[Grimnir]

Well, here I am after just finishing sharpening my tiny little selection of tools. Even managed to find the jewellers rouge (which wasn't red) and put a lovely polish on my bevels. And then I thought, what to do with them?

What would your recommendation be for a first project - preferably something I can find online right now and that I can do with this motley crew


Left to right, that's a Frosts carver with some handle reprofiling, a forged blade stuck in a Hazel handle which changes quite rapidly, I haven't found the shape I'm comfy with yet.
The we have the little chisels straight, straight with curved neck, skew, gouge and gouge with curved neck. Both the gouges are a bit rounded. And barring a Lottery win, that is what I'll have to learn on!
Rafe

[Claude]

Look in the tutorials section; there are a lot of beginner carvings with step-by-step directions. You can also go to YouTube online and search for whittler0507 - Gene has numerous videos online to help the newcomer.

Claude

[BobD]

You're off to a good start with those, Rafe. The only other thing I would suggest is a carving glove of some sort. Most first projects tend to be small, and hand-held...and nothing dampens a novice's enthusiasm more than a trip to the Emergency Room for stitches. There are several available (and I understand what you are saying about money being in short supply) but even a heavy leather glove is better than nothing. Another way to look at it is...well...a carving glove is also less than most hospital co-pays!

Bob

[Grimnir]

I have looked at a UK company that did filleting gloves, will try and get one of them. I know what you mean about needing it though, I only just healed up from a slice on my thumb through a moment of innattention while putting the finishing touch to a draw knifes edge.

[Hi_Ho_Sliver]

Good place to start is make some wooden sheaths for those tools so the edges don't get dinged and your fingers don't get dinged either lol

[Grimnir]

Leather sheaths I can make but how do you make wooden sheaths?

[Robert Cahill]

I cut 3/4" wood down the center mark the blade on one side and carve out enough for it to fit. drill a hole to put a small magnet in the other side even with the wood (to stop blade from falling out when not in use) glue the two pieces together and carve . WCI had an issue showing this but I forget which one Hopefully a picture of a couple downloaded

[Gulf Coast Handyman]

Rafe,
Here is some very usefull info., also a excellent tool supplier when you are ready to add to your collection.

For Beginning Carvers from Little Shavers

Carving Project progress from Little Shavers

Dave

[rick-in-seattle]

Rafe,
Your first project should be removing the concave grind on the knife.
It should be flat or slightly convex for woodcarving.

[susieq]

Hi Rafe,
your tools look like they might be a little set of Warren tools? If they are, they are good tools. Not expensive but hold an edge well and carve well.

I learned a trick from my old carving teacher for making covers for the tips of the gouges. He took regular masking tape. Wrapped the tape around the tip with the sticky side of the tape facing out, not in on the metal. He lapped it to itself and cut it off the roll. Then, sticky side up, go front to back over the top of the tip to the other side. Now that you have the metal tip covered, go back over this with the tape sticky side down against the sticky side of the first wrapps. Make a couple more wraps sticky side down and you have a form fitting cover for your tip. It's cheap and they last a surprisingly long time. You can also write on them which tool they belong to.

I hope I explained that well. I keep the longer or larger gouges covered this way even in a roll pack just in case the tips on the opposite side of the roll should touch each other.