Starting Wood Carving ?

  Two of my grand children have watched me wood carve and show an especial interest,  My Grandson is interested in carving wood, and he and I have done a couple of projects together. My Grand daughter has show interest and aptitude for soap carving. 

  By the way, soap carving is a good way to get them started with low risk and low cost.

  Now it is time to set them up with their own set of tools to use at home.

  I selected these tools to cover most eventualities.

  There are:  two gouges, one shallow, one flat.

                    two straight chisels, one very narrow and one about 1/4  inch wide.

                    a V tool, and a very sharp knife with a curved blade.

  The current plan is some flat carved Christmas ornaments as a starting point. This variety of tools will give the kids good tools to start their carving careers.  It can be very frustrating to a beginner if the carving tools dull quickly, it makes doing your project more difficult and as a beginner you can't tell it the cause of the problem

  Notice it is a mixed bag of makes and types.  All of these tools are good quality, will get sharp and stay sharp. With this set I included a strop and :

  These grippy gloves and I've glued leather finger guards on, thumb and fore finger left hand, thumb, right hand. 

  I have had my grand kids in my shop when ever they are here and ALWAYS emphasized safety.  Now they don't even think to begin something in the shop without the proper safety gear in place. 

  I am hoping to see some results in the next couple of weekends.

cheers ianw

Woodcarving Safety Idea

  Yesterday my wife and I were in a 'big box store' looking for a replacement florescent lighting tube.  We didn't get one, it would seem the size and type we need are back ordered. (deep sigh). However I was able to buy two pairs of workshop gloves for $1.00 each. 

 Gloves like these are usually for painting, staining and mucking about in the garden. Why did I buy them, because I modify gloves like this as safety equipment when wood carving.

 You can see my left, or holding glove has leather guards on the thumb and fore finger, while the right thumb is protected.  The leather finger tips are something I picked up a few years ago but didn't like them initially. The guards seemed to be made for someone with cartoonishly  large hands.  After a while I thought of this solution.  I glue the guards onto gloves like this with rubber cement and it lasts for hours and hours of carving.

 The gloves this pair are replacing were worn out, the elastic in the cuffs was done and I had duct tape re-enforcing holes where knuckles were peaking out.  I also use these gloves when I have small pieces to form on the belt or disk sander and occasionally... oops, you know the drill if you use a bench top sander.  

  I find that this a a super cost effective way to make my workshop experience safer and less stressful.

cheers ianw

a pretty winter picture