Stop cuts vs. blade length

[LMiller]

If I could see well enough to put the knife in the same place to deepen the stop cut, I'd... I'd... doh! I forgot!!!

I am very grateful I don't have to hear the knife while carving...

Use the safety equipment, keep the blades sharp, think about what you are doing, and don't forget about grain and how it lays inside the wood.

LMiller

[LMiller]

By the way, Harbor Freight sells a welding apron that will provide you with a leather apron if you are wondering where to get one. The front pouches catch more chips than I'd like, but I haven't yet been motivated enough to remove them.

[Tom-H]

Seems to me that there are at least two kindes of stop cuts. First there is a stop cut that is a straight cut. If this straight stop cut extends near or to the edge of the wood I hold the knife firmly and move the wood into the knife. With this technique there is little chance for the knife to slip off the edge of the wood and into a holding finger. The second kind of stop cut would be a curved stop cut, perhaps like the arch of an eye brow. For these I tend to hold the knife blade/tip more perpendicular to the wood, and plunge the tip into the wood to start the arch/curved stop cut, and make half the cut. I may then finish the stop cut from the other direction. And I always keep my fingers away from the direction of the cuts.

Tom H