A Beginners Guide to Whittling Free

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Whittling is an enjoyable and relaxing hobby for those who like to create with their hands. It is a great way to pass the time while camping or just to wind down after a long week. I have been whittling since I was in Boy Scouts, when I found the simple act of shaving chips of A Beginners Guide to Whittling off of a stick was enough to keep me occupied. Sometimes, instead of going into a project with a plan, I just carve random shapes to see where the piece takes me. All you will need is: a few basic tools, some wood, and A Beginners Guide to Whittling place to start whittling. Feel free to use the table of contents below to quickly jump to the section you are most interested in. You may already have all you need to start whittling in your house right now! All you will need to start whittling is a good quality A Beginners Guide to Whittling, some wood, something to keep your knife sharp, and something to protect your fingers from nicks and cuts. Lets go over the basics of what you will need to get started. Because your knife is the most important tool in your whittling toolkit, it pays off to invest in a quality blade. A low-quality knife will make it harder to produce clean cuts and carvings as the blade edge dulls faster. You will want to use a high carbon steel blade or a knife with a Rockwell Hardness between 58 and Knives in this range have a perfect balance of edge sharpness retention without being too A Beginners Guide to Whittling. There are a bunch of different knives on A Beginners Guide to Whittling market to pick from. Some are fixed blade knives for a more sturdy and controlled grip, while others are folding knives that are perfect for camping and whittling on the go. You can whittle with any knife you A Beginners Guide to Whittling comfortable A Beginners Guide to Whittlingbut here are my favorite knives that I recommend for beginners, based on their affordability and quality. FlexCut makes quality wood carving tools and whittling knives that are perfect for beginners. I have a bunch of their tools and have found them to be of better quality than all other brands I have used in the same price range. It has a very strong and sturdy tip, comfortable handle, and comes honed razor sharp for immediate use! You can pick them A Beginners Guide to Whittling for a great price online, click here to check out current prices on Amazon. If you are camping or like to carry your knives with you, a folding knife is usually the best option I carry A Beginners Guide to Whittling few every A Beginners Guide to Whittling myself. A Beginners Guide to Whittling knives come with a nice and thin, high carbon steel blade that A Beginners Guide to Whittling cutting through wood a breeze. The lock is so good that it handles like A Beginners Guide to Whittling fixed blade knife. If you want a different size, I recommend getting no smaller than a No. You can pick these up for a steal on Amazon, click here to pick one up for yourself! The Mora is a perfect all-purpose whittling knife. It comes with a super comfortable handle, a well designed blade, and solid construction. If you are going to be working on medium to large whittling projects, this A Beginners Guide to Whittling the knife for you. One of the things I like about this knife is how sturdy it feels, even when applying a lot of pressure. I have no worries when carving away at larger pieces of wood and feel like I can put some force behind the blade as needed. Morakniv also makes a longer version, thebut I find it to be a bit more unwieldy for adding details and small cuts. The is my ideal choice between the two. These knives are quite affordable and can be found very easily online, click here to check the current prices on Amazon and pick one up today! The next and most important thing to find is some nice wood to work with. There is a bunch of wood to choose from, but there are only a few that I suggest for whittling. A lot of wood you may find — like oak -is exceptionally difficult to whittle and will will quickly dull your knife. Options like basswood and green wood are more enjoyable to whittle and will make your experience that much better! Lets go over what they are and where to find them below. My favorite wood to whittle is basswood as it is soft enough to whittle, hard enough to sculpt fine detials, and has a consistent wood grain to cut with more on that later. You can usually find basswood in all shapes and sizes, but my favorite supplier is TreelineUSA. Their practice blocks A Beginners Guide to Whittling perfect for beginners and are easy to shape. Other great places to find wood for your projects A Beginners Guide to Whittling from your A Beginners Guide to Whittling yard, or even on hiking trails! I have even found nice pieces of wood to carve from other peoples wood scraps on the side of the road. This is a great choice for anyone wanting to get into whittling without spending money on practice materials. If you find your scavenged wood is too hard to work with, click here to see how to make it softer and easier to whittle. Another popular choice for whittling projects is green wood, which is the preferred choice of many woodworkers. Green wood is freshly cut wood that still A Beginners Guide to Whittling the original moisture inside of it. This makes for an easier whittling experience and preferred by many