Keep Your Carving Knife Sharp and Safe When Not In Use

As important as it is to the success of your wood carving, to keep your wood carving knives sharp while carving, it is equally imperative that you keep the blades from getting damaged when not using them.  If you use some type of tool box or carrying devise for you wood carving tools and knives, they will have an opportunity to hit together and damage each other, if not protected properly.  Not being protected against each other is also a safety risk to you as the wood carver also.  If you have unprotected sharp edges, you run the risk of cutting yourself when you reach for your wood carving tool and wood carving knives in the transporting container.

There a few really good ways to protect your wood carving edges:

• Wooden Knife Protectors

These can be made from two pieces of wood.  Take two pieces of wood about 3/8 inch thick and lay them out on your work bench.  Lay the knife blade of the knife that is going to be protected down one of the pieces of wood.  Draw a slightly larger outline around the blade than the actual blade.  Now make a stop cut around the outline and use a skew or chisel to remove a small amount of wood, so that the blade sits flush with the wood in the newly created recess.  Now using 5 minute epoxy, glue the two pieces of wood together.  Using a clamp to keep the wood in close contact until it is completely dry is a good idea.  The cover is not ready to be cut to your desired shape on a scroll or band saw.  You now have a carving knife blade cover.  Many people will go a step further and carve some type of figure out of the wood.

• Plastic Tubing

Surgical tubing or plastic tubing that is a snug, but not extremely tight fit over your wood carving knife or tool blade is another great and inexpensive way to go.  Cut a small   piece that will fit over the cutting edge.  Now insert your wood carving tool or knifes blade into the tubing and it is protected.

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