The thumb guard

Probably the wisest thing I've ever made in regards to carving

A right hand wearing a stitched leather sheath over it, with an added layer of leather over the pad of the thumb, with wood shavings visible on a canvas tarp behind it.

Probably about the smartest thing I could have invented in regards to carving. As you can see from a photo in The Scythe, I used to carve with just my bare hands. And that's bitten me a few times, in more ways than one! So about the time that I got the scorp, which is *insanely* sharp, and cut... quite deeply into my thumb, I decided that I needed to protect my hand, my thumb mainly, that I was naturally pulling the blade towards. And so, I took some scrap chunks of leather, and stitched a few together into something that vaguely looked like it would go over my thumb (which worked out quite well for shape, given I was working with literally random shaped scraps of leather), and that turned out quite nicely, and has saved me from I can only imagine how many sliced thumbs, and potential nerve damage.

And we didn't stop there, we threw on an extra layer over the pad where the knife would mainly be pressing into, and stitched that on in only three corners so that it itself could be easily replaced.

And so, we have a well-protected thumb, and honestly, at this point I won't even start to carve unless I can find this thing. That, or for any readers, at least start by wrapping your thumb in like... 10 layers of tape, and start with that, that's what I used before making this stitched leather thing. It'll at least absorb most of the cuts, and you will need to replace it fairly often if not just due to sweatyness (which hasn't been an issue with this version, awesomeness!), but protect your thumbs people! Carve safe ^_^

Made somewhere around 2019

A leather finger sleeve made from three different colours of stitched leather scraps, one yellow, one grey, and one a darker tan colour. It's laying face up to show the triangular darker tan extra patch stitched over the front of it at three points. It is laying on a canvas tarp surrounded by wood shavings.

The back of the finger sleeve, which just looks fairly plain and normal aside from being three colours of stitched together leather, laying on the tarp covered in wood shavings.

Kabutroid wearing the thumb guard over her right thumb, showing how it fits and how it's worn.

Kabutroid pressing the blade of one of her carving knives into the tip of the sleeve, as though she had finished a carve and the blade pressed into the leather.

Kabutroid holding a block of wood with the carving knife dug into the wood, holding the back of the wood block with the sheathed thumb, and it demonstrates how you would be pulling the blade towards your thumb with your fingers while carving a piece of wood that is being held.