woodworkers. Most wood from stores is already dried, and can be harder to work with. In order to keep your whittling knife nice and sharp, you will need the appropriate sharpening tools. The three pictured above are all I use for maintaining my whittling knives. The three sharpening tools I use are: a leather strop with polishing compound, a two sided sharpening stone, and sandpaper. A leather strop with polishing compound will be your go-to tool for honing the blade. Of all the sharpening tools I own, this one gets the most use. Leather strops are used to help re-align the cutting edge on your knife and remove small rolls and wires left over from a sharpening stone. They become even more effective when you apply polishing compound to the surface as it will allow the strop to remove a thin layer of metal with each pass while polishing the cutting edge. Just hold the leather flat or glue it to a piece of wood, and start stropping your knife! Sharpening stones are handy for reforming chipped and damaged blades. To avoid having to form the edge on your own knife, make sure you buy a quality knife that comes pre-sharpened! My A Beginners Guide to Whittling sharpening stone will have a course side with grit and a fine side with grit. Both water and oil stones will get the job done. I personally use an old oil stone my father gifted to me, but I have also used water stones with great success. Matter of fact, I use a sheet of grit sandpaper glued to a wood block more often than my stone! The reason why I specified a difference between wet and dry sandpaper is twofold. Wetting the sandpaper keeps the process cleaner while also prolonging the lifespan of your paper, since it prevents the metal dust from your knife from sticking in the grit. I am not perfect and every now and then will get completely focused on the wood, forgetting where my fingers are. It only took me about 10 minutes into my first serious project to realize that I need something to protect my fingers. If you want to see all the different types of gloves that are available, click here to see my article comparing several different types of gloves. A basic and cheap cut-resistant glove is perfect for a beginner just starting out. They are highly affordable, comfortable to wear, and will protect you from most cuts but not from pokes, so keep that in mind! These are available almost anywhere cutlery is sold and can sometimes be cheaper than a box of band-aids. If you want to pick one up yourself, you can grab the one pictured above on Amazon by clicking here. One of the finger protectors I use the most is your basic self-adhering athletic tape. These are basically like an ace wrap that sticks to itself, making it easy to wrap the fingers you want to protect. Plus, I can slip the bandage on and off for future use. You can find these just about anywhere medical supplies are sold and even in some sporting sections. All I had to do was walk down to my local convenience store and pick up a few rolls. This is extremely important for both your safety and your overall whittling experience. A dull knife will require more force to cut, which puts you at a higher risk of being cut as the knife exits the wood. Keeping your knives sharp is quite easy to do, and even A Beginners Guide to Whittling My wife often says I like sharpening my knives more than I like whittling, and she might be right! The task is methodical enough to quiet your mind, and the end results are very satisfying. Your leather strop with polishing compound will be your go to sharpening tool. It took me several years A Beginners Guide to Whittling start using them but now that I do, my knives have never been sharper. If you have a piece of leather to use for your strop, you will want to affix it to a hard flat surface like a block of wood. I would recommend gluing the smooth surface to the wood with the rough side sticking up. The rough side accepts the polishing compound you will be adding easier than the smooth side. Then all you have to do is take your polishing compound either green or FlexCuts yellow and rub it in evenly like a crayon on the leather surface. You can heat up the compound a little with a hair dryer or heater to make it easier to spread, but I A Beginners Guide to Whittling found just rubbing it in with your finger or even stropping a little with a knife will push the compound into the leather fibers. For reference, look at the picture above and imagine the knife moving away from you. While you are whittling, you will want to make sure your knife edge is still sharp. Simply re-honing the blade on your leather strop every 20 — 30 minutes A Beginners Guide to Whittling go a long way to keeping your knife sharp and your cuts smooth. A highly useful tip for whittling for the first time is learn how to cut with the wood grain. Pushing your knife through the wood grain incorrectly could cause the wood to split and take off an entire sections of wood that you may want to keep attached. You can fix it with glue, but that will slow down the whittling process. The easiest cut you will make is cutting with the grain. Cutting with the grain means that you are pushing your knife through the wood in the same direction of the wood grain. This makes for a smooth and easy cut with very little to no roughness of the wood. This will be one of your more common ways to remove wood with your knife and is easier to do with quality wood with no knots, as well as with wood with fine grain. The Beginner's Essential Guide to Wood Carving & Whittling -

Playing with knives… Not something to recommend to, well anyone really. But idle hands will find their way A Beginners Guide to Whittling a blade at some point, so curiosities may as well be channelled into something positive — like whittling! In fact it can be a highly relaxing and therapeutic pastime — perfect for the creative camper to while away the hours in deep contemplation of the serenity that surrounds them. The ultimate getaway from the modern world. I was given a whittling knife a few A Beginners Guide to Whittling ago by my sister, as a gift for A Beginners Guide to Whittling her bridesmaid. She knows me well! It comes with me on every camping trip and I love trying to work with the different wood types that might be lying around. Fancy trying your hand at this traditional craft? Before I got my whittling knife I used my pocket knife, which, so long as it was sharp, did a great job. For me, the main benefit is that they are so portable. I also like that you can switch between the different blade sizes, depending on your need. A non-locking blade can be unstable and tricky to work with, and the potential for lost fingers is also higher than with a locking knife. A super simple pocket knife, the Sentinel offers a slim and lightweight design with one lockable blade. A great multi-tool with an ergonomic handle for good grip. The EvoGrip has 11 implements with 15 different functions and a locking blade. However, their fixed blade makes them more sturdy and their handles sit much more comfortably in the A Beginners Guide to Whittling than pocket knives. That said, there are also some really excellent folding knives that are ideal for whittling, and some pocket knives that are specifically designed as whittling knives. There are a ton of specialist whittling knife options out there and many whittlers have multiple knives for different jobs. Here are some of the best whittling knives out there, that are also ideal for beginner whittlers. It has a limited lifetime warranty and the durable laminated steel blade will see you through many many happy years of whittling. Although the Mora will tackle most projects with no problem, the 3. And as your whittling projects get more ambitious, you may want to add the shorter 2. Some whittlers prefer a more ergonomic handle like the Opinel, but the A Beginners Guide to Whittling Birchwood handle of Mora knives feels wonderfully at home in your palm. The finish is smooth but provides plenty of grip and control when A Beginners Guide to Whittling big rough cuts as well as more detailed work. Find the latest price on: Amazon. The Opinel No8 is one outstandingly great value knife. It is not designed as a A Beginners Guide to Whittling whittling knife, but its properties are such that its wood carving performance is comparable to other whittling specific knives like the Mora The 3. But it is highly durable with excellent cutting quality. What makes this whittling A Beginners Guide to Whittling an appealing option for beginner whittlers is its versatility. The foldable blade makes it is more portable than the Mora whittling knives, and therefore immediately allows you to use A Beginners Guide to Whittling in a variety of camping and hunting scenarios. When the blade is open it locks very securely with a Virobloc safety ring. This also locks the blade when it is closed to prevent it from coming open in your pocket. The ergonomic Beechwood handle is also very comfortable to use, even for those with big hands! Find the latest price on: REI Amazon. With a 3 inch blade and a small oiled Birchwood handle, the knife is a more compact version of the Mora But what makes the Junior such a good option for young whittlers or those less confident handling sharp things, is the finger protection A Beginners Guide to Whittling at the base of the blade. And it goes without saying that budding whittlers will still need supervision when using this knife. The set includes:. Made in the A Beginners Guide to Whittling, the set comes with a tool roll to store the knives in when not in use, and are razor-sharp and ready to use right out of the package. And as some of the most popular whittling knives offered by Flexcut, A Beginners Guide to Whittling beginner set will last you well into your whittling career making it suitable for more advanced whittlers too. The high carbon steel blades are both on the short side compared with the Opinel: the detail knife is 1. For more experienced whittlers this is no problem at all, and the small blades on this knife are more suited to advanced whittling anyway. But beginner whittlers may want to steer clear of this range of knives as their first whittling knife. This may not be a knife that is specific to whittling in the way that most of the above optiions are, but if you are after a really excellent and exceptionally strong knife for all your bushcraft A Beginners Guide to Whittling then look no further. As a recent addition to the Morakniv arsenal, the A Beginners Guide to Whittling is a highly desirable knife for those who need something for all their camp and bushcraft needs, including wood carving and whittling. The 4. It also boasts a comfortable, ergonomic grip constructed of shock-resistant material, and the spine of the blade has been ground for use with a fire-starter. A super strong and versatile knife that is ideal