Mini-Mage with knife, all carved and painted!

This little carving is all done! A tiny wizard, his ritual knife in hand, ready to cast out evil or carve a baked ham. 

A little green paint, and my new whittlin' knife is all done!

Oil paint can take a while to dry, but I'm very happy with how this turned out. I hit the high areas of the knife marks with some sandpaper, giving the paint a time-worn look. A thin layer of shellac protects the paint nicely.

Taking my newly-handled whittlin' knife for a test drive

My new knife carves beautifully. Mora blades always sail through wood, and I'm pleased with the handle I carved and fixed to the steel. The blade is set straight and strong, while the handle is nice and comfortable. I've experienced no hot spots, and no "dangling pinky" effect, since this handle is longer than most. Next I plan to give the handle some color with a little oil paint.

For a test run, I carved some hearts(while my MereWere robot coffee mug looks on.) The wood used is birch from the same piece as the knife's new handle.

A hand-carved handle for my carving knife!

Here's my second attempt at giving this blade a handle. The first try, seen here, was a failure. The wood is birch, donated from my a tree in front of my parent's house. The steel is a Frost's Mora, purchased from Ragweed Forge. I made the handle more substantial this time, both wider and longer, while retaining a neutral shape which gives the opportunity for a variety of grips. Plus, the longer handle gives me more room for a full grip when doing hours of full-arm cuts (aka spike troll carving!)

I've always wanted a carving knive with a longer handle, and here it is!

Destroy it and start over!

I've always wanted a carving knife with a hand-carved handle. The idea here is to leave strong "whittle marks" and show an overall rustic appearance. I ordered a Mora knife blade from Ragweed Forge, and it got to me in two days time. Using some birch my dad gave me, I carved up a nice, comfortable grip in the Swedish tradition. I drilled a hole deep enough for the tang, then pounded the blade into the wood. Oops! Too much force, not enough measuring. I had failed to account for the flaring of the tang just before the blade starts, and split the wood. I knocked the failed handle off with my chisel-like CRKT Razel, and headed back to the drawing board.