5 Beginner Whittling Mistakes To Avoid
If you are just getting into whittling, there are several common mistakes that many beginners may encounter! These mistakes could be the difference between you enjoying yourself or giving up completely!
00:08 - Using your knife to pry wood
01:16 - Scraping the edge on wood
02:30 - Not honing your knife
03:42 - Cutting against the grain
05:43 - Not paying attention to where your fingers are
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Carbon steel, in general is less brittle than stainless. It is tempered harder for a single purpose, and therefore brittle.
This is one of the better and more direct corrections I've gotten! Gonna pin it.
Thank you.
Thank you.
They may be mistakes, but they're just whittle ones.
OMG I felt that knife break... it almost broke my heart 😢😂
“Now when compared to that of a common pocket knife” -proceeds to flip out an absolute unit of an assassin knife
The sacrifice of that first OCC blade’s tip… you won’t be forgotten!
Guilty of #1 with the exact same knife...
It's a common issue people have with that exact kinfe :) you're not alone.
Funny you say that..
Things happen gents.
Just for some clarity, the brittleness of the knife is not necessarily a result of carbon vs stainless... both carbon and stainless knives can be very hard or very soft depending on the specific steel makeup and heat treatment. Honestly the main reason your pocket knife didn't snap is the blade thickness and grind geometry.... your flexcut is a pretty darn thin tip compared to the pocket knife + the pocket knife was saber ground vs the 0-ground "scandi" bevel on the carver so the pocket knife also has a lot more meat in the middle reinforcing it. Lastly, knowing CRKT, I'm betting that blade was heat treated in the mid-low 50 range. Just wanted to put that out there so people don't feel like they should or shouldn't buy carbon vs stainless for some reason... it will depend way more on the particular steel itself and how it was heat treated. But, in the end, prying with any knife is a bad plan... just don't do it!
Excellent explanation!
Did I find a fellow knife maker?
@@deathbysilence0 Haha yep! Well more like a knife nerd that got so into knives he started making his own lol.
@@knownaigm haha I'm the same way the nice ones got so expensive I decided to make my own so far so good
@@deathbysilence0 Lolol I hear that. So many I wanted to own but couldn't spend the $$$$ on but part of me kept thinking "how hard can it truly be to make that though? It's basically just shaping some metal and wood right?"... so eventually I gave it a try. First few were total crap but eventually got the hang of it. I've now been able to make at least a couple of my "grail" knives I had pictured in my head.
I am starting a business and one of the things i will sell is little animals that are hand whittled, so this video helped SO MUCH!! thank you!
I subbed instantly when you broke the tip of that knife
Ha! Sometimes breaking things is just fun :)
@@CarvingisFun yessir
😂
That was an expensive demo flexcuts aren't cheap
Well, I do have plans for the broken knife so it's not completely done for :)
I was actually so shocked by that I came to the comments instantly. Jeez. Absolute madlad. 😅
Being mad makes everything more fun 😝
@@CarvingisFun Haha amen! Ya got my subscription for that, and just cause you have good content from what I've seen. Very helpful stuff for a beginner. Cheers!
@@CarvingisFun like what are you going to do with that broken knife
Your experience shines thru superquick, in breaking the tip, and going cross grain and having a chunk pop off. I have everything but just nervous to get started.
Eh, dont worry bout maken mistakes, thats just part of the journy :)
Yeah, just work non scrap wood learning your basic carving and always be aware of the grain. Go slow, with shallow carving strokes. Haste makes waste!
I prefer folding knives: I do a lot of my whittling waiting for the bus and need knives I can throw in my pocket fairly quickly when the bus arrives. Almost the first thing I did with my carbon steel Opinel was break the tip (not too badly, I was able to grind it so that is sorta back to where it was). I mostly use multiple bladed folders which have stainless blades of varying quality but I lost the tip on the clip point of my stainless Buck stockman Christmas Day when I dropped it point first on hard pavement. Same story as the Opinel. Lately I've been whittling dried avocado pits which don't have a grain as such and a texture like hard gingerbread.
I was going to try whittling an avocado pit, but instead of drying it just got moldy. Any tips on drying them out properly?
