Knife for whittling?

also i was wondering,, whats a good one out of the following:::







34OT.jpg

thats the schrade middleman


77OT.jpg

the 2 bladed muskrat

96OT.jpg


the bearhead something something


or the gunstock trapper

194OT.jpg



now i have narrowed down to these choices because of the feel, i have some odd sized hands and these all feel nice.

i was thinking of doin some whittling, cutting and thats about it, nothing heavy duty, maybe like an apply, im into apples
 
My whittlin' skills are nothing more than crude to say the least but I like my Middleman 4 blade stockman. If I'm out without it, I like my Middleman Jack. There's just something about carbon steel and wood that feels right!
Matt
 
Great Post!
If you guys keep this post alive much longer I will have to go find myself a piece of wood to whittle on :)

Thanks for the great reading :)
 
pahl you bastard, you made me look at the damn thread, NOW POST YOUR OPINION ON EITHER HOW TO HOLLOW OUT THE WOOD, OR WHAT YOU THINK ABOUT THE KNIIVES! !!!!!!BAH HUMBUG!@!@!
 
My sister got me a Middleman for Christmas, now I have to
get me some basswood!!;)
 
Best whittlin' knife??? My vote goes to the Nordic "sloyd knife" like the cheap Swedish Mora knife. It has a "real handle" which is more comfortable in my hand than any folder, thought I own a dozen three blade "whittlers".

I'm right now making a more hand-fitting knife with a cherry/walnut handle and the smallest of the Lauri blades from Finland.

Brisa has blades and knives... no commercial connection; just a happy customer of Dennis'.

Cheers/Carron
 
Armless:

There is a review on the middleman in the reviews section, just search for "buzzbait middleman" and it should come up...

on the old timer series the springs stick out a little bit when the knife is open...I personally would pay the extra 7-10 bucks to avoid that for a Buck Cadet, which also has nice HC steel. But that is just my picky self...

Regards,
Steve
 
Armless:

The Buck model 703 (forgot the name) is just like the 3 blade model you showed except the large blade is with the sheepsfoot. That is what I used to carve my ball in cage if that helps.

Mike
 
Originally posted by armlessbandit
pahl you bastard, you made me look at the damn thread, NOW POST YOUR OPINION ON EITHER HOW TO HOLLOW OUT THE WOOD, OR WHAT YOU THINK ABOUT THE KNIIVES! !!!!!!BAH HUMBUG!@!@!
Click to expand...

Lets see, how to hollow out the wood. I would use a drill press.

Now for what I think about the knives. I have the three blade old timer one. It's ok :)
 
I vote for the Old Timer Gunstock Trapper Model 194 OT. The single blade with longer handle is much more comfortable than the shorter three and two blade models.

I have several and cut down the length of the blade and then reprofile the entire shape. SMKW often has them on special for $10-$11 each. A Dremel tool with cut off wheel will easily shorten the blade length (be carefull to keep it cool with ice water).

A wood carving blade to be efficient should be made thinner than the factory offering, this is time consuming on the diamond hones but only done once. It should also be sharpened with full flat single profile edge or slight convex shape. Notice the way a mora type knife cuts wood, a secondary bevel is not necessary for wood carving.

I usually take about one hour with my diamond hones to reprofile the edge to single bevel and give it a slight convex shape, after that the knive only sees a leather strop with Herb Dunkel's Yellowstone compound.

The Buck slip joint folders are all 420 stainless steel, nice knives however, not 1095 carbons steel like the Old Timers. Buck has always made folders out of stainless.

Another great innexpensive wood carving knife can be made from the replacement blades from Warren Cutlery, a package of six assorted blades is about $7.00. Some small pieces of wood and epoxy will give an excellent knife having a blade with 1095 steel, double temper and Rc 59-60. The ideal is a 4 inch handle to your own custom comfort shape.

http://www.warrencutlery.com/

Regards,
FK
 
This tread is getting dangerous. I am looking at my Schrade Middleman 34ot and thinking about Basswood now. This keeps up the chips will fly, (and maybe some of my skin with them). :)



Greymoor
 
Woohoo!!! You guys are whittlin' masters!!!! Anybody who has the patience and fearlessness to whittle a ball-in-cage is aces in my book.

Medic1210 - Your new ball-in-cage looks gorgeous!!! All I did to finish my last one was to sand it down with some high-grit sandpaper and then rub it down with fine steel wool. Afterward, I gave it a thorough rubdown with some MinWax stain.

armlessbandit - To hollow out the cross sections, I cut straight into all four lines of the drawn squares. Then I cut from inside of the squares, into the lines. A small triangular strip will be removed when doing this. I keep continuing this process until I get to the center of the block. Then I turn the block over and start from the other side. When I get to the center of the block from this side, the extra wood will just fall out of the middle of the square. Just be careful, and keep your fingers away from the blade. Make many small and controlled cuts.

Yep, the Schrade Middleman in an excellent knife for whittling, expecially if you’ve convexed the blade edges. I’d love to get the four blade model with the wharncliffe blade. I personally prefer a wharncliffe for ball-in-cage type of work. The four blade model could be the ultimate whittling knife.

I get my basswood blocks from a ACMoore, a local craft store.

Here'a pic of my first ball-in-cage, which I gave to my father for Father's Day.

cage1.jpg
 
Buzz,

That ball is nice and round, and looks like it barely has room to roll. You must have a good eye to keep the ball that big. In order to make mine even come close to resembling a ball, I had to keep removing wood, until the ball was the size you see now. Very nice work, and thanks for the compliment on my second ball in cage.

Mike
 
Great topic. Now I will have to go out and get a Middleman. How is the quality of the Browning and Winchester knives. These seem to be of very high quality and are very beautiful. They both come in stag and at a great price. How is the blade material? Easy to sharpen and does it hold an edge well? Who makes the knives for these companies? Thanks for all the info and Happy Holidays to you and your families.
 
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