Power vs. Control

There are times when spoon carving when you need power, and there are times when you need control. There is always a trade off between the two, and you need to be able to place yourself exactly where you need along this spectrum in any number of situations. Sometimes that means choking up on the axe or backing your hand off. Sometimes that means shifting your thumb a half inch up or down the spine of the blade when making a pull cut. Sometimes that means changing the angle of the edge engagement by a fraction of a degree.

All of these things should be in your repertoire.

It's worth remembering that you should be able to make any cut as delicately as you like. If you can't, it means that you don't understand this spectrum and need to spend more time trying to be delicate, figuring out what that means in terms of hand placement and body mechanics.

Similarly, you should be able to be quite powerful, but for obvious reasons I want you to explore this end of the spectrum AFTER you have a firm grasp of what it takes to be delicate. Make sure you understand the ramifications of trying to be powerful, how you might possibly hurt yourself, and take steps to prevent it. Remember that there are no prizes for being powerful, only the prize of not hurting yourself if you do a good job and avoid injury.

Much of the time, you can reduce the amount of power you need by being clever. Make your blanks thinner. Work your way down to your finished form in stages, cycling around to the same cuts two or even three times, each time being more controlled and refined as the width of wood you are trying to cut gets smaller and smaller. Build into the power as you get comfortable with it, and never forget that power carries with it all of the risk.