Anyone experienced with Flexcut's Carvin' Jack

Joined
Oct 14, 2004
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Hello all. I'm interested in perhaps purchacing one of Flexcut's Carvin' Jack knives. Does anyone have any feedback on this item? Any assistence will be appreciated. Thanx, B
 
I've got one, its a lefty. Good carving knife for the stuff I do. The steel is the same stuff that's in the other Flexcut carving tools.

This is high carbon non-stainless steel. The slipstrop and gold compound works well for me. You need to strop ever so often while you're carving, depending on the wood you use. I carve basswood and butternut and find that about the time I'm ready to take a break, it's time to strop.

Just remember that this steel isn't any super steel, you must maintain a razor edge when you work with it.

One word of caution about the Carvin Jack;

It ain't no state of the art folder that walks and talks, etc.

It has both verticle and horizontal blade play due to the lack of close tolerances in the blade locks and the blade pivot mounting design.

It is, however a good carving kit that fits in your pocket.

Word of caution;

When opening the various tools, the others want to come out as well. Make sure that you check and close the unused tools before beginning work, or you will get nicked by the partially opened blades.


Good luck,

Thomas
 
It's like anything else, if you get the tools you need and use, it's worth it. I like to carve frequently wherever I go and hauling a carving tool roll around isn't too handy. The Carvin Jack is a good option for me and worth the bucks.

The tools that are included in this kit can do things my pocket knives can't do, or at least do them more effectively.

Let me know how it works out if you get one.

Thomas
 
It should arrive in a few days. I carve mostly hardwoods and you 'scared' me telling me about blade wobble. We'll see... I definitely agree about the handiness of the different blade configurations. You should have seen my eyes light up when I saw it! I will let y'all know about my experience when I get it and put it through some paces. Thanx for your input.
 
For me, the blade movement issue isn't a big deal. Most carving is done with a gentle hand, most hogging off of large amounts of material is done in the roughing out stage with fixed blades (bench knives) or the like. The straight blade in the tool is a detailing knife, which is for light detail work.

I think you'll like it.

Thomas
 
Thomas, The wood that I am carving is 'weapon-grade' aged hickory (generally), old axe handles and new axe handles. I carve walking stix with a definite South Sea island war club 'flavor'. The stuff is rock hard and the slightest cut is an axercise in power, control and concentration. The sharpest blade needs plenty of 'power' to move in the wood! One slip and its 'to the bone'. Hence the 'wobble' scare. The fellow over at Flexcut just offered to send me the knife on trial when I told him what you said. He admitted to a 'bit' of lock wobble. I told him to send it anyway. We'll see..
 
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