Cut of the Week

On our last meeting Ben B cut him self really bad. I mean REALLY bad! You can not tell from the fuzzy picture above which is good, because although it did not bleed much and the blade missed important ligaments, this one was so graphic even thinking about it makes me sick. Apparently he was having some heated conversation at the time of the accident. I later examined his piece of whittling and there was a definite dangerous path for the knife in it.

6 hours at the A&E next to drunk city-boys. 3 stitches.

be ware

take care

Cut of the week

This cut is not sustained from whittling. Jack´s quick development in the art of knife-sharpening has turned every blunt piece of metal into a razor. I was just cutting some lettuce.

Cut of the Week

Jack´s most recent cut

It seems as though we had a dip in number of cuts for a while. Maybe because there has been less alcohol and more coffee, or maybe because we have sharper knives and more skill & patience. Who knows...

But you can never escape them really. Ever.

Cut of the Week - Square is Red

- CIRCLE IS BLUE!
- TRIANGLE YELLOW!
-SQUARE IS RED!

From 10th meeting; Gery´s cut of the week...

Fish &c. -- the 8th meeting of the BTWC

Photocopy hand-out for the 8th meeting

Definition from etymonline.com:

scrimshaw

1864, back-formation from scrimshander ("Moby Dick," 1851), scrimshonting (1825), Amer.Eng. nautical word, of unknown origin. Scrimshaw is an Eng. surname, attested from 1154, from O.Fr. escremisseor "fencing-master."

Arrrrrrrrrhhhh. Skrimshanders avast. Whittling mediates all sorts of social and artistic functions; the word applies as much to an action performed on some material as it does to one performed on an abstract notion, such as TIME. During months at sea, sailors, and particularly whalers, passed time carving in the tooth and bone of their catches, creating an art form known as scrimshaw. In the 1980s, our voracious demand for soft ice cream made with delicious whale-blubber brought whales to the brink of extinction, so we now have to carve in wood.
Recommended Reading: Chapter 57 of Herman Melville's Moby - Dick, or, the Whale
Recommended Viewing: Bart the Fink esp. Captain Macallister's scene with Handsome Pete.

Whittlers assemble

Ben T started on his Montauk monster. A mysterious creature from the sea.

Sheeran made a bundle of rope

Ray with Ray-bans

Cut of the week: Jacob laughs hysterically, thinking he has cut off his fingertip. It turned out to be ok, but the blade went through the fingernail.

Spherical oyster-like object by Millie

Scrimshaw by Jack. Basically just pencil on cuttle-fish bone.

This comb by Ben T is yet to be finished

Cuttlefish figure by Jana

Think Jamie whittled this one.

This unfinished head was whittled by Jamie out of aromatic cedar.

The chills of death by Adam

Cut of the week (from 6th meeting)

Ksenia got the first decent cut (above), but it could hardly be matched by the one Shelly got a bit later where she cut off a solid chunk of skin which landed on the handle of the knife (below).

Cut of the week

The only "real" cut of the last meeting. It was performed by Jamie. There was some other smaller ones, but not worth spending plaster on besides John´s who stabbed himself in the nail.

Cut of the week

The cut came in on a parallel angle to the finger so it is not deep but the area affected is quite big.

Cut of the week

Just a small red drop

Cut of the week

Maeve had the cut of the week as she tried to whittle Cheburashka (pictured above).

At first, the second meeting of the BTWC seemed to get by without any incidents, but towards the end the cuts became frequent with some people cutting themselves in the exactly same spot twice. Tiredness combined with a slight frustration over the slow progress of whittling, can tempt one too use force on the blade in an incorrect way. The action steps might then proceed something like this:

bad grip

grain split

knife slip

skin rip

blood drip

Beside Maeve´s, most of the cuts were not very deep and a clean cut with a sharp knife heals fast. Luckily BTWC always keeps its knifes sharp.

Cut of the week

The first gathering of the Whittling-Club had a 40% cut-accident ratio among the members so we have several candidates for the Cut of the Week this time around. Most notable is maybe Ben B. for the deepest cut of the week and Amy for the sexiest cut of the week.

Ben's Cut

Amy's Cut

Thanks Amy and Ben.
Thanks also to Ben T. and Jack for their contribution of small cuts.

Cut of the week

Ksenias cut of the week. She is washing off some paper that got stuck in the cut after she gaffa-taped her finger to stop the bleeding.

Cut of the week

Jack's cut of the week:

"This was a cheeky little cut, I barely felt it, and not much blood to show for my trouble. Later I added to it by jabbing a perpendicular incision near the base of the cut so that it formed a kind of cruciform shape." - Jack