Whittling Joe’s
Eagle Head Neckerchief Slide
(Beginner level project)

WHITTLING MATERIAL:
1.. A SHARP knife
2. A 3" x 3" X 3/4" piece of soft wood
3. Carbon paper
4. Pattern
5. Pencil

OTHER TOOLS:
1. A saw (band saw, scroll saw, or coping saw)
2. Fine grit Sandpaper
3. Vice (if using coping saw)

HELPFUL HINTS:  Place your blank board on the table so that the end grain has the same shape as a rainbow. Turn these ends so they are at your left and right when you’re looking down at the blank. The grain on the side of the board facing you should run up toward your knife hand. (Most of your cuts will probably be in that direction.) If it does not, simply rotate the board 180 degrees. This will help produce a smooth curl of shaving. EXCEPTION: In circumstances where you have an extremely thin portion to your slide, the grain should run lengthwise through the thin area. If the grain runs across the thin area it will break off easily.

Using a small section of carbon paper, trace the pattern onto the surface of the wood.  Then, cut the outline of the slide out using a thin bladed band saw, scroll saw, or coping saw.

Score (trace) the features with your knife blade. Easy does it! Press lightly and work in small increments. No sweeping cuts. When you actually begin whittling, this scoring will allow you to remove wood without popping out raised areas on your project.

LET’S WHITTLE:  DON’T use your knife hand to cut like a cave man making a spear. Your knife hand is a tool holder and a pivot. Your free hand holds your project. The thumb on the free hand is a fulcrum to help work the knife. As you pivot your knife hand, the free thumb applies the pressure to the back of the knife for the cut.

 

 

 Remove wood in small quantities. Let the knife to the work. If you take off to much wood at once it will be difficult to control your knife. Three things can happen if you are an aggressive whittler and two of them are bad.

  • You will be lucky and your cut will work out fine.
  • You will split, gouge, or otherwise mar your project.
  • You will lop off a finger.

Cut with the grain when possible. Be careful going across or against the grain. Whittle down to the depth of your scoring. Deepen your scoring if necessary and repeat your whittling.

Try not to leave a lot of right angles on a finished piece. For detailing, contour edges by taking small amounts of wood off at an angle. This dresses the piece nicely.

Finally, sand and paint.