Protecting Your Wood Carving Knife Edges

Whoops!

We've all done it. Used a carving knife to slice the lid of the Donut box open, gotten up to answer the phone with a chisel on our knee only to have it drop onto the floor and ruin the edge. (and then to make it worse, it was only a telemarketer!) Things like these happen to all of us and then we wonder why our tools keep getting dull. If we can learn to prevent these things from happening the life span of our tools will increase dramatically.

Things that can damage your edges

Sandpaper. Sandpaper is probably the worst on any edge. It contains the same Aluminum Oxide or Silicon carbde particles that help create the edge of your knife in the first place. When you carve a piece that will eventually need to be sanded, carve it as close to finished as you can without using sand paper. After you start sanding your carving, you really cannot go back to carving again. When you sand, you are leaving these sandpaper abrasive particles in and on your carving which, when you use your knife to touch up an area that has been sanded will abrade against the edge, thus dulling it.

Other tools. These tools most often have gone through an extensive Heat treating process to get them hard. When they bang against each other they will get dull.

Misuse of your tools. I've done this myself. I've gotten to the point where I can start sanding my carving and used my carving knife to... yes, slice up the sandpaper into smaller pieces. Don't do it. Have a junk knife to do this.

The table or bench. Tools roll off or get pushed off the table and onto the floor. (that darn cat!)

Put your knives on a tray with rubber drawer liner glued to the bottom to keep your tray from sliding. I purchased my lining at Home Depot for $2.50 a 6 ft. roll.

Don't ...

Store your knives and chisels together in the same compartment. You should have a compartment for each individual tool. When you store these tools in the same compartment the hard steel of these tools bang together as you are walking to the car after the carving club meeting and get dull.

Store sandpaper with your knives, put your sandpaper in a seperate container. Those particles fall out into your bag or box and abrade your tools.

Do...

Have a junk knife in your bag. Use this knife to slice up your sandpaper, cut open the super glue or scape the paint from your fingernails.

Put your tools back on or in places that prevent them from rolling off the table or into each other.

Keep a sheath on your tools. If you do this, you can store your tools together.

Sheaths- I've seen a lot of solutions.

You can use wine corks for your chisels and knives.

Woodcarving Illustrated has had projects to carve your own sheaths in the shape of thumbs, ducks etc.

Styrofoam- Just cut a block longer than your blade and stick it in.

FoamCore- Go to your local picture framer and ask for some foamcore cut offs. It is a styrene sheet with paper on both sides. It even comes in colors. You then can cut it to fit your tools.

Leather - glue up a piece of leather to wrap around your blade.

Phone books - I saw a lady at a show that rolled up a phonebook and taped it together to stick her knive blades into the end between the pages.

We all took the time to learn how to get a razors edge on our tools, now let's protect them!

View this and more articles on wood carving knives at www.DeepwoodsVentures.com

Woodcarving Knife - Why and Which One?

Carving wood can result in numerous sculptures and useful items. The end-result of carving woods will be soothing for the eye of the beholder. For this beautiful creation, the wood carving knife plays a vital role. Woodcarving knives are an extremely pertinent one of them. The use of these wood carving knives are as tools to round, smooth and trim woods while carving woods for creating an item.

The knives for carving woods will consist of two main parts - handle and the blade. The handle of a woodcarving knife will be long. This is to ensure a strong grip while working. Secondly, the blade of the knife will be unusually thin. The thin blade is necessary for a good control over the blade that is crucial for some exceptionally sophisticated works on woods.

Depending on the tasks of the carver, the types of wood carving knives will vary. In most of the cases, there are three types of wood carving knives. These are "Detail", "Carving" and "Roughing". These knives have varying length of both handles and the blades. Roughing knives have both the longest handle and the longest blade among the three. "Detail" knives have slightly shorter blade length that the "Carving" type. The tasks of each of these three knives also vary. "Roughing" knives take care of the bulk of the woods quickly. As a result, the blade of the "Roughing" type does not necessary be particularly delicate. The "Detail", on the other hand, handles extremely delicate touch of the carving tasks. "Carving" knives usage is the most and for any task between the most delicate and the roughest.

The quality of woodcarving task depends on how delicately the carver handles the wood carving knife set. The handling of the knives, on the other hand, depends on the easiness. This easiness comes from the handle of the wood carving knife set. A handle needs to fit in properly in the hand of the carver. The ergonomic design ensures that the carver does not get tired or can move the knife easily to produce subtle details in a work. The carver should test this before deciding on a woodcarving knife.

The strength of the blade is also crucial. Woodcarving works are on both hard and soft woods. The hard woods are harder to carve than the soft ones. However, the former is more durable than the latter. The choice of the blade is dependent in the woods. To work on soft wood, a slightly softer blade may suffice, while the hard wood will require a hard blade. However, in either case, preference of the blade to be professionally sharpened. The sharp blade ensures easiness of carving tasks, especially for those that require long hours of work.

Typically, a woodcarving knife set may not be enough for carving tasks. Every wood needs some pre-processing before its construction, suitable for actual carving tasks. Therefore, the knives should be complemented by a variety of other tools. Some of these tools include gouge, mallet and chisel. Normally, the carving task begins with a large piece of wood. Gouge may quickly bring that into shape. Mallet and chisel may also be required to shape a hard portion of wood for carving.

The end-result of a woodcarving task begins in the imagination of the carver. The knives are essential to translate that imagination into reality. The choice of a knife or sets of knives depends on the experience level of the carver and the detail of the work. There is nothing universal about which knife to be used. Therefore, just choose the one that best suits you and your work.