knife questions

[anderson2690]

Hi! I'm new to this forum and I really want to start carving for my woods class at school. I have a few questions though. I have been looking into tools and some are pretty expensive so I was wondering if its possible to do a pretty decent job with only one tool, or do I need things like gouges and other stuff? I thinking of getting like a denny, woudl that be fine for a first tool?

thanks

[AlArchie]

There has been some question about your authenticity because of your _______ nom du plume, but if you are legit, Denny knives are a decent choice. As are Flexcut for beginners. These two brands seem to fall in the under 20 buck range for the most part.

Do an internet search on "woodcarving knives", Denny knives or flexcut and you will come up with several suppliers who handle them. And there will also be several other brands on those sites. most all of them will be a fair place to start. But check with each site and see if the blades come fully sharpened.

But to answer your question right up front; Yes Denny knives should be fine to start with.

Al

[Mitchell]

A knife will work fine.

[Hi_Ho_Sliver]

Denny knives are good, as are flexcut, as are Helvies and a miriade of others, you need to go to a carving show and see what the vendors have, pick them up see what feels right to you......all this naturally after you have carved a few things......and you really can't beat Ricks beginners set at little shavers imho

[mikeg]

I do most of my carving with my Kershaw Double Cross pocket knife. I also like the Murphy knife I got from Littleshavers.com for about $13.

mikeg

[Dennis Taylor]

I have used the murphy knife from llittleshavers for about a year, and just purchased a Lyons at a local show, both are great knives, the murphy is sharp, when you get it...the Lyons is SUPER, it cuts so nicely.....try the starter set from www.littleshavers.com it has served me well, and continues to do so, can't go wrong...Dennis

[Plain_Ol_Ed]

Let me chime in and say that the starter kit for littleshavers is probably the way to go. For not much more than the price of just a knife, you get all the extra goodies. If Rick isn't losing money on the deal, he's certainly not doing more than breaking even.

[anderson2690]

Thanks for the advice guys! I think though I wil stick to one knife for now, though I'm not sure which one to get yet. One more question what are the chances of getting cut, and getting cut bad even if you are concentrating rather hard?

[millhoused]

It is STRONGLY recommended that you wear a carving glove on your non-carving hand (the hand that does not hold the knife) and a cover the thumb of your carving hand (I use a rubber finger tip from the office supply store).

This will save you from possible serious injury. If you contact a supplier they will help you get what you need. the glove is < $10 and the thumb tip < $2.

Just my 2 cents.

[AlArchie]

Yup, you're gonna get cut! For 8 or ten bucks you can pick up a carving glove (or fish filleting glove) at the sporting goods store. Wear that on the hand you'll hold your carving with. For the thumb on the knife hand get a thumb gaurd, wrap your thumb in adhesive or duct tape or cut the thumb off a leather glove and wear that.

These will minimize the cuts you will get. Most will be just nicks anyway, but those safety measures pay off.

If you have a woods class, you may have a carving instructor that will teach the basic cuts to use in carving. Mainly there are only three; the push cut, the paring cut, and the stop cut.

Push Cut. Holding the knife with the sharp edge away from you, use your other thumb to push on the back of the blade.

Paring Cut. Hold the knife with the sharp edge TOWARD you, gripped in the bends of your four fingers. Cut toward you by closing your fist and levering with your thumb. Just keep the thumb below the blade's swing. Remember, you are just pulling with your figers as you close your fist, not with your arm at all.

Stop Cut. This is a very shallow cut made straight into your wood at a line where you want either a paring or push cut to stop. Use a paring cut from about 1/4" back from the stop cut and draw the blade toward the stop cut, just aking a small slice. You'll hear and feel a "click" when the blade hits the stopcut. You can repeat the shallw stop cut to get a deeper paring or push cut. Same for a push cut up to a stop cut.

Remember, small shallow cuts into the wood, will get you more accomplished than trying to take large shavings off the wood. Large shavings will also get YOU cut!

L.S. Irish, a contributor to this site has a set of beginners tutorials posted for free at this URL.
check it out before you go whittlin' away!
http://www.carvingpatterns.com/#PRIMER%20TO%20CARVING

Rick Ferry (Little Shavers Supply) also has a great tutorial for beginners on line.

http://www.littleshavers.com/ToolUse.html

http://www.littleshavers.com/BeginnerDirectory.html

Al