How do you carve these lesta? I’m from Sweden trying to make a puukko but i can’t figure out how to carve something thin like this without it chipping itself apart

by Thermawrench

12 comments

  1. My main trouble as of now carving out the middle space where the knife is supposed to go. All my prototypes have lead to the wood just shattering. Nor do i get such nice walls on the sides. What tool is used here?

  2. Probably using a small chisel, or modern guys use a dremel

  4. I made one in school back in the days. If I remeber correctly, I took a block of wood and sawed it into smaller blocks, then drilled holes through them to make the space for the knife and filed the holes to proper size, glued the blocks together and carved the block to shape.

  5. By making the inside first and then simply grinding the outside thinner?

  6. Do the carving on thicker wood and when it’s good for your blade, sand it down to wanted thickness.

    Or do it with a carving machine.

  7. Doesn’t look like very hard wood. Maybe you should use rowan, ash or oak?

  10. I usually carve the lesta with the knife I’m making so it’s easy to try if it fits. Start from a bigger block of wood and make the place for the blade first and then thin it out.

  11. Use very thin plywood, cut out the innermost layers, stack and glue

  12. Carve the inside part on larger part. Router is handy. After it is perfect, saw the part out. Glue the other side in there. U want it snapp ie quite tight. I tend to keep the blade in the lesta while grinding/carving the outside to my satisfaction. Add tape if necessary. Last part drill a small hole at the point to allow water to drain. Then start wet shaping the hilt and so on.

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