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  6 0 My only advice, based on personal experience, is to keep an old, clean towel handy, as well as a person who is sober enough to drive you to the emergency room. Fnarf answered in Craft Week about 1 year ago | Report 5 comments by Geni, Fnarf, and Geni… 0 0 *snort* Geni commented about 1 year ago | Report 0 0 My left thumb is covered with scars. The first one was self-inflicted with a brand new Buck knife on Christmas Day, a dime-sized piece off the tip. My sister drove. The worst was not from a knife at all, but from a jug wine bottle in the trash with a chip out of the neck, which my thumb neatly entered as I was pushing down onto the garbage to make room for more. That one went to the bone, and I went to the ground. I couldn't straighten my thumb out all the way for more than ten years. Fnarf commented about 1 year ago | Report 0 0 We (my husband and I) have been to the ER so many times with hand injuries between the two of us that I think the trauma nurses are beginning to think we have some sort of finger mutilation fetish. Let's see - he cut the tips off two fingers with a table saw (they sewed them back on through the fingernails, which was kind of cool to watch), I caught a food processor blade that was falling (12 stitches in my thumb), he fell on sharp rocks and lacerated hell out of his thumb, and there's one other that escapes me. It's getting embarrassing. Geni commented about 1 year ago | Report 0 0 ...and I have become quite expert at finger bandaging, to the point that they were impressed with the bandage on his thumb with that last one, and asked who did it for him. We have the little finger-cage thing for the tubular bandage and everything. Geni commented about 1 year ago | Report 0 0 OK, "stitches through the fingernails" trumps my "broken bottleneck". Blech. As a frequent finger-mutilator who is also an OCD tabletop tap-tap-tapper, those finger cages have been indispensable. Fnarf commented about 1 year ago | Report Enter your comment or ask a new question New comments are not being accepted at this time.

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  4 0 Get out! Whittling!? I LOVE YOU! I mean, er... Look what I found for you, woodchuck! It's a Seattle shop and it has everything a NewbieWhittler like you could need: http://www.littleshavers.com/ Seriously, they have classes, on-line tutorials, and supplies galore. (I am harboring a desire to food-carve so maybe we can hang out sometime... you bring a tree and I'll bring a melon, right?) Watch those fingers, ok? Moxie answered in Craft Week about 1 year ago | Report Comment on this answer Enter your comment or ask a new question New comments are not being accepted at this time.

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  1 0 The tools & rules are simple: Buck knife. Or a swiss army knife in a pinch. and a whetstone, to use as needed. carve AWAY from your body at all times. + Practice. start with balsa, then soft pines (but not fresh / sappy: that SUCKS). Alder is easy to get around here, and okay for practicing (though tends to chip out on more 3D pieces). Maple makes good walking sticks and is pretty forgiving for the 3D stuff. Please save old strong hardwoods (like oak) for last. By far my fav is western red-cedar though. If you can carve a whistle, you've arrived as a whittler. ;) Best of luck! Rev.Enant answered in Craft Week about 1 year ago | Report Comment on this answer Enter your comment or ask a new question New comments are not being accepted at this time.

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• Reputation: 107 Q&A: 4 0 0 27 0 0 Classifieds: 0 0 what's this? Expert: 1 topic Craft Week Follow Following 0 Rosalie

  0 0 #1: You need to either move to the South or to Minnesota. Minnesota is better for chainsaw sculpture (a subset of whittlin') while the South is better for the traditional whittlin' fare. Supplies/Tools: I think since poor people invented whittlin' to pass the time, the supplies aren't going to set you back much. In fact, anything you can use to mar some wood is going to do just fine. And as for the kind of wood - don't go fancy. Fancy = harder which in turn = worse for whittlin'. Now, having moved here from Minnesota 10 or so years ago, I'm sorry to say that most of my grizzled old man contacts have shriveled up - so I can't help you there. You might want to put an ad on Craigslist with a cute picture of yourself asking for the same thing - I'm sure you'll get some volunteers. You may also have some luck with these resources: Zen and the Art of Whittling Wood Trails: A blog about whittling Video: Whittling Wood Happy Whittlin'! Rosalie answered in Craft Week about 1 year ago | Report 4 comments by Luckier, Rosalie, and Sphinx… 0 0 I must protest! Have you ever driven out on the penninsula? There are loads of chainsaw carvers out there. Luckier commented about 1 year ago | Report 0 0 hmmmmm... Perhaps a large number of Minnesotans relocated there. You can tell because they are large and loud and paste-ey white. Rosalie commented about 1 year ago | Report 0 0 I resent that, Rosalie; I am large and *quiet* and pasty white! Sphinx commented about 1 year ago | Report 0 0 Me too! -- well, except the quiet part. Rosalie commented about 1 year ago | Report Enter your comment or ask a new question New comments are not being accepted at this time.

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  0 0 The last time I whittled was probably at camp when I was about 8-10 years old, and I sliced my finger up pretty well. The used to let kids have knives back when I was a yougin'! As others have said: be sure to carve AWAY from your body at all times. For god sakes, watch out for your fingers. Practice with something like a swiss army knife and a small piece of wood first. The picture of the eagle above looks more like carving than just whittling. Now I need to look up the definition of whittling to see if it includes complex carvings. I really thought it was just shaping small pieces of wood. Kristin Bell answered in Craft Week about 1 year ago | Report Comment on this answer Enter your comment or ask a new question New comments are not being accepted at this time.

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