Finally, a chance to talk about mummies.

While I'm without photo uploading abilities, let me share a couple of links. First is an excellent post on Ötzi the Iceman's kit. If you've never heard of Ötzi, he's the world's oldest natural mummy, and a wealth of information on the early European bronze age. The things he carried reflect a time of overlap between stone and bronze technology. It's interesting how little our bushcraft kits have actually changed. (thanks to Gorges Grouse for the heads-up on this.)

The second thing I'd like to mention is the discussion over on BladeForums to add a Whittling and Crafts subforum. I'm all for it of course. If you are too, then please add your voice to the discussion.

On the Wonderful Whittlin' front, I'm currently whittling up some toy horses with saddles and harness, as well as the usual armload of spike trolls. I hope to get around to making some ball-in-cage carvings too. Time will tell.

Becker Knives fork carving competition (part 2- completed)

The difficult parts of any carving are also the most delicate. On this fork those parts would be the tines. They have to be thin enough to spear food, but thin means vulnerable to breakage. A broken tine would stick out like a missing thumb.

When I started my foray into whittling I was very hesitant to carve away too much material. This reluctance resulted in lots of "fat" whittlins early on. While it's true you can't put those wood chips back on, you do need to shave enough of them off so your projects don't look like Hurley from "Lost." It was a lesson learned the slow way.

So this fork was carved to be thin, like an actual functional fork you'd find on the dinner table. The only blade used was the Becker BK11, as per the contest rules. I sanded it smooth with some beach stones, then dyed it by soaking it in berry juice. I really like how it turned out.

Becker Knives fork carving competition

The Beckerheads over on BladeForums are holding a fork carving contest. The top three prizes are Becker knives!

The fork must be carved using a Becker knife, so I'm using my BK11, aka the Becker Necker. I'm learning that it's a good knife with a nice thin blade suitable for carving but it could use some more comfortable scales. Occasionally the finger guard gets in the way of a good grip, but overall it's an excellent knife for the task. Also, my cord wrapping skills need improvement. The orange 550 cord I wrapped keeps coming loose.

This is my fork so far. I'll post again when it's all done.