@@CarvingisFun I don't know that I have had any particular technique so far. I'm in the southern hemisphere so my summer has just ended and drying stuff was easy. I just put them in a plastic tray I bought some mushrooms in and put them on top of a shelf in the kitchen. I did get some pits from a friend and he had stored them in a plastic bag so that they had a light dusting of mould but it didn't take off. Once enough water has been evaporated the skins come off and any mould should go with them. I did get one that was rotten though. On the other hand I found one that was mummified in the compost heap lol. If you're worried about it you could try wiping the pit with some alcohol or bleach to kill spores Coming into winter I might have to experiment with drying them in the oven.
Thanks! I maybe I tried drying th wet m when it was too cold then. Since summer is starting up for us I'll give it another shot.
@@CarvingisFun You can try putting them into a food dehydrator if you have one, or put them in the oven on the lowest setting for a couple of hours with a wooden spoon in the door to keep it cracked open so the temperature doesn't get too high and the moisture can escape.
Perfect, I shal give that a shot with my dehydrator. Thank you!!!
I started two days ago and am oddly proud I did not commit the stabbing or sideways shaving atrocities. 😆
i saw that and i was like i want to whittle but damn im not that stupid lol
Thanks for your video. I was making some mistakes. I started whittling about two weeks ago. I'm fully aware that I'm working with a very sharp razor blade. I've learned not to whittle with my arm or hand pushing the blade. I'm using my two thumbs like you do. This way, I'm sure not to cut myself. I'm 59 and had a fair amount of cuts and bruises. I find this is a beautiful hobby. I can listen to music while whittling. I also find these small carvings very beautiful.
Excellent five reminders to put into practice, thank you so much for sharing. Blessings.
This was super useful! Ive been whittling with my friend and I decided to get my own set of knives, this was very useful!
Hi! Thanks for this video! I just bought my first knife and got some bass wood here. This will be my first try at whittling and I‘ll make sure to avoid all those mistakes you mentioned👍
A lot of excellent tips here.Thank you kindly!
Super useful video!! I got my first set of knives today- I’m going to try them out tomorrow! So excited!! Videos like this are SUPER helpful, and at least from what I’ve seen there aren’t too many great ones, like this video! But anyways- super great video!! Thank you!! :)
Thanks dude, just starting out on this amazing hobby
Thank you for this, very useful. Saved my knife tip and probably my thumb too!
Great video. Besides this most of the tricks you learn by doing. Keep it up. I admire what you're doing!
Thanks!
#1 brought back so many memories. Used to happen to my cutter knife all the time when I used it on anything other then paper LOL
That's what that mystery green stuff is!!! This was super helpful thanks!
Reading through your comments, great info and responses!
Thanks! I try to keep up with em all :)
Thanks for the tips Brian, very much appreciated
You're welcome!
@@CarvingisFun good tip as you say don’t scrape blade but modify back of blade to use as a scraper removes tool marks ready for sanding projects scraping brings up grain in the wood too I made my scraper from old hand saw blade rounding ends off one large and one small to clean bowl of my spoons 👍🐾🦊🇮🇹
Great helpful vid mate
Outstanding tips😊
Guilty of #5. Got nerve damage and super glued it back together.
That must have felt awful! I superglues a cut bact together once, burned like crazy!!
Yes, going against the grain. When you are used to carving/whittling for outdoors tasks you're often not subtle, you have X or y tasks to do before you loose the daylight. I have to check myself when attempting to carve or whittle to this higher standard. Maybe starting out with blades that are more forgiving than the little thin Flexcut knives is something to think about, at least until you have made your initial mistakes. A Congress pocket knife or the Mora/Hultafors Precisions or carving knives for instance.
These are excellent tips, we all know about 5 biggest mistakes, right? We are not perfect, no matter how long we have been carving. If we simply follow these tips, we can be efficient and effective wood carvers. It makes no difference to me how atrong a metal is, I never use my pocketknife or detail knife as a prying tool. I've had my pockeknife as well as my carving tools for years and, never broke a blade or even chipped one: being 62 years old, I had a pocketknife since I was 8 years old, in fact I still have my first Case 2 blade pocketknife and, it's just as sharp when I was given it. I sharpen all my wood carving tool, U tool, v tool, angle blade, palm sets daily but, I don't sharpen them every 20 minutes. You can over sharpen carving tools too, the edges become brittle and loss of the edge is not wise. If I'm wood carving and, see my tools is not cutting as easy or smoothly, it's time to sharpen again, otherwise I keep on carving. You can never have an over sharpened blade or tool but, you can weaken the tool or blade by over doing it, a sharp blade is a happy blade. As long as it still has it's strength? A weakened blade can hurt or injury you the same way a dull blade does by the wood giving way. If the blade chips from a weakened point it can becomes a disaster by jumping out of the wood. I always use high grade cut protection gloves on my hands because I know how sharp my tools are, I need my hands.
