Choosing Chip Carving Knives

Besides fire, one of the best things that man has ever invented was the blade. When hunting with blunt weapons took too much work, man turned to shaping stone to form a sharp edge. Today, the blade comes in handy with almost anything. Even military personnel carry a tactical knife; which when you think about in modern warfare, is obsolete.

However, the knife can be used for a lot of other things such as hunting, clearing a patch of shrubbery during patrol, or even cutting rope. Suffice to say that a knife has many uses, from cooking to producing a work of art. However, as with anything, the wrong equipment can yield the wrong result; and you will need a chip carving knife for chip carving, as stated by Captain Obvious.

Chip carving knives have been associated with wood carving, but it is actually a broad term. Chip carving is also used in, say, carving letterings on stylish tombstones. Of course, you’re going to need a different set of knives for that. A chip carving knife typically has a long handle and a short blade.

The cutting edge of the blade is straight, while the other edge is curved. The curved edge is for more control of the knife. This is where you will be placing your thumbs on. Thumb placement is essential for the amount of pressure you put in while carving, although there are no rules in how you hold the carving knife; similar to how there are no rules on how you hold a pen to write.

For chip carving knives to be used on art, they need to be of high quality. You may have experienced low quality kitchen knives before, and the difficulty you had in cutting meat. This is the same with chip carving. Note that chip carving is carving the patterns out of a single plank of wood. This means that if you have a bad knife, chances are you will be screwing up the patterns because applying too little pressure doesn’t do anything, and applying too much pressure results in carving too deep.

You should also take ergonomics into account when choosing carving knives. Chip carving is a very slow process, which can take its toll on your thumb. More often than not, you will get that signature pain at the base of the thumb if you’re not using an ergonomic knife or if you’re holding the knife in all the wrong ways. If you have a preferred way of holding a carving knife, you might want to find one that suits your style better.

Don’t stick with just one knife. In chip carving, you will almost always use a stab knife to add more details to your carvings, a blade sharpener, and whatnot. That being said, it is best that you take a look at a lot of other knives so as for you to be well equipped when the work calls for it. Better yet, you can try buying a whole chip carving knife set.