Instructions – Little Whittle LLC

Safety Tips – adult supervision recommended

Always use a SHARP knife.
A knife is a tool, not a toy – Safe methods must be used at all times.
Always use the safety circle rule – With arm outstretched and fingers open you should be able to turn in a circle without touching anything.
Always cut away from yourself.
Pay attention whenever using a knife.
Always be mindful of where the knife will go should it slip or the wood break.
When the knife is not in use it should be kept closed.
Cut resistant gloves are recommended – they are not a substitute for safe knifework.

NEVER throw your knife.
NEVER put pressure on the back of the blade while cutting. This could close the knife.
NEVER strip bark from a tree or carve initials into anything that does not belong to you.

Holding your knife

The knife should be held firmly. See the illustration. Place the knife in the hand as shown, then close the fingers over the handle. The blade should be in the “V” formed by the index finger and thumb.

Lock the thumb over the index finger, bringing the handle of the knife tight against the middle of the palm. This is called the Fist Grip. It is the best grip for the beginner and for those with knifes that have blades that do not lock.

Note: We recommend a fixed or locking blade. If using a non-locking blade you must be very careful not to push on the back of the blade such that you accidentally fold it.

Basic Cutting Technique

Whittling does not take a lot of strength, it does take patience. The cuts should be shavings and NOT chunks. For the best control, you want to remove a little at a time. An important cut is the STOP CUT (top), which give your shavings a place to stop. It is done by cutting down into the wood with a sawing motion. Most of the time you will be cutting away from your body with the LONG CUT (middle & bottom). Notice the two grips. The Fist Grip (middle) is a “slicing” cut. It tends to remove a lot of material at a time but it lacks the control that the other grip provides. The second grip the Push Grip (bottom), is more of a “pushing” cut. It offers the most control, but because of the pressure that can be put on the back of the blade with your thumb, we do not recommend this grip those who have blades that do not lock. As you become comfortable with your knife and whittling, it is likely that you will change to this grip.

Advanced Cuts

There will be times when you must cut towards yourself, at these times you will want to use the SHORT CUT (top). Notice that the hand holding the wood is behind the direction of the cut. You should cut away from yourself whenever possible. When you must cut towards yourself ensure that should the knife slip, or wood break, you will not cut yourself. This is accomplished both by ensuring the force you are using is low enough, and the cutting arc won’t result in the knife hitting you.

Many of our Critters have sharp curves or arches. The proper technique for cutting a curve is to place a Stop Cut across the grain (bottom). Then by working from both directions, you cut towards the Stop Cut. Try to cut with the grain when possible.

Reading the wood

Reading the grain of the wood can help a lot in getting better at carving, and preventing splitting off too much at once. All trees have grain, unfortunately basswood grain can be very difficult to see but it is still there. Luckily basswood has relatively mild grain which makes it matter less than some woods but it is still important.

Ideally you’d only ever cut “downhill”. This is when the cutting along the surface naturally cuts towards the next line of grain. If the grain goes into the part and you cut that direction (uphill), you will struggle to make a good cut, and could easily split off a large chunk. If you notice the knife cutting into the wood too easily, or diving into it, you are probably cutting uphill. Most of the time it is as simple as turning the critter around. Stop cuts (as mentioned above) are the other way to handle this as they will stop the splitting – if they go deep enough.

Generally the grain runs lengthwise for all our critters. So if you hold it level, when you are cutting the top you want to be cutting in the direction that slopes down (hence the term downhill). If you’re cutting on the bottom the same terms work you just need to be holding it upside-down and level. Being a natural product, there are of course exceptions, and the grain can have some slope or curve to it so if you notice the knife diving or splitting out more wood then intended make a note of that and try carving the other direction for that area.

General recommendations (applicable to all our Critters)