#12 Sand Knife

At Harrison in 1996 I met several other sand sculptors. One of them had an offset-handle spatula that she used very effectively. I wanted one like it but couldn't find it anywhere.

As an interim solution I made this tool. Its job is outside slicing, which is fairly common in my style of sculpture. I like a tapered shape, and until I build a tapered form I'll just have to convert a cylinder to a frustum using a knife like this one.

I intentionally shaped the handle to my hand. I also centered the cutting edge within the grip. The combination of these characteristics makes this tool a delight to use. The design puts my knuckles into the sand on any broad curve but for many other tasks this tool works very well.