ive posted a few of my knives with carvings and never really showed the tools i used to do it. so here they are. they are forged from whatever i had that would do the job (scraps) and were about the right size. the bigger gouge is lawnmower blade with an oak handle, the skew chisel is different lawnmower blade and has a hickory handle, the larger straight chisel is triangle file with a hickory handle and penny for the bolster, the smaller straight chisel is couch spring and birch, finally the small gouge is hay rake tine and sugar maple. the gouges are for hollowing the halves of the scabbard (wooden sheath) and the others are for the relief carving on the surfaces on each. the only one that can be struck is the big gouge, i originally made it to hollow out kuksas and bowls, but it works great for roughing in scabbards.

als the straight chisels are 1/4 and 1/8 inch wide, the skew and 1/4 straight are both about 7 inches long OAL and the big gouge is 8.5 in long. feel free to ask questions because i dont know things to mention sometimes.

Ed Steinkirchner

Thanks for that posting, Ed.

Nice work on those handles Ed! I like to see some tools that have a little personalization! I have made some really huge gouges from mower blades and they cut magnificently!

Beauties !!

great stuff...wud sure like to see some pics of the scabbards u have made!

Gene

here are some pics of 2 scabbards i carved, thesmall one is my seax and the bigger one is my khukri. they have been in earlier posts so i wont go into detail on them. the otgher thing is the fine stone i use to sharpen the chisels. it is made out of leather from an old pair of boots and the "clasp" is antler. it is sewn with hemp twine. i will post some pics of a maple kuksa i carved with knotwork when i get to the computer at my house this weekend. ill see if i can find the pics of the dagger with the grape carvings.
Also, there are some simple carvings on the chisel handles them selves.


Ed Steinkirchner

here is the dagger with the grape and leaves carved in



Ed Steinkirchner

what beautiful work !!! thanks for the pics...

Gene

Very nice scabbards and tools as well! You're giving me ideas.

couldn't find the original pics of the kuksa so i had to find it and take new ones. oh well. here it is i carved it quite a while ago and i use the same techniques to carve it as i use on my scabbards and handles. it is sugar maple from the smokehouse wood pile. the last pic is of my seax in progress. the carving is done on both the wood and the antler, unless i decide to checker them, but i digress. the same carving tools and techniques were used for everything that ive posted pics of, so really all that is needed to make these carvings is 3 chisels, a straight, a skew, and a gouge. all you need is the technique to do it.






Ed Steinkirchner

That's really cool work Ed!

I'll admit I'm pretty much ignorant when it comes to the how to of wood carving - where did you learn how to do it? Or perhaps more importantly, where does one get the information on how to?