Carving knife protection

[Claude]

Saw something at the Northern Virginia Woodcarving Competition back in October that I thought I'd relay along: One of the carvers was using wine bottle corks to protect his carving knife blades. I had a handful of corks in my fly-tieing supplies, so I drilled a series of 1/16th inch holes close together in one end of the cork, about 1 inch deep. The holes make room in the cork for the knife blade. The carver had his knives on top of the table, but with the cork on them, they were protected from cutting someone who picked one up without looking Red Face and also protected the blade if it rolled off the table. Since I have now broken the tip off my detail knife three times (two from dropping it on the floor), I decided putting corks on the ends of my blades would be a good idea.

Claude

[MDWine]

Yep, an excellent suggestion!

I'm using clear "aquarium type" flexible tubing. I can cover the blade ends of all of my knives and gouges, and still tell which handle is which blade, since all of the flexcut handles look the same!

I think I saw your 'cork user' the last time I was there!



I hope they're there tonight, I don't want to go to Springfield just to buy something!!

[GeorgiaCarver]

Good idea, thank you for sharing.

[jamesfa]

that is a good sugestion for knife protectors,i have been using clear plasic tubing and carving small protectors from scraps of wood left over from cut-outs.

cork may be the answer for gouges also.

Frank

[Hi_Ho_Sliver]

Rick has been using the man made corks for quite awhile for knives and chisels.

[millhoused]

I bought a knife that had a pink foam blade protector. It turns out this is rigid foam insulation for house construction.
It is available at all home centers and one sheet provides a lifetime supply.
http://www.owenscorning.com/around/i...s/foamular.asp

I cut some strips on the band saw and put them in a clear plastic shoe box so I have them when I need them.