2020 GEC #62 Easy Pocket Congress and Pocket Carver Thread

Jiki said:
I'm going to just go with what Bill Howard said the intended purpose is for it to be a carving knife.
That being said it's your knife use it as you wish.
I understand Doug's point the main is thick compared to Drake or a Helvie, however I can do 99% of what I do with my Drake with my PC it is just slower sometimes.
It's just a beautifully designed and built knife that is easier to carry around than a purpose built carving knife.
Click to expand...

i mean, not to get technical, but if we’re merely going by what someone says, were cattle knives only intended to be used for cattle? (Or seahorse whittlers for whittling seahorses?:D). If you look at the GEC description in the production list it says “wharnecliffe”, “carver” and “carver”. We’d all agree that the carver blades are (tiny) wharnecliffes, So why the distinction? Its reasonable to assume the main blade is intended to be usable for anything you’d need a wharnecliffe for.

and your other point, which is related, “It's just a beautifully designed and built knife that is easier to carry around than a purpose built carving knife.“, implies that you do not believe this is a purpose built carving knife.

or in other words, if you really believed it was solely intended to carve, wouldn’t you refer to it as a purpose-built carving knife?

Point being- no one would critique a Bowie knife as being a bad carver because that’s not it’s design intent. I think we have more than enough reason to surmise the GEC-designated Wharnecliffe main is intended to be general purpose, which of course can include carving. The criticism of the main blade is whoever-pro-whittler’s opinion, but I think the expectation was not well informed. If you compare the main to the blade on the 2018 Wharnecliffe pemberton, they’re the same length, but no one considers that pemberton a purpose-built carving knife.

I personally think the knife is a great tool, and well suited to carving, but I i don’t believe this guy can fairly knock it any for the size of the main- I mean... look at a pictures of the knife! by inspection you’d have to realize the main blade is at least twice as thick as any one of the secondaries.

And furthermore, the only reason I care about accuracy of reviews is because I’ve been reading too many that say things like “my knife snapped when I was prying an anvil, two stars” or “I bought this #2 Phillips but it couldn’t fit my eye glasses screws, 1 Star”. Opinions are fine and Objectivity is better, but they only really count when the end user is well informed about what they’re buying.

and one final thought- I doubt a pocket knife will ever out-perform a well made fixed blade carving knife. Sacrifices are made for the convenience of folding knives. I’m not surprised that whoever this guy is feels like he still prefers the fixed blades.
 
EngrSorenson said:
i mean, not to get technical, but if we’re merely going by what someone says, were cattle knives only intended to be used for cattle? (Or seahorse whittlers for whittling seahorses?:D). If you look at the GEC description in the production list it says “wharnecliffe”, “carver” and “carver”. We’d all agree that the carver blades are (tiny) wharnecliffes, So why the distinction? Its reasonable to assume the main blade is intended to be usable for anything you’d need a wharnecliffe for.

and your other point, which is related, “It's just a beautifully designed and built knife that is easier to carry around than a purpose built carving knife.“, implies that you do not believe this is a purpose built carving knife.

or in other words, if you really believed it was solely intended to carve, wouldn’t you refer to it as a purpose-built carving knife?

Point being- no one would critique a Bowie knife as being a bad carver because that’s not it’s design intent. I think we have more than enough reason to surmise the GEC-designated Wharnecliffe main is intended to be general purpose, which of course can include carving. The criticism of the main blade is whoever-pro-whittler’s opinion, but I think the expectation was not well informed. If you compare the main to the blade on the 2018 Wharnecliffe pemberton, they’re the same length, but no one considers that pemberton a purpose-built carving knife.

I personally think the knife is a great tool, and well suited to carving, but I i don’t believe this guy can fairly knock it any for the size of the main- I mean... look at a pictures of the knife! by inspection you’d have to realize the main blade is at least twice as thick as any one of the secondaries.

And furthermore, the only reason I care about accuracy of reviews is because I’ve been reading too many that say things like “my knife snapped when I was prying an anvil, two stars” or “I bought this #2 Phillips but it couldn’t fit my eye glasses screws, 1 Star”. Opinions are fine and Objectivity is better, but they only really count when the end user is well informed about what they’re buying.

and one final thought- I doubt a pocket knife will ever out-perform a well made fixed blade carving knife. Sacrifices are made for the convenience of folding knives. I’m not surprised that whoever this guy is feels like he still prefers the fixed blades.
Click to expand...
I was fairly busy at work today so I didn't have time to come up with a reply to all these words. But I thought when I get home I will sit down and create some wonderful post.
When I arrived home there was a 7 year old boy in my garage (younger brother of my daughters friend) looking at all my carvings. He asked me how I did them and told me they were cool. So instead of a wonderful reply Bryson and I carved this little guy.
eq19g25.jpg


Again it's your knife use it as you wish. I'm going to carve in my garage with anyone who is interested.
 
