help decide - Whittling under $40

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wolf413chris

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Jul 27, 2012
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can anyone suggest some knives to start me off on a new hobby of whittling/carving? are proper tools possible to start off at $40?

my interest is large spoons, small/medium animals, and walking sticks / stalves with some detail work.
 
traditional patterns: Whittler, Congress, Stockman etc. Really anything with a large blade for cutting to size and a smaller one/two for detail work, small nooks etc. I prefer a sheepsfoot for my main and a clip/wharncliff as a secondary.
 
Hey mate, nice to see more people getting hook on whittling, It's a wonderful hobby.
I don't know if you saw this thread because it's kind of hide on the forum, but It's worthy to have a look.

For whittling, any sharp knife will do the job, but my preference is at least two blades, a very pointy one wharncliff style and the other with rounded point like a pen blade or even a spear.
The pointy for the stop cuts and to mark the main features and the other for the fine detail.

IMO the most important thing is to keep the edge sharp and polished to efectively shave the wood.
With all that said:
- case medium stockman with sheepsfoot and pen blades (I would modify a little the sheepsfoot blade to a wharncliff for reaching the difficult corners) or the schrade Ed said before will be on your price point.
- GEC courthouse whittler, It's what I'm using know and It's beautiful and very handy. But It's a little over budget.

regards
Mateo
 
the schrade and case stockmans look like what i had in mind, how are the lock-ups on those? i plan on pairing somthing like that with a mora for the grunt work of shaping the wood to size and general shape. is a curved /hook blade needed also, for digging out the bowl in a spoon?

ps. with the schrade, i see lots of different names, but they look similar. like the juinior, senior, middleman, 34ot, 84ot, 8ot ect.. are those just refering to the size, handle, steel variations?
 
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#2/0 Original Mora (wooden handle/carbon steel) for around $10 dollars would be a nice general whittling knife. Spend the extra money on some sharpening stones/strop.
Also, some chip carving/whittling sets from a woodworking supply would be nice (eg: Highland woodworking, Woodcraft, Japan Woodworker) though you'll end up spending more than $40.
 
I did some carving/whittling last winter and found the Case Swayback a great tool. The larger wharnie for mass and the tiny pen for detail. Great lockup for a slippie and probably in your price range if you can settle for used.
 
A Victorinox Hiker is a great whittling knife. It has the big blade, small blade (which can be slightly reshaped to better whittle with), an awl, and the wood saw. All of which come in very handy while whittling.

Victorinox-Hiker-Lg.jpg


I know, I know, it's not quite as romantic as a more traditional knife, but it really is well suited to the task at hand.

(I have just started whittling again after many years away and I must admit that I only use my Vic Hiker about half the time. I, too, am a hopeless romantic...)

PS- I got mine on eBay for about $15...
 
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wolf413chris said:
the schrade and case stockmans look like what i had in mind, how are the lock-ups on those? i plan on pairing somthing like that with a mora for the grunt work of shaping the wood to size and general shape. is a curved /hook blade needed also, for digging out the bowl in a spoon?

ps. with the schrade, i see lots of different names, but they look similar. like the juinior, senior, middleman, 34ot, 84ot, 8ot ect.. are those just refering to the size, handle, steel variations?
Click to expand...

Mostly those are different sizes. The 34OT is the Middleman stockman, the 8OT is the Senior stockman. I like the 8 better than the 34 myself, but I have rather large hands. I generally use the spey blade of a stockman for carving the inside of spoons and such.
 
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The Uncle Henry series were usually stainless where the Old Timer series were usually carbon steel. Both were full flat grind, and ground fairly thin. About the only source left for USA made Schrades is the big auction site, Schrade USA went under years ago.
 
I like the mora carvers. Cheap and very good at the task. I have the carver and the spoon knife..

My other favourite tool for carving is my GB wildlife.. Its out of the price range but having a tomahawk to do the initial shaping saves heaps of time and effort.. IMO
 
check out "ragweed forge"...Ragnar has almost every mora made (and other nordic knives as well), and blade blanks too if you want to roll your own :D
 
Rough Rider makes a great 2 blade carving knife with a large handle......I have one and it is great..........Great price also.........carl.
 
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