The last few months I have really gotten into carving/whittling figures. Besides being fun and relaxing, I also find that it teaches me how to plan a cut and execute it without cutting myself or damaging the project. It also forces me to resharpen, a necessary skill in itself. I try to use a variety of knives, so that I have skill development with anything I pick up. Sometime back I saw an interview with Desert Dave Holladay in which he said, "I have this part of me that can make any knife I have functional and work great because I have my skills, not because of the knife". I agree with his statement, that at the end of the day, it's your knowledge and skillset that makes the tool perform.
Those are pretty. side note: look at all the beautiful things we can see in museums today that were made by the ancients with nothing more than a piece of knapped flint. Bears, bison, fish, scrimshaw scenes…the level of skill that took is mind blowing…
You know, that's a very good point you bring up - that primitive man held these animals in such esteem to craft sculptures and paint art of them on their cave walls. This Ray Mears video at 12:09 shows a primitive toggle fish hook made in aboriginal Britain, and has a fish with a hook in it's mouth coming out of water engraved on it, proof that gear can be functional and attractively decorated at the same time.
