Handle Experiments

[Thorin]

Hi All,

After my first attempts in wihch the woodwork was pretty much conservative and limited to only shaping the handle I have begun practicing carving more ornate designs and patterns. I'm using a Dremel tool, hand files, and a selection of different grain sand papers. The wood I've used is Tamboti, and the pinkish one is Red Ivory. The Red Ivory, although not very "Dubh" for a sgian has a nice story and I thought I would start collecting "story wood" so to speak. It is a protected wood that requires a special permit for harvesting but this piece is from trees that were knocked down by elephants in private reserves in Northern KwaZulu-Natal (my province) and were subsequently given to the lumber company to collect. The stone in the Tamboti Thistle design handle is TigersEye - it looks a bit strange when looking at the knife as a whole, but is really stunning when only the very top of the handle is sticking out hose. I'm expecting my new blades anytime now, but felt the need to post these works in progress.

[Kerr the Walker]

They look great!

I'm in the same boat as you: just starting to get a bit fancier than just shaping the handle. It's addictive!

[Nighthawk]

I haven't even started... I need to get my dad's old Dremel tool so I can get started. Those are nice! Are you drawing the designs on the handles before you carve, or are you eyeballing it?

[Chas]

Hi Thorin,

Really excellent work. I was given a Dremel for Christmas just for this purpose. Could you give us a follow-up on how you made the handles, sort of stage by stage?

Regards

Chas

[Freelancer]

Very nice work...well done!

[Kilted Rogue]

I have dremel and i have wood.....
now just waiting on a grade A tutorial.

Really Nice work thank you for sharing, what is the prefered method, do most ppl draw the design or look at a picture, or just shoot from the hip?

[Thorin]

@ Nighthawk and Kilte Rogue,

Its a mixture of shoot from the hip,eyeball and sometimes drawing on the wood first. The thing I've learnt over the past few weeks is that when you're carving you need to focus your efforts on the negative spaces of your envisioned design; the space surrounding and inbetween the shapes you're interested in.

When I shape the handles I may make a light pencil mark to lay out a rough shape but invariably once I start the wood dictates the course of design, and I can't honestly tell you the exact shape a blank will be when I'm finished.

At the moment I've been working off a piece of Tamboti wood about 80cm by 3 by 3.5 cm. I hacksaw off a block roughy 9cm long; then I hacksaw this down the middle leaving me with two blanks roughly 9cmx3.5cmx1.5cm. It takes a bit of elbow grease but its satisfying. I then set to the blank with a Stanley knife and I carve/whittle out a rough shape. Sometimes I use my Dremel tool with a sanding fitting for this, but it makes a hell of a lot of dust when sanding that deep, and its easy to sand off more than you planned to. I find it a more organic experience to do it manually, and a chance to bond with the wood. Once I'm finished with the Stanley knife I coax out the eventual shape with a mix of 40 and 100 grain sandpaper. Once I'm happy with that I start playing with the carved design. Having made the blank wider and deeper than I need gives me space to carve out.

I use the Dremel engraver attachments to gouge out large chunks of negative space like in the thistle design handes and the celtic knot handles - conversely I use a smaller head for the fine line in the cross-hatch design. If I want a straight line, or if I want to make sure the engraving tool follows any outline I have drawn on the wood I have found this next trick very helpful. I take my sharpest and finest hand-file and carefully score/finely gouge out the path. This creates a groove, like with slot-cars/scalectrix, which then guides the engraving bit. Otherwise you find that with the woods natural inconsistencies and the high revolution speed of the engraving bit the Dremel can take off by itself and ruin your last hour's worth of work. I wish I knew this when I was working on the cross-hatch designs in the above photo - the lines aren't straight.

I then use 100ish grain sandpaper to neaten up the carving, and finally use a 1200 grain paper to bring the wood to a reflective polish.

I'm not sure if this helps.

@ Chas : I will charge up my camera for the next handle I turn to give a better sense of the process step by step.

[Kilted Rogue]

That was a lot of info for me to digest. Thank you. I await the pic by pic story to help add a visual to the info you gave us.
What would be an easy 1st design for a beginner in your opinion.

[Tartan Hiker]

This may be totally unnecessary, but I'd like to add a cautionary note....dust from some of the tropical woods (and even some domestics) is very nasty stuff. Allergic reactions or systemic poisoning are both possible. Wear a good respirator and use a dust removal system (or at least a shop-vac with a hepa filter) to keep the sawdust out of your lungs. Even skin contact can be a problem with some woods (bubinga dust on his skin put a bowyer friend of mine in the hospital).

[celtic cowboy]

Here is the best advice I ever heard about wood carving. A friend of my great uncle's carves big wooden bears, like 3ft to 5ft tall with great detail. I asked him how he does it........his answer "Cut off everything that does not look like a bear" Just thought this was a good time to share that bit of witt.
The handels look great, it is just better when you can say "I made this".