Planing

Practicing a technique I recently became familiar with called Planing. I’ve found it a quick, safe and practical way to remove a lot of material from a work piece with just a knife. You simply grab any kind of baton (a sturdy branch for example), pound your knife’s tip into a suitable log (to use as your work space) with the blade facing away from you, ensuring it is securely locked into the surface. You then take a firm grasp of the handle with your dominant hand. Placing your thumb on top of the knife’s butt provides a safe guard so your hand can’t slide down the handle towards the blade. To proceed use your non-dominant hand and run your work piece along the knife’s edge, slowly pulling it towards yourself, adjusting the angle according to how deep you want the cuts to be. The higher the side angle the deeper the cut.

Any interesting tips/tricks regarding knife work you’d like to share? Feel free to comment if so!