Carving with knives is a rewarding hobby that takes some time to develop. It also takes the right set of tools, but with just a little investment you can get going.
Another word used for carving with knives is whittling. Whittling can be used and has been used for centuries to make anything from spears for hunting, to figurines for Christmas, to signs in a local tree declaring love for a special someone.
To get started carving with knives or whittling thre are four cuts that need to be mastered.
The Stop Cut – is a cut with a carving knife that penetrated into teh edge of the wood then stops. The stop cut is perpendicular to the plane of the wood, so it goes straight in. Then a second cut comes in and meets the stop cut to terminate it. This cut causes considerable shadow and is usefule in a wide variety of figurines and other carvings.
The Pyramid Cut – is a cut into the face of a piece of wood that is three cuts which meet at a point in the wood. When the 3 cuts are complete a small pyramid of wood pops out, creating the divot or void in the wood. They create nice shadow and are helpful in creating details.
The Vee Cut – is just what is sounds like a very simple cut into the edge of a piece of wood that creates a V shape in the wood. The Vee cut createss low shadow in the piece.
The Sweepng Cut – is a sweep of the wrist along the edge of a piece of wood that curls and creates a curved feature in the woods edge. The sweeping cut can meet a stop cut or a V cut to create the curved effect and it has a little more shadow than the Vee cut.
I will post pictures of all of these cuts to help with the beginner. Make sure to practice these cust often befure you attempt to carve something with real wood that you care about. Its good to practice using pine wood. Also here is a link to a good wood carving kit.
Enjoy and get practicing.
