

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_vzF5cCeck&list=LLUnypOU-Idg0jN_3lkhgD0Q

heres a link to the video about hook/spoon knifes and a crooked knife http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0qpVW5r15M

just waiting on some pics to upload shouldn't be long

[MadZ]

here is a picture of what i consider my basic straight blade kit, with some other bits in the making a spanner blank, hook knife (wip), mora's 120/106, a drill bit blade in the rectangle oak handle(fine detail work), box wood handle chip carving knife (home made from a spanner blank) strops again home made with different grades of leather, a chunk of flex cut stropping compound, i strop my blades every 20 minutes normally, but on harder woods 10-15, i feel the less stone work i have to do the better and can normally strop the blades sharp again about 5 times or so before they need stone work, and an example of some carving nothing special as its still in the roughing out stage, A dragon carving for the misses birthday.

99549955995699579958

i know i said about protection and there is none in any of the pics, but when informing people about carving i always include the protection part as you never know what the persons knife handling skills are like and i find it always a good idea.

[MadZ]

the roughed out dragon
995999609961

its not great but you can see what it is ment to be, its about 16 hours on the head so far and 6 ish on the body in the pics in the post above, probably another 20-30 hours left to finish it off, most of it was done with the smaller 120 knife, getting there as i only took up carving about 5 months ago

Madz

[butchthedog]

Enjoyed reading that MadZ, some very useful information and advice. Thank's for taking the time to post that up.

[Tony1948]

the roughed out dragon
995999609961

its not great but you can see what it is ment to be, its about 16 hours on the head so far and 6 ish on the body in the pics in the post above, probably another 20-30 hours left to finish it off, most of it was done with the smaller 120 knife, getting there as i only took up carving about 5 months ago

Madz
Nice one BudT^

[MadZ]

no worries glad you found it of some interest and use, may i add about getting wood for free, i use this method alot as wood is/can be expensive, keep an eye out for, when the council cut down trees etc they normal send a team of cutters out followed by a team with a chipper grab this wood before the chipper gets it.

also some nice woods to start with would be:

beach, quite hard takes detail quiet well, hence the dragon
box wood, very hard lovely wood can look like bone/ivory in some cases, can be hard to work with though
walnut, soft wood lovely to work with smells great to.
oak, real hard, hard to work.

if you want any other info on wood and what it works like feel free to ask if i have slice-n-diced any of it i'll give you my best description of how and what its like

[MadZ]

Nice one BudT^
cheers Tony, coming from a man with such crafting skills it means alot

Madz

[David_JAFO]

hello,
DITTO :wink:
Regards
David


cheers Tony, coming from a man with such crafting skills it means alot

Madz

[Islandlady]

the roughed out dragon
995999609961

its not great but you can see what it is ment to be, its about 16 hours on the head so far and 6 ish on the body in the pics in the post above, probably another 20-30 hours left to finish it off, most of it was done with the smaller 120 knife, getting there as i only took up carving about 5 months ago

Madz

Wow! Thats exactly the sort of thing I want to make for 'bird blocks' on my native american flutes - but am a complete beginner! And I would be very happy with the 'rough' version as you call it- if ever I managed to produce something like that! How do you start? Do you pencil your basic design on first? And then what tool/knife do you use to begin carving the shape?

[Islandlady]

oops just read what tools - sorry!

[MadZ]

Sorry I'm on my phone and not at home atm soon as I am back ill try to get you more info possibly a video to try and explain the methods I use in greater detail for you. Probably be about 8 ish

[MadZ]

here is a little video of some very basic carving techniques to help you out a bit, though you say you have done sculpting and other crafts so these should come quiet quick, not my video sorry my camera has decided its gone mute on me and does not record sound atm, but this is basically what i wanted to explain

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wu50jnWmYvE

how i started was just taking a piece of wood and cutting it with the methods from the video, seeing how the wood cuts all wood is different in some way or another, so practice these methods and then you can kind of see what the wood wants to do when you cut it, time and patience is key, when you start to rush or get over confident thats when your more than likely going to hurt your self or your tools, knowing the limits of your tools is something that comes over time from using them

I dont tend to draw patterns or designs on to the wood unless carving letters, i think in total i have drawn 8 lines onto the dragon and that was the lines for the body shape as it ripples so to speak down the body, i find when i draw a design or pattern i limit myself to that pattern, if you do draw on your pattern or design use it as a guide to basic shapes not the finish result, this will allow for some flexibility with your work, again time and patience is key

hope this answers your questions abit more, as for tools those listed are what i use, as in the video you can see his knifes are completely different to mine, i would have more knifes if the bank balance would allow it but i work with what i have, this also gives a good sense of satisfaction due to having to improvise by holding the blade rather than the handle for small intricate detail work (dangerous none the least), but with time you get to know your knife and how it will perform holding it in different ways, as your knife skill increases so does the carving, i find carving to be much more than just cutting wood and if you look at it, it gets very technical and rather interesting.

anything you need just give me a shout, if i can help i will if not i'll try point you in the right direction.

cheers

Madz

happy wood butchering T^