Thank you so much for this video, trying to teach my twins and this video came in handy quick 😂
Nice video. Very helpful. Thanks. 👍
Just got into whittling, your videos are * *chef's kiss* * Also, I thought you were just going to be talking about common occurrences.. When that knife broke I audibly winced! 😅
Thank you!! oddly enough, breaking the tip is a common occurrence with those who have never used a thin detail knife like this.
I've chopped off so many fox legs and dog snoots by going against the grain... I see now how and why. Thank you.
I made my first wood carving in the pandemic it was long strips of wood and I put them in a weave pattern I still have it today i do wish I had saw this when I was doing this cut my thumb a few times
Ya live n learn. I had to learn the hard way too.
Just getting into wood carving, Look forward to your other vidos
Excellent! Always good to hear more people picking up the craft.
Thanks for a useful advices!
My pleasure!
That's commitment. Take my thumbs up and subscription.
I like what you made. You should show a before and after. 😄
Extremely useful!
Very nice crash - test. Thank You !!! :)
You're welcome!
Wow just straight in to it
very good instruction Thank you
Thanks Gene!
Going against the grain is what I done at first where I was pushing with the gouge, a bit of wood broke and the gouge went shooting off into my finger which left me with a lovely eye lid shaped hole.
Ooch. Its happened to me before too. One of those live n learn moments
I literally just did this the other day- now I've got a gouge in my palm 😞
This was great 🙏🏽 but most of this I would never do. As an Army cook, I was taught to respect knives 😉😳
getting a carving kit for my bday cant wait! great vid by the way
Awsome! Hope you have a great bday and have fun carving!
awesome!
Jelly bean spider get your self a book called little book of whittling by Chris lubkemann by fox chapel publishing it’s about 12 dollars it got me carving book will help anyone wants to try to carve great things has all information you need to get started highly recommend many happy returns 👍🇬🇧🐾🦊🇮🇹
*opens packages* *breaks knife* "So yeah, don't do that" Thank you for breaking your equipment for us.
Its more about the geometry and heat treat vs material choice. Theres plenty of stainless that will harden deeper than a carbon steel.
thank you!
Recommend information on the flexcut knife, the glove, the basswood, and a book, and the thumb wrap
I use wood rasp s rasp s and files. Alot to shape. Then sand it. I have big ones and tiny ones. Over the year a I found them very useful. But you make some really good points for beginners. Saves you alot of mistakes. In the end.ps I've cut my fingers several times. So now I really keep my digits out of the way.
I have several wood rasps as well, but for some reason I enjoy slicing off the wood more. It just feels more satisfying. So now I use my rasps for my soapstone and alabaster carvings :)
@@CarvingisFun I use hickory and maple alot. So it's hard wood to carve on so some times I uae rasp s and wood files. To shape my walking sticks. But once there made there tough as nails,,,,
I’m just starting carving and have a freshly cut piece of mesquite, is it a good type to carve? Also thanks for all your videos and tips, it makes getting into this hobby a lot easier!
Howdy! Mesquite wood is exceptionally hard to carve by hand. It can be done but isnt reccomend as it is about 6 times harder than the basswood I use for my carvings.
@@CarvingisFun Thank you so much, you saved me a lot of time and effort!
@@CarvingisFun this might be a stupid question but do people use fresh or dry wood for carving?
Not a stupid question at all! Fresh wood (aka wet wood) still has the original moisture in the wood, making it easier to carve. The only downside is that it can split if dried to rapidly after carving. Dry wood requires no drying time after the wood is carved, but can be harder to cut into vs the wet wood.
