Thumb pain from pushing a thin knife blade

[arbarnhart]

I am moving this conversation from another thread since it is a tangent:

My left thumb is sore from pushing the thin pocket knife blade. That seems to be my most accurate cut with a knife, but I need to adapt in one way or another - either learn to do some other knife cuts with as much accuracy, use a guard (don't like this; one of the points of this exercise is to have every thing I need to carve in my pocket), toughen up the thumb, use the thicker blade more or get a different knife (I like the way the knife does everything but this, though).

This is the pocket knife I got:
Buck Knives: Buck Deuce Knife, BU-375BRW
I didn't get it there, but at a large local retail store for a penny less (hmm - a price that ends in .96, where would that be? ) I notice that one says "wood grain" and in the picture it looks fake. Mine has less prominent grain and is real wood. Makes no difference in how well it carves, but I like real wood better.

[Plain_Ol_Ed]

I kind of answered this on the other thread, but here goes again.

You'll get used to it. Keep at it. I use the push cut with the left thumb a lot. It's very safe and you have a lot of control as a bonus. Don't know how long it will take to numb up your thumb, I've been at it so long, I've forgotten.

In the interim you might try putting on a couple wraps of Johnson&Johnson Waterproof First Aid tape. If your going out, put it on before you leave and folks will just think you've cut yourself.

[Keoma]

Ok, I had this same issue. Know what works great? A thimble Not the kind your thinking, but a a leather one. I saw some on line and they were quite pricey...sooo...I cut the pinky off my husbands work gloves...fits my thumb just great! But Ed is right, you'll get over it. Now I sometimes forget to wear it. But it does help! Luck!

[Buckskin]

Keep after it, but rest often. You will develop a callous on your thumb. In the mean time a small leather guard like Keoma mentioned works great. I have two. I got them for like $3 at SMWC.

[cedarshavings]

Keoma,
Why do you choose to tear up your husband's work gloves to make your hobby easier? Now his pinky will get dirty.

[Peter Wright]

Andy,

Stone the back edges of the blade to a round profile, and use a little "Vet-Wrap" for your thumb until the skins hardens up.

You can get the Vet wrap (used for animal legs) real cheap at farm stores, vs smaller rolls from chain stores "first aid supplies" departments.

[AlArchie]

Andy, yer 'sposed to push on the dull edge!

Al

[Keoma]

youre right...my poor husbands pinky...lol...he'll never forgive me. It was pretty funny when he put them on and looked at them and then at me. He just shook his head. He's a great husband!

[Claude]

Another reason you may be getting a sore thumb is trying to cut too large of chips of the wood. The larger the chip you are trying to cut, the harder you have to press with your thumb. Try taking thinner chips of wood. If you look closely at Gene's videos, he takes thin cuts, but quite quickly.

Claude

[arbarnhart]

Originally Posted by Claude

Another reason you may be getting a sore thumb is trying to cut too large of chips of the wood. The larger the chip you are trying to cut, the harder you have to press with your thumb. Try taking thinner chips of wood. If you look closely at Gene's videos, he takes thin cuts, but quite quickly.

Claude

I think a lot of it is due to technique, but I don't know that it is chips that are too large or from doing some cuts the "wrong" way, especially cross grain slices. I am trying to learn to use the knife to do a complete carving, but have some experience as a relief carver (I hesitate to call myself accomplished in this forum, but I don't get confused about which end of the gouge to push ). Sometimes I am not sure if this experience helps or hurts because I find myself trying to get the knife to cut like I would with a chisel. I am not using a lock blade, so I am staying away from stab cuts. What I do is hold the coping blade at about 60 degrees or less and push the point in. I do use my right hand to provide a lot of the force, but I get it cleaner and more accurate with the adddition of the thumb push. Across the grain, this does require a fair amount of force. If I need to cut a straight line, I try to first make a shallow cut with pretty much the whole blade. Again, cross grain this requires some "umph".

A picture of the knife is below for clarity. I am primarily using the small coping blade.