Hello! Newbie from dfw Texas.

[runningwolf]

Hello!

My name is Lynn and I am in Fort Worth Texas. I'm just picking up carving for real this time. I toyed with it a bit as a kid/teenager, but I never learned to sharpen a knife. I've still got a basswood blank of a duck and a black walnut bear and a maple deer stuck in a shoe box with the most unimaginably dull x-acto knife ever beside them. The person who taught me a little apparently told my mother to buy me new blades for my knife, but she never did. It wasn't until I was in my early 20's that I found out WHY carving was so impossible! He was amazed I'd managed to hack off that much of the black walnut as I had with my butter knife of a blade!
My girlfriend picked me up two knives this past weekend, but I actually took an x-acto (with a sharp blade) out to the porch to do a wooden Santa pencil from the magazine as my first piece. Honestly, I was a bit intimidated to start any bigger! This weekend, I'm really going to start. I will probably with a Santa since that's what I grew up seeing all the time carved in wood. She also insisted on a Kevlar carving glove and a thumb guard.
I've been lurking here for a few days, and have read everything I can get my hands on at the moment. I have one nice Basswood blank and a small package of basswood in small pieces from a craft store. I'm going to start on the smaller piece and see what I can do. I think, if the weather behaves itself, I'd like to go look for some small branches and twigs. I am a jewelry designer and rosary maker, so I have some ideas of things I *really* want to try from a jewelry standpoint. I also need to haul out my leather working gear and put together knife sheaths and a tool roll for my knives and eventual gouges. I bought a package of some super cheap ($5 for like 10 of them) wood gouges from a big box craft store just to see what they do so I can decide what I really want beyond good knives.
Anyways. I figured I would say hello!

Any advice is very welcome!

~Lynn

[Gulf Coast Handyman]

Welcome to the forum.

Dave

[Old Codger]

Welcome to the WCI Forum Lynn! You sound like you've definitely been bitten by the carving bug...fun isn't it? Ha! Your girlfriend is absolutely right in insisting upon the proper safety equipment, certainly will lesson the chance visit to the ER! As far as the gouge set from the local big box store...hope you're not disappointed in them or turned off from wood carving due to them... Many carvers here use an inexpensive fix-bladed utility knife to carve some pretty impressive carvings, but many of us also use some of the more expensive carving knives (i.e.; Flexcut, Drake, Hock, Butz, Denny) or make our own knives using inexpensive Warren blades... A good sharp knive if imperative to carve...makes things soooo much easier and pleasureable...just my two cents worth...in the meantime, safe carving to you and be sure and post a few photos of your carvings and share them with us... Again, welcome aboard!
Kenn

[bigEd_H]

Hi Lynn, welcome to the forum. Woodcarving is addictive and once you get a few wood chips in your blood (not blood on the wood!) you can never get rid of the urge to pick up a sharp knife and a hunk of wood and whittle something out of it. There are several threads about sharpening your tools, so do a search and you will find loads of info.

X-acto knives are good for soft wood, but for hardwood you'll want something more substantial. A Stanley #199 Classic fixed blade utility knife will do wonders and the blades are inexpensive. Another Lynn (Lynn Doughty) here calls his Ol' Reliable and he does some amazing western caricatures with it.

Again, welcome and enjoy your stay.

[Josef]

G'day Lynn, welcome to the forum. It sounds as though you are definitely on the right road to begin carving. Have fun, Joe.

[Bill V]

Welcome to the forum

[runningwolf]

Hi Dave! Thank you!

Hi Kenn! Yeah, it's wonderful! I have been having a ton of fun this week! ER is off the agenda! If the gouges are terrible, I'll find another use for them. I figure if nothing else, I'll learn the basics of sharpening on them before I try my hand at sharpening something good! I have the flex cut whittler's kit with the two knives for a starting point. I figured I'd get my feet wet with good knives this time! I'll check out those other knives though!

Hi Ed! My next stop is to read about sharpening. I'll check out that Stanley! Thank you for the suggestion!

Hi Joe! Thank you!

Hi Bill! Hope you are enjoying this cooler weather!

[Riverman]

Hi Lynn, welcome to the group!
Bob

[Ron T]

Hello and welcome, Lynn. It's nice to have you here with us.