@@CarvingisFun wow thanks! I just got my first carving kit for Christmas and knowing that I could use any soft-ish wood I might find outside really spikes my motivation :)
Learned #5 the hard way when I was about 10. Still have a scar almost 30 years later.
Omg totem carver here.... Good advice folks ... Native pool carving is 6 hrs 3 sharpening
Thank you
You're welcome! If you have any questions, feel free to ask
Wow this guy really broke his knife for us 🤯
I will now be calling all folding knives by their true name, the flippity doo da blade 1:56
Yesssss!
thanks
Bro broke a brand new knife just to mske a point to us rookies. That alone was worth a like. Thank you for the video
Drawing the blade edge perpendicular is awesome but, use a Stanley razor blade for it. Gets a better finish and takes off a smaller amount of material. Yeah don't use your actual knives for it though.
6:16 was me!! Don’t be me!! I zoned out and chopped through my nail and finger tip lol
wow!!! i do believe that carving knives either stainless or carbon have a higher hardness than other everyday knives...hardness to retain edge; softness to easily bring edge up!!!
Very true. Most purpose built wood carving tool will have a higher rockwell hardness to promote edge retention.
Looks like a fun relatively cheap hobby might give it a go.
Indeed it is! This is one of those hobbies that it can be as cheap or as expensive as you want it to be.
My first thought was, "Does he really wear those gloves when whittling?" I've never seen anyone whittle with gloves. Then I saw the fingers ahead of the blade, got goose bumps, and thought, keep the gloves on, dude!
Some people done, I know myself well enough that I should have em on just in case
Thanks for the tips. wished I'd seen it sooner. Better late than never. I do have a question for you. Been watching your videos and posts along with a couple others. I am a retired custom cabinet maker and have always wanted to whittle, so now I'm starting to play. You and everyone else I see, are cutting through the wood like it is soft butter. I'm closer to 70 than 60 and my knifes are sharper than all get out, but the bass wood I'm buying seems to be hard as a rock, where can I get some wood that looks as easy to cut into as yours does for you?
You're welcome! Try looking for "air dried basswood" as the kiln dried stuff tends to be harder. Check out this video for more details: kzhead.info/sun/p72mY7abqGdvfJ8/bejne.html Also, blade thickness can play in as a factor as to how easily you can slice through the wood.
@@CarvingisFun thanks for getting back to me and sending me to your other video. Both are helpfull
You're welcome!
I am older than you and I have no trouble carving. The ease of cutting is going to be related to several things. What the steel is is not one of them. The geometry of the blade is important, meaning grind and thickness. A scandi grind is designed to bite into the wood. The angle of the grind is important. The steeper the grind (the narrower the angle), the easier it well be to cut. A hollow grind will be better to but with that a flat grind. I use folders because I have a lot of them. The Opinel is good because it is so stinking thin. They take a very sharp edge. I also like my Gent. This was produced by massdrop in conjunction with Ferrum Forge. It is S35VN with a hollow grind. It's about .025 behind the edge. The addition of vanadium to the steel refines the carbide structure and allows a very fine edge. It also holds the edge very well.
The only thing I don't do is sharpen the blade as I carve, I am definitely going to start!
Honing the blade as you carve every 20-30 min will help keep that edge nice and sharp :)
@@CarvingisFun Thank you for the advice, it's really gonna help! Have a Merry Christmas and a happy New Year!!🎄🎄🎄
Same to you!
Hey Brian, thank you sooooo much for your videos! Was looking at beginner ideas the other day and have watched a bunch of your videos now as my son would love to get into whittling. Will order the basics you recommend for now for and probably get more later. So inspiring! QUESTION: Could you perhaps film a couple videos on making something with the BeaverCraft C1 Kid knife, please? I'm sure I've seen it in one of your videos and if you've still got the knife, that would be fantastic. The rounded blade probably makes quite a difference with regards to what can be done and achieved, correct? Thank you for the great content, I really appreciate it! My son is 8 in a few days and he's very excited to start making his own chess figures. :) All the best from the UK and have an amazing time leading up to Christmas! Thank you, Lucienne
Howdy!! You are absolutely correct in that it will be a different experience as you wont have the sharp tip to create small details with. But projects like the fox should be easy enough to do without the tip. The Christmas tree, ghost, and chess set are also great options to do as well with the C1 knife
@@CarvingisFunAmazing, thank you so much Brian! Much appreciated! Lucienne
Nice big slicer! 😁
Indeed! That blade goes with me everywhere it is allowed and gets used daily :)
@@CarvingisFun what is it? I'm kind of a knive nut.
