Decorative knife carving

The carving knife likely pre-dates the chisel by a long way, and as a dedicated carving tool, it’s still relevant today. The correlation between softwood and knife blades is a practical reflection concerning the difficulty in making a clean cut in softwood and green wood when using a chisel. This is because the wedge shape of the chisel edge tends to crush the grain, whereas a knife can be used more effectively to make a clean cut by slicing across the grain.

1 Top: a long blade knife – where the sharp blade curves up to meet the spine – the original slöjdkniv (#105/106 – 80mm) where the #105 has the birch ‘safety handles’; Bottom: the #106 traditional Scandinavian barrel handle in birch

Until recently, the Scandinavian carving or slöjd knives were predominantly made from laminated steel. Today, there’s still a few traditional Norwegian knife manufacturers remaining, plus the Swedes making ‘classic’ or ‘Tollekniv’. However, the only mass-producer of the traditional slöjd or carving knives is Morakniv.

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2 Top: a short chip-carving blade #122 – (60mm) with a straight edge and spine that curves down to the tip, giving a more robust point; Bottom: somewhat different in shape from the more curved chip-carving blade common in middle-Europe and the UK

The current home of the former Frosts Knivfabrik, these are now available in both ‘traditional’ – birch handled laminated steel – and a ‘basic’ knife, which is plastic-handled with a thinner carbon steel blade. Finns also have the ‘puukko’, which the original slöjdkniv was presumably based on. The other useful ‘traditional’ Scandinavian carving knife is the double-handled späntkniv, which transliterates as ‘splitting-knife’ – otherwise called a push-knife and the opposite of the better-known drawknife.

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3 Top: the push-knife – späntkniv – #220 with either birch ‘safety’ handles or ‘classic red’ barrel handles, has a similar 114mm blade to, say, the small Flexcut drawknife; Bottom: the traditional general-purpose Tollekniv, which has a pointed 100mm utility blade


As with other carving tools, there’s no need to buy a ‘set’ as you may not use them all. However, the ‘set’ of Scandinavian woodcarving knives consists of the following:

  • Photo 1 (top) – a long blade knife, where the sharp blade curves up to meet the spine – the original slöjdkniv (#105/106 – 80mm) – where the #105 has the birch ‘safety handles’;
  • Photo 1 (bottom) – alternatively, the #106 traditional Scandinavian barrel handle in birch;
  • Photo 2 (top) – then there’s a short chip-carving blade #122 – (60mm) with a straight edge and spine, which curves down to the tip, giving a more robust point;
  • Photo 2 (bottom) – next, somewhat different in shape from the more curved chip-carving blade common in middle-Europe and the UK;
  • Photo 3 (top) – the push-knife – späntkniv – #220 with either birch ‘safety’ handles or ‘classic red’ barrel handles has a similar 114mm blade to, say, the small Flexcut drawknife;
  • Photo 4 (bottom) – the traditional general-purpose Tollekniv, with a pointed 100mm utility blade, completes the full set.

Knife-carving project

The project here aims to demonstrate the use of carving knives in the Scandinavian ‘flat plane’ style. I’ll go on to show the practical use of different knives for a ‘flat plane’ carving depicting a troll perched atop a fence post. Unfortunately, the common fence post is now a fast-grown Baltic pine, which has been pressure treated.

A poor carving timber at best, it’s further degraded by the tanalising process, which has replaced creosote, because, apparently, if you eat creosote, you get cancer! This turns the outer layers into rot-resistant mush. Although modern tanalising is more environmentally friendly, some care should still be exercised in its handling and disposal.

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4 To begin, I used a saw to notch the main features and knock off the corners

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5 The späntkniv can be re-oriented from pull to push cut

Due to the difficulties in roughing-out with a chisel, I started by using a saw to notch the main features and knock off the corners (photo 4). Having established the basic shape and re-sketched the pattern, the double-handed späntkniv is then ideal for the next stage of roughing-out, as the twin handles can be used to give the blade some leverage on larger chunks, yet, with care, fine shavings can still be taken.

Unlike a traditional drawknife, which is shaped to facilitate ‘drawing’ or pulling, the späntkniv can be re-oriented from pull to push – so reversing the angle of attack when used as a double-handed ‘push-knife’ – which is a great asset in carving (photo 5).

