Whittling Project: Trapped Object in a Cage

Started by Ampera, August 14, 2020, 02:43:37 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

Ampera

As one of my stranger pursuits I've taken up whittling/woodcarving, just as something to do with bits of free time, calmly. Some people just do shavings for the heck of it, but I've been during purposeful carvings, and this is my first creation.

By no means is it any good, and there are more mistakes to count. I could take it further, but I'd rather keep it to contrast with what I do next, and so that I can put more time and effort into a second attempt at some point.

The carving is of a trapped object (a sort of rough cylinder here), in a cage.





For my absolute first time ever carving wood ever, this was a particularly complicated idea, but I'm happy that I was able to do it. There are tons of mistakes, and zero finishing time was spent on this, as while I always want to finish what I start, enough noobie marks were made that I'd rather move onto something else, having accomplished what I set out to do.

I did gain excellent knowledge as to how to control the knife, and what does and does not work for carving, and I'm sure given 1-3 more tries I could get something that looks pretty good. In total this took weeks to make, but I only gave it very occasional attention.

If you are interested in doing stuff like this, the best suggestion I can give right now is get good gloves. Mine are advertised as cut resistant, and out of liability I won't say which ones, but get something that's either very thick leather, or is known to not be easy to cut. If I hadn't worn gloves like that, there would be a time or two my fingers would have gotten it.

The knife I used was a Beaver Craft thing I got off Amazon, out of not knowing anything. There are worse knives, but likely they could be found with the plastic cutlery at Boston Market. It's soft steel (at least my swarmy file could nick it), and holds an edge like someone without hands holds a glass. Despite only cutting soft basswood, there are already small chips in the blade. It's also a sideways knife (not a chisel), meaning a lot of awkward cuts and angles are just not easy to do.

I've thought about making my own blades specifically for this, why not pick up one hobby while doing another, but I'd need to get some equipment for that.

Until then, this was a fun thing to do, and I hope I'll get more carvings. I have plenty of wood blanks, and can always get more.