[Mottles]

Hi Cindy, no advice except don't for get to visit the Pyrography and Woodburning forum lots of good info there too.
Oh and welcome, welcome.
Kathy

[wchips]

Welcome to the fourim dreamer, I an new to this fourim too , new to carving too. Seems lile a good bunch of people on this fourem.
Good luck and have a nice day Lee

[MelNM]

Hi Cindy, looks like your well on your way to becoming a tool junky. Welcome and enjoy carving.
Mel

[Nancy_G]

Hi Cindy -- Welcome aboard

[Just Carving]

Hi Cindy,

Welcome to the forum. You'll learn a lot of things here. Speaking of which--what kind of knife did you buy at Michael's? I bought a knife a long time ago at A.C. Moore--one of Michael's competitors. I didn't bother much with it since it too wasn't worth a hill of beans for carving. So I thought. It turned out after I learned a bit more about carving that the knife I bought was a good one--a Dastra--and all it needed was a bit of sharpening and honing.

More often than not, tools are just not that sharp when we buy them unless you buy from a reputable dealer or someone who has a real interest in carving and making a carver happy. The old "we don't sharpen them because everyone carves a different wood or carves in a different manner" usually pops up when this subject comes up. The manufacturers are cutting corners by eliminating what is probably the simplest and easiest part of making a knife--honing. It's sort of like buying a car that was given a beautiful paint job but nobody bothered to buff it out or polish it.

You can buy all the tools you want, but unless you learn to sharpen and hone them, you'll continue to buy tools and end up have a lot of dull tools sitting in a box or a drawer somewhere. So, two suggestions I will offer to someone new at carving.

First, buy a safety glove--kevlar gloves are good--I use one on each hand. Some people use one on the hand they hold the wood they're carving. I prefer one on each hand because sooner or later my bare hand will get cut while I'm carving.

Second, learn to sharpen. It's not hard. It's more intimidating than anything else. Most are afraid they'll ruin their brand new tools. So, take an old kitchen knife that's not serrated and doesn't get used any more--and practice sharpening it. You can pick up sharpening from a good book, a dvd, or just about anywhere--even on this forum. (Search on "sharpening" or "honing" and look out--it's been covered a "few" times!)

Okay, I'll leave ya alone now--don't wanna scare you off!

Good luck and most importantly, have fun!

P.S. I didn't see that you talked to Rick at Little Shavers. Best move you could make. He'll have you making chips in a heartbeat!