Help me buy a good whittling knife for a friend.

Jakeywax31

Jakeywax31

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I am not a whittler but have a good friend who is. Wanting some good suggestions on a good all around whittling pocket knife. I am way out of my element. Looking to spend around 70 to 100 dollars. I have seen some fantastic examples of your skills. What knife do you prefer? Thanks for the help.

Paul
 
Jiki said:
I use straight blades to carve with. 1½ to 1¾ inch is my favorite but will go up to 2 inches. Longer than that I don't feel I have control and leverage to the tip. Then try to find the thinnest blade possible that won't be too flexible. The thinner blade will go through wood easier. I like a full flat grind, the secondary bevel will pull the edge off the wood on shaving cuts. Then get something with a decent handle length and thickness so you are comfortable holding it for long periods with out hot spots or hand fatigue.

As mentioned stockman are a good choice because there many sizes and shapes and the blades tend to be thin. Pen knives and congress patterns offer a lot of options. If you can get one or something similar to the GEC 35 Churchill it makes a great EDC plus whittler I love it in that roll. Another option is a Ettrick from A Wright and sons.
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This a post from another thread.
GEC
35 Churchill or Cattle knife.
82 Dixie or possum skinner.
38 English whittler.
62 pocket carver.
A Wright and son's Ettrick.
Case Seahorse.
 
There are a couple Winchester black box whittlers you can find for reasonable prices, I’m a big fan of the GEC 62 pocket carvers and the more recent GEC 38 English whittlers and Case makes a seahorse whittler which is pretty easy to find. Short thin warncliffe and coping blades are my favorites. CC17566B-5CCA-4FEC-8902-62464CAE2204.jpeg
 
I am leaning seahorse whittler. They are readily available. Winchester black box would be cool as well.

Bastler Bastler I see what your saying bigger fuller grip would be more comfortable and wont be gripping the back of other blades. Thanks for the recommendation.
 
waverave said:
You will want something with a wharncliffe blade. Id bet you could find a GEC pocket carver on that budget...purpose-built for whittling.

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Wasn't the recent run of GEC 62 Pocket Carvers sold out in minutes after release and hence pretty much "unobtainium" unless someone is willing to pay 2x to 3x the release price or more to the scalpers ... I mean flippers ... on the bay?

I'd be shocked if a 62 Pocket Carver could be had for under $200 on the bay. All of the dealers sold out the day of release.
 
afishhunter said:
Wasn't the recent run of GEC 62 Pocket Carvers sold out in minutes after release and hence pretty much "unobtainium" unless someone is willing to pay 2x to 3x the release price or more to the scalpers ... I mean flippers ... on the bay?

I'd be shocked if a 62 Pocket Carver could be had for under $200 on the bay. All of the dealers sold out the day of release.
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That was not my experience at all. At one point I had 7 of them. Knowing they will not be made again, I wanted back up. Most were bought off dealers shelves. Anyway only 3 left the others have gone to other carves I know.
 
Jakeywax31 said:
Wow I just wanted to thank sf fanatic sf fanatic for his awesome display of generosity. Thank you for the gec pocket carver. You could of easily made double and sold it to me for what you purchased it for. Thanks again.

So I guess I made up my mind lol. Pocket carver it is. Thanks everyone for your input.
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He’s a pretty good guy, which one did you get?
 
Those are my first choice for a folding carver. A fixed blade short wharncliffe is a little easier on my hands, but the pocket carver is very nice. I use the white bone one, and have a cocobolo one sitting unused. I used to have all of them.... I find that I use the small blades almost exclusively... but I carve smaller stuff.
 
Jakeywax31 said:
Wow I just wanted to thank sf fanatic sf fanatic for his awesome display of generosity. Thank you for the gec pocket carver. You could of easily made double and sold it to me for what you purchased it for. Thanks again.

So I guess I made up my mind lol. Pocket carver it is. Thanks everyone for your input.
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sf fanatic sf fanatic is a great man. Not surprised to see this sort of kindness coming from him.
 
Here's my Case seahorse whittler. I reground it to a finer angle and have found that it will stay really sharp with regular stropping. The only trouble is that I also found that I have no talent for whittling! I'm quite good at turning large pieces of wood into small pieces of wood, but can't manage to actually make anything useful or interesting. That's not the knife's fault, though! 😁

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