- Joined
- Sep 28, 2005
- Messages
- 4,527
I love knives! I love multi bladed Slipjoints! I love punches! Give me 2+ blades and a punch and I'm happy!
Not expecting to ever find my more true Grail (wharncliffe main Whittler or four blade stockman with spey/punch/hawksbill secondaries- or without hawksbill in the Whittler), and unable to contact with makers interested in helping me years ago; I thought I would give up and just enjoy what comes down the pipe into my grubby hands!
Very surprised was I, when at the local gun show last month I spied an IXL Wostenholm in a display case. Something spoke to me, so I asked to pick it up! Split spring Whittler! Clip main- expected. Spey- nice! Flip it over- PUNCH!!! A clip blade Punch Whittler!! Yes!! Very excited- IXL holds a special place in my heart after being gifted one as a teenager- it's even hard for me to turn down a busted rusted model. Thus knife is firing on all cylinders now!!
I opened and closed it- walk and talk are pretty good! Stiff clip blade, be careful but not rough opening, just solid. Secondary blades opened nicely. No real rust, no gouges out of the blades
But..... Something was off. This Wostenholm wasn't like the others I have or have held. I bought it regardless, because I don't remember seeing a punch whittler, even in pictures.
Took it home and looked some more- then it hit me! The one set of scales are bowed!!
One side:
Other:
The wedge in the spring is a 90° triangle, not an isosceles triangle like it should be!
You can see how bowed it is with the straight edge of paper against the liner:
It's so bent that it broke the plastic scales!
Whoever built this forced it to work and it did, although it renders the Whittler "clumsy" for lack of better word, when most/all whittlers are sleek and graceful. It just feels odd in hand having a straight scale on one side, and a curved scale on the other.
As I've never seen a punch Whittler before- was this a regular model, or perhaps an employees personal knife made at work? It works very well, despite clumsiness, clean walk and talk, no wobble- unless you put it curved scale side down! I have a four blade Wostenholm cattle knife on the same frame, which is much more refined than this model (no pictures of the two together yet, try to fix that tonight). Was the 90° wedge normal for Wostenholm? Somehow I doubt it but.....
Overall I like the knife, but it falls short in the Grail category. But hey- new knife, new features, and getting closer to finding a rare knife I like!
Not expecting to ever find my more true Grail (wharncliffe main Whittler or four blade stockman with spey/punch/hawksbill secondaries- or without hawksbill in the Whittler), and unable to contact with makers interested in helping me years ago; I thought I would give up and just enjoy what comes down the pipe into my grubby hands!
Very surprised was I, when at the local gun show last month I spied an IXL Wostenholm in a display case. Something spoke to me, so I asked to pick it up! Split spring Whittler! Clip main- expected. Spey- nice! Flip it over- PUNCH!!! A clip blade Punch Whittler!! Yes!! Very excited- IXL holds a special place in my heart after being gifted one as a teenager- it's even hard for me to turn down a busted rusted model. Thus knife is firing on all cylinders now!!
I opened and closed it- walk and talk are pretty good! Stiff clip blade, be careful but not rough opening, just solid. Secondary blades opened nicely. No real rust, no gouges out of the blades
But..... Something was off. This Wostenholm wasn't like the others I have or have held. I bought it regardless, because I don't remember seeing a punch whittler, even in pictures.
Took it home and looked some more- then it hit me! The one set of scales are bowed!!
One side:
Other:
The wedge in the spring is a 90° triangle, not an isosceles triangle like it should be!
You can see how bowed it is with the straight edge of paper against the liner:
It's so bent that it broke the plastic scales!
Whoever built this forced it to work and it did, although it renders the Whittler "clumsy" for lack of better word, when most/all whittlers are sleek and graceful. It just feels odd in hand having a straight scale on one side, and a curved scale on the other.
As I've never seen a punch Whittler before- was this a regular model, or perhaps an employees personal knife made at work? It works very well, despite clumsiness, clean walk and talk, no wobble- unless you put it curved scale side down! I have a four blade Wostenholm cattle knife on the same frame, which is much more refined than this model (no pictures of the two together yet, try to fix that tonight). Was the 90° wedge normal for Wostenholm? Somehow I doubt it but.....
Overall I like the knife, but it falls short in the Grail category. But hey- new knife, new features, and getting closer to finding a rare knife I like!
:thumbup:
