# Help, need new whittling knife



## woodcarverhur (Aug 24, 2016)

I'm pretty new to wood carving. the first "wood carving knife" I had purchased was from a supply store that had a box of tools you can attach to a handle. It wasn't ideal, but I carved an owl out of it, but want something more durable and reliable. 

I saw this post here: http://www.bestwoodcarvingtools.com/top-10-best-whittling-knives/
and wasn't sure if these are good options. I've heard of a couple of the brands, but again I'm not sure on their reliability. 

Which one would you guys choose out of the list on this website?

Any input helps, thanks!


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## Steve Neul (Sep 2, 2011)

I don't know. I've been carving for more than 40 years and have never used a carving knife. Occasionally I will use an exacto knife or utility knife on some small details. I do all my carving with chisels.


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## BigJim (Sep 2, 2008)

I like a 2 inch blade shaped like the bottom knife, in the bottom picture. These are Helvie knives. I like the oval handle like in the first picture, not wild about the wood choice though.

Why don't you make your own knife?


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## WeebyWoodWorker (Jun 11, 2017)

The only carving knife that I own is a crook for making spoons. I forged that myself though, other than that I just use a plain old utility knife.


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## BigJim (Sep 2, 2008)

I have made most of my knives out of an old industrial hacksaw blade. The blade is thick and has the teeth section welded for about 1/4 inch beyond the teeth so it makes a great knife after removing the teeth.

Another good thing to make a good knife out of is a concrete nail, or file. There are a lot of metals out there really good to make a knife from. When making a knife, be very careful not to over heat the metal, if it turns color just a little, it is shot, until you retemper it.


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## Brian T. (Dec 19, 2012)

There are a bunch of blade smiths who mage knives for wood carving in particular.
The first step is to decide if one carving style (eg = chip carving or many flat-plane) is more appealing than another.
Then you find the blade smiths who make knife profiles for that.

Flexcut, Moor, Helvie are some. BrandantR (Old Stump) has a great talent for detail knives.
Go to his blog and see if you can find a picture of the knife he called the "caterpillar."

My carvings are mostly western red cedar and the designs are what I see in the wood, 
very strongly influenced by a lifetime in the Pacific Northwest.
So, most tools that I currently use are crooked knives and elbow and D adzes at the beginning.

You can make your own PacNW style carving knives by starting with a farrier's hoof trimming knife and changing the bevel
angle from 25 degrees to 12 degrees, scorp tip included. I've made maybe a dozen? 15? this way.
Lots of First Nations carvers do this and don't blink. 

Brand new, left and right, Hall brand farrier's knives are $50 each here.
Old, dirty, worn down Hall knives from the local farrier are $5 each.
Very hard steel, a lifetime of carving left in each one. Change the bevel and you're ready to go.

If it is your intention to buy PacNW carving tools, you can't beat Kestrel Tool and North Bay Forge.
Kestrel sells blades alone when you want to haft them yourself. No big deal and the handle fits you.


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## Toolman50 (Mar 22, 2015)

There’s whittling and there’s carving. 
Whittling can be done with a sharp pocket knife. For carving, I bought a set of palm carving tools from Woodcraft that I like a lot.


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## vicegrip (Dec 16, 2017)

I have a set from Stubai chisels. A pretty decent set for a novice like me. My first project with them was making letter blocks that were about two inches square for my 3 nieces and nephew. The letters I made spelled out their names. It took a little while to make them all, which ended up being 17 blocks. My current project is making a sign for my shop. I will upload a pic when I am done with it.


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