Carbon Wood carving knives & gauges

[kgd]

I have a good friend who is into carving and is quite good at it. He has a full set of gouges and different knives from a local supplier. The guy who taught him and runs a shop locally will be leaving in two years due to his dayjob company moving.

All his current knives have a plain wooden handle and say Made In Sweden on the handle. There is no markings on the blade and no indication as to the maker. They appear to be pretty good, but he is interested in trying other alternatives.

He is interested in looking at companies who forge their own blades (rather than re-sellers). Any recommendations?

Preferences are high carbon blades and ones that offer both a variety of knife styles and gouges. Best scenario would be recommendations based on users out there - I know there are a few first class whittlers out there!

Thanks for your help.

 

[raythebigfoot]

I'm not really sure if these blades fit your categories or not, but I am a huge fan of flexcut carving blades...I use them quite often for different wood working projects. I do know that they are carbon steel blades made from spring steel. They are small enough to easily use by hand with great precision but still have enough wood to use a mallet if necessary. Here are some examples of the ones that I am talking about.... there are a lot of different options.

http://www.woodcraft.com/search/search.aspx?query=flexcut

For gouges I especially like the palm tool sets..