for general bushcraft and burly whittling projects. The most important thing to know about how A Beginners Guide to Whittling whittle is that it is is much easier if you have a very sharp knife. The sharper the better. Now there are many, many different techniques to sharpening your knife that use different types of stones and materials. But I like the simplicity of this method which uses minimal tools and seems to work well for my knives:. In the past I would pick up whatever wood was lying around the forest to get my campsite whittling projects going. But I was often choosing hardwood that became very tricky to work with as a beginner whittler, and usually, I just gave up. Try to avoid wood with knots and growth rings and, where possible, avoid wood where the grain goes in multiple directions — a straight grain is easier. But if you are getting serious about your whittling then you can buy small whittling wood blocks at your local craft or hardware store which will be perfect for your first whittling project. Look for:. Keeping hold of all your fingers should be your first line of defence against the power of the blade. But I have also heard horror stories of gashed thighs from slip ups with sharp whittling tools. Who A Beginners Guide to Whittling it could be such a risky pastime?! And to protect your fingers from losing their tips you might want to consider these options:. Go slow, never make a big cut of any kind, but work into the cut slowly and gradually. There are some great whittling books available that go into much more depth to really get you set up, and also provide step by step A Beginners Guide to Whittling for specific whittling projects and easy things to whittle. Here are a couple that I have enjoyed using:. This is a great book to talk you through the basics. Camping is what she loves to do the most, but has also spent many hours clinging to the side of a rock face, cycling about the place, cruising the ski-slopes on her snowboard, and hiking small mountains and big hills. Search Cool of the Wild Start typing Whittling for beginners I was given a whittling knife a few years ago by my sister, as a gift for being her bridesmaid. Cut resistant kevlar gloves Kevlar gloves can be better than leather gloves as they provide a great degree of dexterity. Use this cut to get a basic outline for your project. Make long sweeping cuts with the grain that go away from your body. This stroke is used when you want to start shaping your project. You have a high level of control over the knife, which you push away from you. The thumb of your non-cutting hand provides the power to push on the back of the knife or thumb of your cutting hand. The cutting hand then steers the knife to create small and smooth cuts. Used in a similar way to the push stroke — for control and detail. Draw the knife towards you, with the grain, with the thumb of your cutting hand acting as a clamp at the end of the wood. With some pull strokes the thumb will stop the knife so this is a good time to wear a thumb guard. Little book of whittling This is a great book to talk you through the basics. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Pin it. Featured Latest. Camping for Beginners: 44 Tips for a Successful Trip. Backpacking with Dogs: A Practical Guide. Best Backpacking Tents for Lightweight Hiking in Review: Primus Campfire Cookset. Cool of the Wild. Best Stoves for Backpacking and Hiking in For all your camp cooking needs. Open Menu. Complete Guide to Whittling: A Helpful Beginners’ Guide (with Pictures) – Carving is Fun

Whether they were making a spoon or a cute little figurine, whittling is a time-honored outdoor tradition that many people love to this day. Whittling, by definition, is the shaping of wood by repeatedly scraping small bits of it away. This is distinctly different from something like carving, where one uses a chisel and mallet. Many people enjoy whittling while outside on a camping trip because it is a great way to pass the time without adding too much weight or bulk to your pack. Many of these are easy to find at a craft store, lumber yard, or woodworking store and are quite affordable. Regardless of what A Beginners Guide to Whittling of wood you choose, however, try to find wood with a fairly straight grain A Beginners Guide to Whittling minimal knots. Wood with grain in multiple directions and plenty of knots is a real pain to whittle! This made it the wood of choice for German sculptors in the middle ages who were tasked with creating elaborate wood carvings for alters and other church artifacts. Balsa is a great wood for beginning whittlers because it is a soft, lightweight wood, which makes it easy to scrape away. A widely available wood, pine is great for the beginning whittler. Plus, it polishes nicely and is very soft, which makes it great for working with. The best part about whittling? Although they might seem like simple tools, there are a lot of different knives on the market today, some of which are good options for whittling and others which are best used for other purposes. A Beginners Guide to Whittling simple and sturdy tool, this folding pocket knife is a classic option for whittling and every day carry. The Opinel carbon steel is extremely hard and durable, which means it cuts well, resists wear, and is easy to sharpen. This wood carving-specific knife from Sloyd features a thin pointed tip for delicate wood cutting and detail work. Plus, the