wood carving kit

First attempt at wood carving

/ Re-Farmer / 2 Comments

I just couldn’t wait to try out the new carving knives! I ended up using only two of them, though.

After looking at the bits and pieces in the basement, I chose a small piece of lilac to practice on.

It is resting on the leather breastplate my husband made for me.

I was not about to use the carving blades on that bark, though…

I used my K-Bar instead. The wood was surprisingly green, for something that was cleaned up from storm damage some 8 months ago!

I didn’t think to get a picture of the safety glove. There is a pair of them, and they can be worn on either hand. It fit remarkably well, considering I have big, wide man-hands.

Hhhmmm… that may be why it fit well… :-D

It was also very comfortable to wear. I thought it might be really coarse and scratchy, but not at all. It felt like a normal glove.

These are the two carving knives I used. I can’t remember what either of them are called right now.

I started by practicing push and pull cuts to flatten a piece at each end…

…though only one end showed the colours inside; the stick was slightly thicker at the other end.

Then I practiced different methods of making V cuts.

Detail work is going to need a lot more practice. ;-)

After that, I worked on the spiral around the piece, using that to practice different ways of cutting and switching up between the two blades.

I’m rather happy with how it turned out, considering I’ve never carved before. The lilac would was nice to carve with. The blades themselves…

I can see myself wanting to pick up higher quality ones in the future, if I find myself carving more often. While not the cheapest set I saw, it was hardly the highest end, either. I found myself sharpening them almost from the start. The edge held fairly well after I did, so it seems they didn’t arrive as sharp as they could have. Still, they did the job quite well for the learning process it is.

Next time, I’ll find something different to use that curved blade on. :-D

Altogether, I’m glad I picked this up!

The Re-Farmer

They arrived!

/ Re-Farmer / 1 Comment

My new “toys” came in today – I wasn’t expecting them until next week!

I got myself a beginners wood carving set. :-) With all the interesting woods we’ve been pruning and clearing away, there are all sorts of things I’d rather be doing with them, rather than burning them or having them chipped.

I have no plans to carve figurines or anything like that; that’s just not my thing. But to carve small, useful things, like spoons, spreaders, tiny bowls and the like is right up my alley!

This kit includes safety gloves, three carving knives, including a curved knife for cutting bowls, a leather strop and polishing compound to use on it, and sand paper in a range of grits. Plus, a spoon blank to practice on!

I actually plan to use a piece of scrap wood to practice cuts on, before I start on the spoon blank.

Of course, I’ve been looking up how to use these, and noticed I would need a couple other things. One was a breastplate, so I can safely brace the wood against my chest as I work. My darling husband has already filled that need. He had some heavy leather scraps and glued a couple of pieces together to make an even thicker piece, and cut a couple of holes in the top corners. All I need now is some sturdy cord to put through the holes so I can hang it around my neck. So I now have a very strong, purple breastplate to use! The other thing is something I will need for when I want to carve bowls, and that’s a particular type of chisel to cut away waste wood. The curved blade in the kit is sufficient to carve spoon bowls, and while I will likely be keeping things small – at least for the first while – I will still want to go bigger than a spoon! Plus, I think I have some pieces that might make great cups, and for that, I definitely will want something more appropriate to chisel away the waste wood.

I am really looking forward to testing these out!

The Re-Farmer