Whittling Chip Class Pow Wow 2010 Safety First-rules for adults teaching 1. Make sure to have a first aid kit at every lesson. 2. Have water and towels available to wash hands; flush eyes! 3. Treat the wooden knife like a real knife (-if you don’t; they won’t! )o waving yours around. ) Pass it like a real knife-have them practice this; it reinforces the idea of treating it like a real knife. Talk about the rules in the Bear book for real knives. 4. Use the proper carving motions always! )O arm/shoulder motions. Even whittling sticks for marshmallows should be done with the small safe carving motions. Do not let boys wrestle the wood/soap-easy does it! Small, Smaller, Smallest forces possible. 5. Make sure the rules are clear to the boys and enforce them. Italics are instructions for the instructors to say or do. KISS! Safety First-rules for boys –write them, post them, go over them • Treat the wooden knives like real knives. It’s good practice. Go over the rules for knives in the Bear book. • Do )OT rub your eyes. Soap stings/hurts eyes. • Watch and Listen ()o talking during instruction) and stop carving when instructor asks you to stop. • Make chips; small and smaller pieces. It does not take lots of muscle to carve! You are always within your blood circle so you must have control of your knife at all times. Use only the cuts the instructor shows you. • Sharp knives are Safer-Dull knives are Dangerous ! Demonstrate! Sharp knives cut small pieces “chips” easily. Sharp knives will not cut large pieces easily so stop and try again in a smaller cut. If it is a dull knife, it does not cut; so you want to push harder to get it to cut , and when it does cut, it slips with lots of force and the knife goes into something besides what you want to cut. (ever “muscle”/”Push hard” on a knife! Either stop and try a smaller cut, or, sharpen the knife! Tell them that if a boy uses his knife in a stabbing, digging or other inappropriate motion (ie.toward another boy or on the soap)- you will take away the knife. If you do take the knife explain why you need to take the knife away for a while (whatever motion was seen as dangerous if it were a real knife or they would not stop carving when you asked them to stop). The boy gets the knife back after a few minutes with an reiteration of why it was taken and a warning that if it gets taken away again it will be keep for longer. If the knife is taken a second time give an explanation why it was taken and the boy must be overseen by an adult who will explain why it is important to practice these rules with a wooden knife and the knife will be given back after he thinks about treating the knife right and watches others treat the knife right. When the knife is given back the second time explain that the next time the knife gets taken away for safety reasons the knife will not be given back that day, but at the next carving lesson he can have the knife. Whittling Chip Class Pow Wow 2010 6. Have a way to get the boys to stop and listen-I use “Stop and Strop!” This means the boys need to stop carving and clean the knife. Or simply say, “Put your knife down.” Or have them do one cut and stop. They are not to start carving again until told. You must slow them down or they will do things you do not want them to do. Have them practice the cuts in the air while waiting. 7. Do not rush The Whittling Chip Achievement! I take 3 sessions to do the whittling chip with boys. The boys are learning a new skill and must practice the motions. They think they know how to carve/They are WRO)G! They will feel awkward but, insist they learn the right motions. The first session is done with the wooden knife on soap. The second session is to finish the soap with the wooden knife and then to start working on vegetable and fruit with a real knife. I recommend a sharp kitchen paring knife and apples, potatoes and carrots and a cutting board. Make sure they use the small motions to peel the apple, small motions to do “v” cuts on the potato and small motion to do stop cuts and shave-to cuts on the carrot. Each item has a different texture and cutting will “feel” different on each one. The last session I teach is carving wood with a real knife. Sharpen a pencil or marshmallow stick using the proper carving motions-no arm work! Or be ambitious and try the whistle slide. Scouts will expect to use their knives after earning the whittling chip and it is your responsibility to give them the safe skills to do so. Therefore, I recommend working on real wood with real knives at the last of the course so they get the feel for how to carve “the hard stuff” safely. 8. Use tape or a Band-Aid on the thumb of the hand holding the real knife to protect the pad of the thumb when doing a “pull” cut on the vegetables and wood. Tell the scouts that on a camp out they can ask for a Band-Aid or tape for their thumb if they want to carve. If a scout is afraid, you can tape more body parts. Warning! It is usually the hand that holds the object being carved that gets cut-not the hand holding the knife. Some carvers use gloves to hold the object they are carving so they do not cut that hand . 9. As an experienced carver and teacher of carving I can tell you that some adults and some kids are terrified of getting a cut. I do not want anyone to be afraid of knives, but to respect them. There is a possibility that someone will get a cut. If you are following the rules the cut would be like a paper cut or scraped knee. If boys do not get training and try to use a knife the likelihood of cutting themselves /or someone else/ is higher. It is a valuable skill. Whittling Chip Class Pow Wow 2010 Teaching )otes on Soap: • Have boys sit in a chair with feet on the ground and legs spread, leaning forward to carve between their legs, so the soap shavings can be carved onto newspaper or sheets or tablecloth or into a large paper bag. It makes cleanup easier and, if they adopt this way of carving with real knives, they are less likely to cut a leg if the real knife slips. Alternatively, carve at a table covered with something to catch debris. • Have the boys sharpen their wooden knives on sandpaper and inspect the sharpened knife. I do not expect nor want them to be able to sharpen a real knife but, the wooden knife is good practice. • I have the boys mimic the carving motions in the air before carving. Show me a pull cut! Show me a push cut! • Make sure that the Ivory soap is fresh! Wrapped in plastic. Old dry soap is crumbly and breaks easily. • Drawing the bear on the soap and carving it from the outline is not the best way to teach carving. Boys do not learn the carving cuts because they are intent on making a bear anyway they can, which will include stabs and gouging (not good ways to keep a knife sharp or keep yourself safe). Draw reference lines on the soap for the boys to make specific types of cuts on the soap and have the boys do those cuts. A bear will be the result and they will have learned the right way to carve. Examples pictures at the end of the document. • Make sure the boy is carving not the parent. The boy will learn nothing if he does not have the knife in his hand. • Be prepared with extra soap or partially carved blanks. If boys “muscle” the soap it will break! Point out that although soap is soft and easy to carve, when someone carves large pieces they wind up with a broken bear. And if they do things that you have not told them to do they will wind up with a broken bear. • Have examples of bears at different carving stages. Show a cut and have them do it. Make sure they stop after completing that cut. • Have them clean their knives regularly with the Popsicle stick. • Tell the boys that they will take off less and less soap the further along the carving gets. At the end of the first session there will be a fair amount of soap to clean up but, at the next session there should be much less. They will make smaller and smaller changes. • Don’t let them carve eyes on the bear. Use Sharpie marker to draw eyes. • Ivory soap is my choice, other soaps can be used but, have different textures, so try them first. ()ever use glycerin soaps-too sticky) • Compare bears in the end and remind them that no two bears are alike- even when you carve more than one they will be different. Complement them! Whittling Chip Class Pow Wow 2010 Teaching )otes on fruit and vegetables: • Remind them of the safety rules and wrap thumbs-let them know that the other hand is the hand that is vulnerable.