Anyone whittle?
The pieces of wood that come off. What are they called?
Chips?
Shavings?
Slivers?
?
Anyone whittle?
The pieces of wood that come off. What are they called?
Chips?
Shavings?
Slivers?
?
Shavings is the term I've generally heard in conjunction with whittling.
Though, it may depend on the type of whittling being done.
Chips, shavings and slivers describe different things with different structures.
Shavings tend to be long thing strips, so thin that they tend to curl up.
A chip is flattish, but about as long as it is wide.
A sliver on the other hand, is long, but narrow and stiff, usually pointed and sharp on at least one end. It would somewhat resemble a tooth pick.
If you are just reducing a stick to pass time, you'll probably end up with mostly shavings.
On the other hand, if you are doing small scale carving with the intent to produce a specific and recognizable form, it's possible to produce all three. A lot would depend on the size and shape of the original piece of wood and what needs to be removed to achieve the desired form.
I think all three are used. Chip carving produces chips and the motion is to push the knife or small chisel into the wood. Scraping the knife produces shavings or slivers. Sawing the knife to produce a score around a wooden part produces shavings. Shavings and slivers sound correct to me personally.
For just Buck knife cutting it's shavings. If other tools are added, more terms are used. Chips, slivers, etcetera. I believe the terms vary by region as well.
I think all three are used.
In that case, maybe use "chips" when using "carving" and "shavings" when using … "slicing"?
The chips flew from his carving, while the shavings slid from his slicing technique.
Either fits, but the alteration makes for more powerful phrasing.
Thanks.
I originally wrote "shavings" but when I googled it I didn't find that term. I found the others. I'm back to shavings.
Shavings if all you're doing is using a simple knife to kill time, or to sharpen a piece of wood.
If you're actually doing carving, then the small pieces have different names. The point being, when you're just whittling, all you're doing is shaving the piece of wood to have something to do with your hands.
If you're actually doing carving,
I specifically said whittling rather than carving because he was just passing time whittling a piece of wood on the porch while the two women spoke.
"Spill", "flakes", "chippings", and my favorite "wittlings" are other words you can play with. See what sounds good in any actual actual sentence?
Sometimes I have characters label things wrong in conversation, thinking it witty or charming, and then I get messages telling me some anal truth.. uggh.
Call them wittlings, put it in single quotes or italics if it adds anything, and look at how beautiful the sentence ends up being?
Sometimes I have characters label things wrong in conversation, thinking it witty or charming, and then I get messages telling me some anal truth.. uggh.
"Charming carving chips", "slender slivers from shaving the stick" or "Worthless whittlings as he whiled away the time". Take your pick. All add a nice touch without actually changing the meaning at all.