It's a CRKT M21-14 that I ground off the serrated bottom section. Been carrying this knife with me for 15 years :)
Yep broke a tip. Got back to good but dang I wasn’t carving while stoning the blade 😂
Yeppers, would rather be carving than fixing a knife any day.
Is that cut proof material on your right hand thumb ? I am a total newbie and am really enjoying your videos ,thanks
Howdy! The green stuff on my right thumb is actually self adhering ace wrap. While it isn't advertised as "slice resistant" it does protect my fingers from accidental cuts and is easy to replace. More info on this video here: kzhead.info/sun/opaul9SfeZluqI0/bejne.html
Okay I've watched this video before but #5 still just happened to me because dumb me decided to go for some quick whittling in the middle of the night. Came back from the ER with four stitches. Went straight through the glove. 5/5 flexcut knife
ooch, ya sometimes you get reminded in one way or another to watch where that blade can go. Glad you were wearing gloves though!
at 6:42 i made that mistake a few weeks ago, instead of carving a dog, i carved my thumb.
Oooch!
@@CarvingisFun indeed
Hello there, I dont use leather and was wondering if a whetstone would suffice for sharpening? Thank you in advance. Love your videos!
While you can most definitely use a whetstone (or any other variants) to sharpen, the key is to hone the knife afterwards. This is typically done with leather strops and stropping compound. Still, theoretically, if you use a whetstone with a fine enough grit (3000+ grit) you will still be able to create a decent edge for carving. But then to hone your knife while carving you will have to continuously prep your whetstone every 20-30 min. A leather strop can just be picked up and used to maintain the edge as you don't need to remove a lot of metal.
@@CarvingisFun Thank you so much for the informative and tremendously helpful reply. I'm green when it comes to the hobby and I've learned mostly through your videos. Gonna go and subscribe to your channel now. Thank you once again.
You are most welcome! If you have any questions in the future, feel free to ask :)
@@CarvingisFun Is there any alternative to leather for honing? Perhaps nylon or something? I'm completely new but excited to start :)
Sure are! I personally like denum or any other durable cloth. Old scrap jeans will work in a pinch. I have seen others use cardboard as a super cheap alternative,
Nearly stopped my heart watching you break that blade right out of the box 😬
You sacrificed a knife for the video, that earns a like!
Do you recommend a brand of gloves and thumb protector for newbies who might want extra protection to the fingers without losing too much agility while carving?
Ive had great successes with dexfit and andanda gloves. The finger wraps I use are just self adhering ace wrap from the local convenience store.
Can you tell me what kind of glove and thumb grip you are using and where i can purchase?
Howdy! I have the link in this video below but I am using the dex fit cut resistant gloves from amazon and self adhering ace wrap. kzhead.info/sun/dsiHhLKDraypeqM/bejne.html I'll be publishing an updated video next week with more details too.
This is very helpful! Is there any way to sharpen your blade without this sharpening tool?
2000 to 6000 grit wet/dry sandpaper can work too.
You broke a brand new Flex Cut 😳
Yep! Just wanted to show what could happen to help others not make this mistake. Plus, I just fixed it in my latest video :)
Could you a video on how to identify the direction of the wood grain?
Martin ward in an avarage block of wood grain runs straight unless you has a knot in it grain normally runs from middle to top and from middle to bottom if blade snags on wood while carving just turn your job other way if it snags usually mean your carving against the grain 👍🇬🇧🐾🦊🇮🇹
I could do a quick video in a bit, John did a good little rundown as well that is helpful.