ergonomically designed handle is made of oak and pressed with linseed oil for a comfortable grip after hours of use. With an ergonomically designed handle made of oiled birch, this is the kind of knife that feels great in your hand after hours of whittling. The knife also has a 3. This jackknife is built with 6 different carving-specific edges and is designed for right-handed whittlers. It includes A Beginners Guide to Whittling chisel, a carving knife, a hook knife, a v- scorpgouge scorpand a straight gouge, which means you can complete any project. Build with two whittling-specific blades, including a 1. Regardless of your knowledge of basic whittling safety rules, however, complacency can easily cause an accident to occur, so we need to be sure to follow these rules at all times. This one is both a safety rule and an artistic design rule. Whittling too quickly can easily cause a knife slip to occur and at a high speed. Plus, if you whittle too quickly you can mess up your potential design before you really even get started. A Beginners Guide to Whittling, we recommend starting slowly and continuing to whittle slowly throughout the process. Although you might think that a sharp knife is more dangerous than a dull one, dull knives actually take much more force to use and thus pose a higher risk of injury than a sharp knife. Keeping a sharp knife is a great way to help prevent accidents and to make your whittling as precise and effortless as possible. If you choose not to wear gloves, the next best alternative is a thumb guard. Due to the mechanics of whittling, the thumb on your dominant A Beginners Guide to Whittling the one you hold the knife in tends to suffer the vast majority of nicks and slices while whittling. A thumb pad is a cheap way to protect your thumb without having to wear a full glove. Whittling with the grain A Beginners Guide to Whittling a great way to A Beginners Guide to Whittling the entire process easier. When you whittle with the grain, your cuts will peel away smoothly. On the other hand, cuts made against the grain will tear, split, give you a lot of resistance, and look ugly. The first step to cutting with the grain is to identify what the grain direction actually is. Sometimes A Beginners Guide to Whittling is as easy as just looking at the wood and looking at the way the grain runs. Other times, you need to do some shallow test cuts and get a sense of how the wood peels away in a given direction. A quick note: Our directions are for right-handed whittlers. This is a great cut for the beginning of a project to quickly carve out a general shape. To make a straight rough cut, hold the wood in your left hand and make a long sweeping cut with the knife in your right hand. The cuts should move away from your body and should go with the grain. The pull stroke also known as the pare cut is one of the most popular whittling cuts. We also recommend wearing a thumb pad for extra protection. Like the pull stroke, the push stroke also gives you a good amount of control over the knife when you want to make detailed cuts. Whittling is an art form, and like all art, you need to find a technique and style that works best for you. Every piece of wood and every knife will feel different in your hands and what you do with these objects will certainly be unique. Our recommendation? Start slowly and simply. Arbor Explorer is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an A Beginners Guide to Whittling advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon. Arbor Explorer is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Your email A Beginners Guide to Whittling will not be published. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed. Last Updated On: March 11, Share on facebook. Share on A Beginners Guide to Whittling. Share on email. Share on print. Share on twitter. Table of Contents show. What exactly is whittling? Best woods for whittling Basswood. Random twigs and branches. Wood Carving Sloyd Knife Pros:. How to whittle safely Start slowly. Keep a sharp knife. Wear gloves. Use a A Beginners Guide to Whittling guard. Go with the grain. Types of whittling cuts Straight rough cut. The pull stroke pare cut. The push stroke thumb pushing. The thin pointed tip of the knife can be used for delicate wood cutting and allows working in tight areas of details. The rounded part of the blade allows cutting in the hollow areas and can be used to make rolled, slicing cuts. Our wood carving tools are sharpened and polished so you can use it right from the box. We stand by our green woodworking tools quality, so A Beginners Guide to Whittling get all the necessary information about our whittling tools and appropriate help also. The cuts are very smooth and shiny. The cutting edge of sloyd knife is durable to cut hardwoods such as oak or walnut. The ergonomic design of the handle allows having a long period of comfortable wood carving without hand fatigue. Blade Thickness: 0. Flexcut Right-Handed Carvin' Jack Jackknife with 6 carving specific edge tools built in for right handed carvers Chisel - Carving Knife - Hook knife - V scorp - gouge Scorp - Straight Gouge Includes sharpening strop and Flexcut Gold polishing compound Razor- sharp and ready to use right out of the included A Beginners Guide to Whittling pouch. You may also like. Leave a Reply Cancel reply Your email address will not be published. Disclaimer Contact Privacy Policy Menu.