Young Carvers

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Originally Posted by vickim

By the end of the year, I would like to use real pocket knives and make fuzz sticks. Maybe next year we can do something more elaborate.

I've searched the web for pictures on how to hold knives for carving purposes, but I have only learned to carve turkeys. :^P I was hoping this site could point to resources on how to marshall the kids through this experience.

Any help out there?
Vicki

Glad to hear about your enthusiasm for teaching the girls something about carving! As part of the Boy Scouts we have a lot of fun carving fuzz sticks which is part of the Totin' Chip requirements and I've used them all my life for starting fires. Making a good one does take some practice though.

As for the basics on teaching how to hold a carving knife I would have to reccomend the boy scout woodcarving merit badge booklet which can be bought for just a few dollars at any local scout supplier. My students also use a great worksheet based on this merit badge booklet to earn their badge which can be downloaded for free at: http://www.meritbadge.com/ Just look for the Merit Badge Worksheets link on the left column. I am teaching a woodcarving class exclusively this session in our school woodshop program to about 60 kids, five at a time, and three classes each for the next 5 weeks.

I put together a workable class outline using this merit badge booklet which I posted as a word document to this thread somewhere if you're interested in taking a look. Lots of good basic beginner information about woodcarving with kids in this booklet, sorta like the Reader's Digest version.

Before ever touching the project wood I spend at least the first half of the first class going over the basics as outlined in the above mentioned document which includes the basic cuts used in woodcarving, how to hold and manipulate the blade safely to produce the desired results, plus a clamped down piece of practice wood where each student can test their new found skills as I move around to provide personal advice to each student.

The three main cuts that I teach to beginner carvers are the (1) Pull "paring" cut, (2) Push cut, and the (3) stop cut. The main thing that I stress is learning how to use "control" cuts when using any of the above. To do this it is important to show kids first how to brace their wood using clamps, a bench hook, or some kind of back stop along with
some creative body posturing.

To better understand I show the kids how to always have both hands connected when making the cut. When using the push cut I usually connect both my thumbs and push the blade with my "non-carving" thumb. I usually connect my two index fingers when using the pull cut. I also usually connect my two thumbs for the stop cut. Since I don't have illustrations to post I did find the following link which explains fairly well with some illustrations on how to hold the knife for various cuts.
http://www.thesculpturestudio.com/how_to_carve.htm
See the push cut illustration and notice how his hands are "connected" althouh he is pushing the actual blade with his non-carving thumb. I'd consider making fuzz sticks as a form of "whittling" which is done with less control, but when carving a project a kid must learn to use control cuts.

Hope that this helped somewhat and you're not more confused. When I can find the time I'd like to get a thread started with some good simple carving projects for kids.