@@CarvingisFun you be surprised how many people ain’t got a clue why that is when carving why wood snags up so they push harder wood tears out ruins your work or way worse chop off a finger or gash something I seen it happen to a lot I teach carving they ignore my advice it’s like collecting blackthorn blood will be spilt for sure even if the brittle poisonous thorns don’t get ya 👍🇬🇧🐾🦊🇮🇹
I want to know do you use the sharp side or the blunt side for a beginner and also where did you find the piece of leather on the brick
Not sure what you mean with the sharp side vs blunt side, but I cut witb the sharp side if thats what your asking. But I made my leather strop by gluing a strip of leathet to a block of wood.
do you have any recommendations for a whittling knife? I got a pack off amazon recently and the actual blade is abysmal, although the polishing agent and leather are fine.
Flexcut seems to be a good place to start for most people, but to make things easier I collected all my favorite things on amazon here for everyone www.amazon.com/shop/CarvingisFun
Alot of people recommend beavercraft. I bought one of their knives myself but i haven't tested it yet
What a monster. Not even a minute in and he snaps the tip right off. 😂
only128k subs, you deserve more
Okay so I just found out that people still in joy and post about whittling, but despite that i thought that the way you were demonstrating was commen knowledge.
Common knowledge to those already experienced in the hobby yes, but since the channel is focused on the absolute beginner looking to get into whittling it may be new info for them that they havent even thought Bout yet.
@@CarvingisFun I realize I didn't tell of my skill the most I can do is make snares and kinda cook, I'm not at all experienced in whittling but I have caved a spiral on a stick for for whatever that's worth.
Hello, would pine wood work well for whittling, thanks 😊
Yeppers!! Its just as good basswood
@@CarvingisFun thank you
Bonjour et merci pour cette vidéo instructive. Si on a le malheur de casser la pointe du Flexcut, comment peut-on reformer la nouvelle pointe ? Est-ce simplement en la passant sur la pierre ? Ou faut-il la limer ? Vu que le métal a l’air d’être tellement mince et fragile. Lorsque que vous sculptez le chien assis, est-ce que vous mentionnez le type de Flexcut que vous employez pour commencer le travail ? À chaque nouvelle opération de sculpture pour le chien, vu que je n’ai pas encore essayé les autres, pouvez-vous mentionner le type de couteau à utiliser. Car je suppose que les autres petits sujets suivront le même principe d’utilisation que pour le chien dans le cas présent. Merci pour votre réponse. Michèle
Hi! I personally used a file to repair the tip and made a video on it here: kzhead.info/sun/gM1sd5ifsWSqeJ8/bejne.html Future videos will have me mentioning what knives I use but I have been trying to put the knives in the video description. I believe the knife used in the dog video was a Flexcut Whittlin Jack
How do you plan out your design before you start cutting
I usually draw an outline of my wood block I want to work with and draw some proportions and notes within the outline so I know where some cuts should be referenced and what the overall design will be.
Carbon steel is certainly not more brittle than stainless steel. Spring steel, which is generally carbon, is sufficient as an example.
Ya, it was a verbal blunder on my end. Sometimes words no work for me lol
What tape is that? Im new to whittling and want to protect my hands a bit more than the gloves.
That would be self adhering ace wrap i got at my local pharmacy.
Do a lot of wood carvings with My Dremel. My Awesome Son got Me a Beavercraft Whittling& Chip Carving Kit for Christmas 🎄 which I just Love.. Problem is I've never Whittled or Carved any kind of wood in My Life using a Knife. Won't say how old I am..lol. Do You know of Any Video's I can Watch to Help Me out? Any Feed Back with Help Immensely.. Thank's Paul..😎
There are plenty of whittling books out there that give great ideas and a bunch of tutorials on my channel and on youtube that will help guide ya and give tips along the way.
Amazing tips Brian could you plz do a bird tutorial
Currently in the works :)
:)
*unpacks new knife* Proceeds to instantly snap it on purpose
We're a lil crazy over here in Florida :)
The pain when he ruthlessly killed that brand new knife...
Hi, I have a question, how do I check which way the grain is going, so I can cut the right way I watched the video but im still a little confused
I go into more detal for ya in this video here and give examples. kzhead.info/sun/lpeakaxqi6awZoU/bejne.html
I was not emotionally prepared for them to break that knife right at the beginning O_o
👍craving tip
How the knife cut like butter tho 😎
I actually heard crocodile Dundee in my head when he whipped the 'pocket' knife out Dude, how big are your pockets? Good tips though, thank you
Ha! I almost always wear cargo pants and joke with my wife that Im wearing a purse.