[Hi_Ho_Sliver]

Originally Posted by Irish

You can type with your shoes on You are a Rennainse Man .... !

Susan

(OK ... I surrender to the spelling police ... See Officer it wasn't my fault ...Renaissance???? )

Officer! When you bust her for renaissance, write her up on usually and absolutely too!

[whitecree]

Originally Posted by BobD

That brings up a good point, White Cree...if you are carving softer woods (cedar, pine, basswood, etc.) a knife can do most of the same things. But when you get into harder woods, maple, beech, oak, elm, sycamore, etc....knives loose their effectiveness!

Bob

Point taken, and perhaps I should have thought a little earlier that many, if not most, European woodcarvers use hardwoods.

I'll shutup now (I hear the cheering already) but this was all worth it just to get a few off-topic quips and silliness from some folk, eh?

[decoycarve]

Originally Posted by AlArchie

OK, Susan, now I have to ask.....What does she use in lieu of stopcuts to define edges? Here's another technique perhaps I can pick up!

Al

Al,
If its the carver that I suspect it is, a v-tool cut is done first and you carve to the bottom of the v-tool cut. If you dont want the angle left by the v-tool go back in with a second cut after the wood is relieved.
Sue,
You had the conversation, I carved with her face to face, I have not taken another class or seminar with anyone since. Shes good at what she does, she just shouldn't be teaching. 50% of the class dropped out after the second day. I stayed to the end out of respect.
Goody

[Kenny_S]

Ok, I'll jump in here and say, different strokes for different folks. Like everything else, it is a personal preference in what to use. Kinves have their place in Carving as well as gouges, chisles and Mallots. Like Pyrographers have their place, Fret work, Intarsa. But not all agrees.
The English have a different style, Personally, I am not much of a fan of the Englishr style as they don't like American's style of carving. That does not make one right or wrong. I am glad they have their style and we ours.
I carve the way I carve because I like it. I can take a pocket knife just about anywhere and a piece of wood. One tool and a piece of wood, I really don't thing there are many you can take one Gouge or chisle and a piece of wood and do the same. Then again, Just my humble opinion.

Long live the knife!

[Canopener]

I have been watching this post with interest because Chris has made similar comments before. I think there was a similar thread about a year ago, and other people, from both continents, hold like opinions including painting or not painting and subject matter like santa's and cowboys; which is perfectly fine with me.
I have always liked Ian Norbury's comment to "carve what you know".
Whitecree; I think you should stick with your gut reaction. You got a whiff of some swamp gas from across the Pond and some people would lead you to believe your smelling orange blossoms.
First of all; it should be obvious that more tools lead to a wider variety of work. I certainly have a bunch of chisels, gouges etc.; but I could not say it has made me a better carver or artist, just more stuff that I like to have to make the work go faster. But the knives seem special.
Second; how can some one else presume to know where I am going, or that I want to follow them.
To put a point on all of this; I will offer that I am a big fan of the Trygg style of carving, as well as Janel and the other nordic style, flat plane carvers. I have a couple Trygg carvings, and when I can lay my Frost Sloyd knife into one of his cuts, and see just exactly how he made that cut 30 or 40 years ago; well , it rings my chime like no other carving. Period! It is simple, direct, rustic but animated carving at it's best. All done with just a knife, at least mostly.
And that my friends; is my opinion, for whatever it is worth.
Jim