Jiki said:
I was fairly busy at work today so I didn't have time to come up with a reply to all these words. But I thought when I get home I will sit down and create some wonderful post.
When I arrived home there was a 7 year old boy in my garage (younger brother of my daughters friend) looking at all my carvings. He asked me how I did them and told me they were cool. So instead of a wonderful reply Bryson and I carved this little guy.
eq19g25.jpg


Again it's your knife use it as you wish. I'm going to carve in my garage with anyone who is interested.
Click to expand...

He will treasure that carving, good job.:thumbsup:
 
:thumbsup:
Jiki said:
I was fairly busy at work today so I didn't have time to come up with a reply to all these words. But I thought when I get home I will sit down and create some wonderful post.
When I arrived home there was a 7 year old boy in my garage (younger brother of my daughters friend) looking at all my carvings. He asked me how I did them and told me they were cool. So instead of a wonderful reply Bryson and I carved this little guy.
eq19g25.jpg


Again it's your knife use it as you wish. I'm going to carve in my garage with anyone who is interested.
Click to expand...

That boy will remember that for years, that was so nice of you
 
EngrSorenson said:
i mean, not to get technical, but if we’re merely going by what someone says, were cattle knives only intended to be used for cattle? (Or seahorse whittlers for whittling seahorses?:D). If you look at the GEC description in the production list it says “wharnecliffe”, “carver” and “carver”. We’d all agree that the carver blades are (tiny) wharnecliffes, So why the distinction? Its reasonable to assume the main blade is intended to be usable for anything you’d need a wharnecliffe for.

and your other point, which is related, “It's just a beautifully designed and built knife that is easier to carry around than a purpose built carving knife.“, implies that you do not believe this is a purpose built carving knife.

or in other words, if you really believed it was solely intended to carve, wouldn’t you refer to it as a purpose-built carving knife?

Point being- no one would critique a Bowie knife as being a bad carver because that’s not it’s design intent. I think we have more than enough reason to surmise the GEC-designated Wharnecliffe main is intended to be general purpose, which of course can include carving. The criticism of the main blade is whoever-pro-whittler’s opinion, but I think the expectation was not well informed. If you compare the main to the blade on the 2018 Wharnecliffe pemberton, they’re the same length, but no one considers that pemberton a purpose-built carving knife.

I personally think the knife is a great tool, and well suited to carving, but I i don’t believe this guy can fairly knock it any for the size of the main- I mean... look at a pictures of the knife! by inspection you’d have to realize the main blade is at least twice as thick as any one of the secondaries.

And furthermore, the only reason I care about accuracy of reviews is because I’ve been reading too many that say things like “my knife snapped when I was prying an anvil, two stars” or “I bought this #2 Phillips but it couldn’t fit my eye glasses screws, 1 Star”. Opinions are fine and Objectivity is better, but they only really count when the end user is well informed about what they’re buying.

and one final thought- I doubt a pocket knife will ever out-perform a well made fixed blade carving knife. Sacrifices are made for the convenience of folding knives. I’m not surprised that whoever this guy is feels like he still prefers the fixed blades.
Click to expand...

I see both viewpoints... the main blade is large enough to use as a daily "user"... there's no issue there. And, to take up for Doug Linker, he didn't buy the knife in order to do a review on it. He said that he had "heard" about them, and wanted to try one. He has thousands of followers from all over the world, apparently, and he was asked in one of his live stream videos what he thought of it.
The "main blade is thicker than I like" was the ONLY negative he had about it. He said he would likely get someone to reprofile it, to make it thinner, the way he likes his knives to be.... not much different from my changing the sharpening angle on my users, in order to make them slice better.
Personally, I would hesitate to use mine for random mundane utility tasks, because once I got my angle the way I wanted it, I've done nothing to the edge except strop it... so if I damaged that edge cutting a zip tie off a table leg, it would take some work to get it back to smooth, mirror polished sharpness that is so helpful in carving.
It's not that I WOULDN'T do it, but I seldom am carrying only one knife, anyway. :cool:
These are great knives... no matter HOW you choose to use them.

