Klavio Wood Carving KitHow to use it

You have the kit.
Here is how to start.

Everything on this page is the printed manual from your box, in a form you can keep open on a phone while you carve. Take your time on the first one.

Klavio Wood Carving Kit · 32 pieces

The full Klavio wood carving kit laid out: eight knives, leather roll, basswood blocks, carved bear, spoon blank, gloves, strop, sharpening stones and manual

Holding the knife.

Almost every problem a beginner has comes from holding the knife loosely and taking too much wood at once. Three things fix that.

The grip Whole palm on the handle Thumb along one side, four fingers on the other. The force comes from the palm and the fingers together, not from the wrist.
The other hand Support the blade near the handle Your free hand steadies the blade close to where it meets the handle. That is what gives you control.
The cut Small amounts, many times Set the angle with the knife hand and let the fingers holding the wood help push the blade. Remove a little at a time and repeat until the shape appears.

Three cuts to learn first.

Nearly everything in the manual is one of these three, or a combination of them.

Cut one Push cut Wood in one hand, knife in the other. Put the thumb of the knife hand on the back of the blade and push it forward. The most common cut, and the one for removing larger chunks.
Cut two Paring cut Hold the knife with four fingers, cutting edge pointing towards your thumb. Rest that thumb on the wood near the area you are carving, and pull the blade downward. Like peeling a potato.
Cut three Stop cut Cut straight into the wood where you want the cut to end, so nothing runs past it. Then push cut from the start towards it, and cut the stop again to free the chip.

Your first carving, in four steps.

Start by picking a block that suits what you want to make. A fish is the usual first project, and every tool it needs is in the box.

Gloved hands holding a basswood block with a fish outline drawn on it

STEP 1

Draw the outline

Pencil the shape onto the block, on the front and the back, so the two line up.

The fish outline being cut around with a carving knife

STEP 2

Cut to the contour

Take off the excess wood outside your lines. Push cuts, small and repeated.

A gloved hand shaping the rounded body of the wooden fish with a knife

STEP 3

Round it into three dimensions

Chip away the corners until it stops being a flat shape and starts being an object.

The finished carved wooden fish with scales and fins cut into it

STEP 4

Carve the detail

Scales, fins and eyes last, with the detail knife and stop cuts. Then you are done.

Sharpening and polishing.

Sharpening takes practice, and a dull blade is both harder and more dangerous to use than a sharp one. Strop often. Only reach for the grey compound when the blade has actually gone dull.

  1. Clean the blade.
  2. Put the grey compound on one side of the leather strop for sharpening, and the green compound on the other side for polishing.
  3. Hold the blade against the strop at 15 to 20 degrees.
  4. Sharpen on the grey side: pull the blade backwards, 10 to 15 strokes per side.
  5. Polish on the green side: the same again, 10 to 15 strokes, always pulling backwards, both sides.
  6. Test the edge on a piece of scrap wood.
  7. Strop often. Use the grey side only when the blade is dull.
A hand drawing a carving knife backwards across the leather strop with green polishing compound

Before you start

Please read this part.

The blades arrive sharp. That is what makes them safe to cut with and worth respecting.

Children need an adult

If children are carving, an adult supervises and guides them the whole time.

Gloves stop cuts, not punctures

The gloves are made to resist a blade sliding across them. They will not stop a tip going in, so never carve towards your hand.

Check the handle

Before each session, check the handle is tight on the blade and has not worked loose.

Something wrong with the kit, or a question about using it? Write to support@klaviostore.com and we will help.