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6 The long slöjd knife can replace a straight chisel for stop-cuts, using downward pressure while sliding the blade along the stop-line

With its long, tough knife blade, the long slöjd knife can replace a straight chisel for stop-cuts, using downward pressure while sliding the blade along the stop-line (photo 6). The waste can then be eased out using an opposing slicing cut. However, you must ensure to not lever the blade here as it’s very easy to snap the long pointed hard-steel tip (photo 7).

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7 The waste can then be eased out using an opposing slicing cut

The ‘V’ tool can be replaced by a short-bladed chip-knife, where a pair of angled parallel incisions are used to intersect along the line of the required groove (photo 8). This straight blade is also useful for removing waste when used in a paring cut orientation, by rocking the blade into the stop-cut in much the same way as a chef’s knife is rocked when dicing vegetables (photo 9). As when peeling potatoes, keeping the opposing thumb well away from the blade is a good idea. Although the cut from a sharp knife does heal quickly, prevention is obviously far better than cure.

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8 The ‘V’ tool can be replaced by a short-bladed chip-knife

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9 This straight blade is also useful for removing waste using a paring cut, by rocking the blade into the stop-cut in much the same way as a chef’s knife is rocked when dicing vegetables

Laminated steel blades Both the Vikings and Saxons made and used laminated steel for knives. Although widely used in Scandinavia to the present day, the practice apparently declined in England after the Norman conquest and died out almost completely post industrialisation – apart from a few special plane irons. Handmade laminated blades are still made by folding a strip of high carbon steel into the middle of the blade and forge-welding the layers together using heat and a hammer.

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The hallmark hard edge can be clearly seen with the naked eye on a laminated blade as it’s a slightly lighter colour

Commercial laminated steel for knife blades is triple-layer, with a high-carbon RC 61-62 steel laminated between two layers of flexible medium carbon steel, all pressure-welded together by heat and high pressure rollers. The composite blade then has the benefits of a hard steel: a sharp edge with a flexible – tough – body.

While a hand-made folded-laminate may afford greater strength than a general-purpose Tollekniv, the industrial laminate actually provides a better steel for a slöydkniv, as it extends the hard – sharp – edge right to the very point. The hallmark hard edge can be clearly seen with the naked eye on a laminated blade as it’s a slightly lighter colour. This change in metallurgy also gives rise to the attractive patterns present in Damascene steels

Scandinavian grind

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A) Scandinavian grind – 25° – no secondary bevel; B) No.1 carving chisel – 30° – double bevelled; C) standard knife grind – 30° – with 40° secondary bevel

No, it’s not ‘inappropriate material’, just another ‘secret ingredient’ of the slöjd knife. A standard knife bevel is ground at 30° for the main bevel with a 40° secondary bevel, giving a strong structural cutting edge, much in line with a plane blade. As the laminated blade is tougher, you can use the Scandinavian grind at 25° with no secondary bevel, as the greater strength afforded by the hard steel core is well supported by the flexible mild steel outer blade.

By contrast, a No.1 carving chisel has a 30° bevel, with or without a secondary bevel. For comparison, the bench plane has an effective cutting angle of 45° and the bevel-up plane – for end-grain – has an effective cutting angle of 25°. Therefore, the Scandinavian grind is a better compromise for adapting to variable grain directions.

Tip

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Fig.1

Using a No.1 has the benefit over a carpenter’s chisel as it makes an even-sided ‘knife’ cut (Fig.1 – left) rather than a wedge-shaped cut (Fig.1 – right), which will allow the chip to break out evenly along the centreline when cut from either side. If you only have a carpenter’s chisel, the same effect can be achieved by running the chisel back along the line with the blade reversed.

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Amateur Woodcarving – by Iain Whittington

This article has been compiled from original information given in Iain’s book. Here, you’ll also find detailed instructions on the use of a computer and ‘Freeware’ for the preparation and manipulation of plans for Kolrosing, chip-carving and decorative carving.

Amateur Woodcarving was published with the support of GMC Publications and all proceeds donated to SSAFA – ‘The Armed Forces Charity’. It’s available in most book shops or online via Amazon

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