And, one could argue that they ARE a purpose-built carving knife...they ARE called the "Pocket Carver", after all... :D
 
Jiki said:
I was fairly busy at work today so I didn't have time to come up with a reply to all these words. But I thought when I get home I will sit down and create some wonderful post.
When I arrived home there was a 7 year old boy in my garage (younger brother of my daughters friend) looking at all my carvings. He asked me how I did them and told me they were cool. So instead of a wonderful reply Bryson and I carved this little guy.
eq19g25.jpg


Again it's your knife use it as you wish. I'm going to carve in my garage with anyone who is interested.
Click to expand...
That carving is very cool... I like that style... just haven't mastered it yet.
This is my first attempt at a "freestyle" hillbilly, Texas cowboy-ish style ... I was going for a "duster" look on the coat. My proportions are sort of out of whack, so I see lots of room for improvement/variation, but.... that's the FUN part...:D
I have figured out that boots and hats are difficult to get just right... :oops:

jKH1db.jpg
 
hornetguy said:
That carving is very cool... I like that style... just haven't mastered it yet.
This is my first attempt at a "freestyle" hillbilly, Texas cowboy-ish style ... I was going for a "duster" look on the coat. My proportions are sort of out of whack, so I see lots of room for improvement/variation, but.... that's the FUN part...:D
I have figured out that boots and hats are difficult to get just right... :oops:

jKH1db.jpg
Click to expand...
That looks great!!
If you dont mind me asking what angle are you sharpening your PC at ?
Mine is ready for a touch up and I was going to use my sharp maker at 15 dps. Just didn't want to fight the factory grind too much and was looking for opinions.
I'm new to the who whittling thing and have zero experience. I'm still trying to perfect a mushroom carving and a chicken stick.
 
Scott J. said:
That looks great!!
If you dont mind me asking what angle are you sharpening your PC at ?
Mine is ready for a touch up and I was going to use my sharp maker at 15 dps. Just didn't want to fight the factory grind too much and was looking for opinions.
I'm new to the who whittling thing and have zero experience. I'm still trying to perfect a mushroom carving and a chicken stick.
Click to expand...
I really don't know... I just have been "eyeballing" it. I laid the blade down flat on the stone, then raised it up to the factory edge angle, then sort of split the difference. I think the idea is that you don't want any kind of break in the edge, so I sharpened it on the diamond stone at an almost flat angle. Once I had both sides evenly taken down to that angle, I finished it on a smooth ceramic block stone. THEN, I started stropping. 10 almost flat strokes on one side, then 10 on the other. I worked my way down to 1 stroke per side, and tried it out. Since I established my edge, I have only stropped.
Doug Linker is a great resource on youtube, and he can explain it better than I have. The way to test your edge is to try to slice an almost transparent slice off the end of a small piece of basswood. You should be able to shave it right off, leaving a perfectly smooth finish in the endgrain. These Pocket Carvers will do that easily... once you get the edge established and stropped.
Jump in and start making chips!
 
hornetguy said:
I really don't know... I just have been "eyeballing" it. I laid the blade down flat on the stone, then raised it up to the factory edge angle, then sort of split the difference. I think the idea is that you don't want any kind of break in the edge, so I sharpened it on the diamond stone at an almost flat angle. Once I had both sides evenly taken down to that angle, I finished it on a smooth ceramic block stone. THEN, I started stropping. 10 almost flat strokes on one side, then 10 on the other. I worked my way down to 1 stroke per side, and tried it out. Since I established my edge, I have only stropped.
Doug Linker is a great resource on youtube, and he can explain it better than I have. The way to test your edge is to try to slice an almost transparent slice off the end of a small piece of basswood. You should be able to shave it right off, leaving a perfectly smooth finish in the endgrain. These Pocket Carvers will do that easily... once you get the edge established and stropped.
Jump in and start making chips!
Click to expand...
Thanks!!
 
hornetguy said:
That carving is very cool... I like that style... just haven't mastered it yet.
This is my first attempt at a "freestyle" hillbilly, Texas cowboy-ish style ... I was going for a "duster" look on the coat. My proportions are sort of out of whack, so I see lots of room for improvement/variation, but.... that's the FUN part...:D
I have figured out that boots and hats are difficult to get just right... :oops:

jKH1db.jpg
Click to expand...
Nice work.

I pick up little tricks and techniques from Doug and the others I watch or read about. Then develop mine own little tricks as I I carve. Then put together the ones I like and there you go. For example the arms on the bear he is doing those a little differently and I like that technique and have been using it on my hillbillies. Always evolving.
 
Scott J. said:
Good stuff there!!
That blue bone is sweet.
When's your Castle wood due in?
Click to expand...
Thanks Brother ! Monday ughhh !! My dealer normally ships fast but was a little slow on this one . With the holiday plus 3 business days it finally shipped. Think I’m just spoiled with my go to dealer DLT that ALWAYS ships same day or next day at the latest:thumbsup:
When’s yours arriving ?
 
TheFactor said:
Thanks Brother ! Monday ughhh !! My dealer normally ships fast but was a little slow on this one . With the holiday plus 3 business days it finally shipped. Think I’m just spoiled with my go to dealer DLT that ALWAYS ships same day or next day at the latest:thumbsup:
When’s yours arriving ?
Click to expand...
Got it today!! It's #28/1133
There's a couple pics over in the "What's your latest addition" thread.
 
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