am I holding my knife wrong

[laine]

I've been been carving for a couple of years now, mostly cottonwood bark, but I have recently joined a carving group, we meet every Monday afternoon to carve,chat tea etc
this group( and of course this group here) has helped me tremendously to branch out from cottonwood bark and I am now finding that when I carve (mostly basswood) that my index finger between the base and the first joint is almost blister like,
well between these two groups I find it very difficult to put the knife away
I grip the knife like , more like a grab but don't use the top of my finger to push or pull through the wood, my index finger is wrapped under the knife-I hope I explained it well

is there a right or wrong way to hold a knife
can a knife be too large or too small
and when holding the knife how far should the handle extend past the hand or is this all just personal comfort


eLaine

[Claude]

Hi, eLaine.

Could be any number of reasons: knife handle shape or thickness, finish on the knife (too rough may rub the skin), perhaps even the sharpness of the knife causing you to push (or pull) too hard. If you can, have someone take a few photos of how you hold the knife for a push cut, pull cut, stop cut, etc., and post the photos.

Claude

[aulddiy]

Claude as usual is right on the ball. However in the mean time tape the finger once the blisters have gone.. If I carve for long periods say 3 hrs plus I get the odd blister.Am I holding my knife wrongly, no. Its comfortable for me to hold it. The only time this does n't apply is when I chip carve, well not yet.
rgds
John

[Gulf Coast Handyman]

A friend of mine wears a leather glove on the hand he holds his knife with, might help.

Dave

[Mitchell]

I sometimes have this happen. I will wear tape in that area if I feel it starting to hurt; or change my grip/carving motion.

[Dull Knife]

Originally Posted by laine

I've been been carving for a couple of years now, mostly cottonwood bark, but I have recently joined a carving group, we meet every Monday afternoon to carve,chat tea etc
this group( and of course this group here) has helped me tremendously to branch out from cottonwood bark and I am now finding that when I carve (mostly basswood) that my index finger between the base and the first joint is almost blister like,
well between these two groups I find it very difficult to put the knife away
I grip the knife like , more like a grab but don't use the top of my finger to push or pull through the wood, my index finger is wrapped under the knife-I hope I explained it well

is there a right or wrong way to hold a knife
can a knife be too large or too small
and when holding the knife how far should the handle extend past the hand or is this all just personal comfort


eLaine

All four fingers on my right hand are holding my knives when I'm carving. I use my thumb to push the knife thru the wood. And when I'm pulling the knife toward my thumb, I wear a leather protector.

[jmischel]

I had a similar problem when I first started carving with my pocket knife because very often I had my index finger (between the base and the first knuckle) pressing against the back of the blade. After a week or so of this (and I was carving a lot!), my finger went numb. I had to stop carving for two weeks, just to get feeling back in my finger.

Since then, I've found that when I start choking up on the blade like that, I'm using a too-long blade. I like the control that being close to the blade tip gives me, so I now have several different knives that I use, depending on the size of the carving. I no longer use my 2" Denny (I love that knife) when carving my little dogs, for example. I still find myself choking up on the blade sometimes, and am beginning to form a callous where the kinfe blade presses against my finger.

I like the suggestion of wrapping some tape around the part of the finger where the knife presses. I'll have to try that.

As far as holding the knife "wrong", I wouldn't presume to say. As long as you're not grabbing the sharp edge or pointy end, there really isn't a "wrong" way to hold the knife. Whatever works for you. And as for how much of the handle should protrude from your fist: again, it's a matter of preference. If it feels good, do it!

[Terry Vance]

I used to get a very heavy callous on my index finger. I think it was because of the thinness of the blade and it was right in the joint. I started carving with a large handled knife (actually a utility knife also referred to as "Old Reliable") and no more callouses. Plus my hand does not get stiff and sore like it used to.

Hope you figure out what is causing it and a way to fix it. You can always wrap the finger with carvers tape.

[Claude]

Originally Posted by jmischel

...
I like the suggestion of wrapping some tape around the part of the finger where the knife presses. I'll have to try that.
...

An alternative would be wrap tape around the blade at it's base - thus "shortening" blade...

Claude

[laine]

here's a photo of the way I hold my knife

it is comfortable for me to hold the knife this way
I always wear the thumb guard, but do not like to wear the glove - I find it too hot and cumbersome
I've wrapped the finger with carvers tape until it heals-dang sore right now-it that a good excuse not to cook

jmischel mentioned that too-long of a blade ??

Terry - there may be something with the handle going on as well, I'll try a flatter handle, something not a bulky

all these suggestions are very helpful - I'm going to try them all to see which works the best

in looking at the photos, maybe the blade is too long or too thin , as it looks like I'm up on the blade

eLaine