Hi, how would you cut this ❓❓

Published: Tue, 07/20/21

I don't know if you noticed, but this email usually hits your inbox on the weekend. According to my schedule, I'm late! But I've got a good excuse, really.

Over the years I've learned how to do a wide variety of construction / remodeling jobs out of necessity when it came to remodeling our old farmhouse, building a garage for shelter from the MN winter, building Red Barn Retreats and most recently doing a lot of the work building the house Shelley and I live in.

Apart from personal work like this, I've hired out and helped friends with work they've wanted done. This past 3-day weekend was no exception.

Our friend is an award winning architect and had plans for a deck. Not just any plans, but plans for what I called the Swiss Watch Deck! A fun project with friends in spite of the high temps. Check it out...

During the July webinar I demonstrated how to carve 3 different Old English fonts. To start we sped through where to find fonts like this, how to install them on your computer and how to resize and reshape letters using Inkscape.

Here's a picture of the 3 fonts that we carved, capital letter "L".

If you'd like to watch the replay of this webinar and join us live for future webinars, click here to upgrade your membership to Platinum or Project-A-Month Membership.

The July Project-A-Month is personalized luggage tags!

The video tutorial shows you how to carve two more Old English fonts shown below. Talk about traveling in style!

Luggage tags are available here ORDER TAGS - Click Here

The option to apply a personalized initial is available.

Each Luggage Tag includes:

1- clear basswood blank

1 - plastic self-adhesive card sleeve

1 - leather strap

1 - gift box

Order yours NOW - Click HERE to order

Styles of Chip Carving Knives

Which type of saw would you use to cut a circle in a piece of plywood?

A. Circular saw

B. Jig saw

Answer: B. Jig saw

The width of a circular saw blade makes it impossible to cut a circle. With the wide metal blade in the wood the saw wants to cut a straight line.

But the narrow, thin jig saw blade makes it possible to twist and turn while cutting circles and curved shapes. Less metal in the wood makes it easy to cut non-straight lines.

Cutting Knife vs. Modified Knife

Now look at the MyChipCarving Cutting and Modified Knife shown below and answer the same question.

Which Knife would you use to chip carve the letter "S" ?

A. Cutting Knife

B. Modified Knife

Answer: B. Modified Knife

For the same reason you'd choose a jig saw to cut a circle, you'd choose the Modified Knife to carve the letter "S" because there isn't as much metal on the spine. A narrow blade means you're dragging less metal around the curve, just like a jig saw.

And conversely, if you are chip carving straight lines and three corner chips, you'd want a knife with more metal in the wood (think circular saw). The Cutting Knife will hold a straight cut better than the Modified Knife.

It's these design principles that make MyChipCarving Knives stand out from the rest.

What's a stab knife?

If you've read my book, Chip Carving Essentials, and have followed me for several years or more, you know that I used to make a MyChipCarving Stab Knife and sell it along with my other knives as a 3-knife set.

A couple of years ago I had to decide whether to continue making the Stab Knife. Sales of this knife weren't keeping up with the other 2 knives. Not being able to justify the production expense I decided to discontinue it. This knife still has it's use. If you want one you can find the Lamp brand at Woodcarverssupply.com. Tell 'em MyChipCarving.com sent you :-).

In the video below you'll see what the stab knife looks like and how it is used. It's an old video and the quality is really poor. Sorry.

Stab Knife

P.S. I'm grateful that you read what I have to share and for your ongoing support. It means a lot to me. Thank you!

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