Looking for a good whittler...

I like that one too! I'll admit that I don't have any Case knives, but my Boker Tree Brand Barlow is great! It tends to see more pocket time than any other of my knives, yet it was one of the cheapest (I got it in a multi-knife deal on fleabay). I doubt you'll go far wrong with the Boker.
 
Bulldog has 3 or 4 sizes of wharncliffe whittler in forged carbon steel. For whittling, they are my favorites! You can get them from Parker's knife collector service.
 
I'd recommend something around 4" or larger. Either that or something thick such as a cattle knife. Whittling with smaller knives doesn't work so well for me, especially with certain grips. Your mileage may vary.
 
This boker is also a good choice:

http://www.knifeoutlet.com/shop/10Expand.asp?ProductCode=BOKRB

280JRBI - Whittler, 3 1/2", clip, pen, coping, jigged

All the carbon steel bokers will perfom well for the intended task. The two congresses in the red bone series would be winners also. I have both the congresses and the whittlers and they are good performers.
I would just stay away from any of the 420 (whether boker, case, or otherwise, especially if it is going to be used as a whittler).

The case CV is fine also, but you may find the boker carbon performs just a "little" better than the case CV.
 
Ryan8 said:
I'd recommend something around 4" or larger. Either that or something thick such as a cattle knife. Whittling with smaller knives doesn't work so well for me, especially with certain grips. Your mileage may vary.
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I agree with this. Ironically, I find that that most "whittler" patterns are too small for whittling. I generally go with a 4' stockman. I don't have any congress pattern knives but they've always appeared to me to be good for whittling since I prefer short blades for this.

This is never a popular comment, but I'd be careful about buying Boker slipjoints online. I have several, and when they're good they're really good, but I've found the quality of construction to be hit and miss. The recurring problem I've had with a couple Bokers has been wimpy springs.

I've found Moore Maker to have very consistent quality, and they have 1095 carbon steel blades.
 
Good point about the springs...

I love Bokers, but you need strong springs for whittling, since you need to put a lot of pressure on to control the cut sometimes. I have never had a bad Boker, but have been lucky.

I have heard of people using SAKs for whittling, but it is possible to break the springs, I have done it once and it comes as a real shock.
 
I have used SAK's for whittling they do work.

As for as the bokers, the ones they make today, are "hit and miss" sometimes. I may buy 4 and half of them are perfect. I may buy 4 and all are good.

Last year I had bought around 14 of them and only two had weak springs, but boker's customer service is good and they will replace defective knives. The older ones were consistently good.

But just like everything else these days you have to look them over. But with this said, also, they still hand fit most all of their sj knives, and they do still pin on their shields! Something you dont find with many these days, not case, queen etc. Also the machine they do their bone jigging on is the same one they've been using for almost a 100 years (or there about?), so you are getting a jigged bone handle that has some history.

These days? Almost ALL cutleries glue their shields on!

Overall the bokers are still a good value and worth every penny. Ive been whittling with their knives for over 27 years. And I use many of their newer models now, with no complaints!! :)
 
Bokers are great. You also may want to check out Eye Brand - from Carl Schlieper, for some reason I seem to find an increase in sharpening ability and edge retention from Schlieper.

I have a little bone handled stockman made with their version of Surgical
Stainless - it is absolutely a great whittler, for that style of blade.
The primary blade has a killer backspring.

Also I have really enjoyed using a large trapper made by them as well. - again very tight springs

Another you may want to consider is a Sea horse whittler made by Case or by Bulldog.
Here's a link to a sea horse http://www.rod-neep.co.uk/rod/knives/case/seahorse.html

They feel great in the hand, and the end of the handle reaches almost to the back of my palm - giving some increased comfort and control.
The extra width on the blade spine is GREAT for the ol' thumb, and a lot more comfortable with prolonged use. The double springs are nice with any Whittler.
You just have to be careful not to push to hard with the wharncliff style tip on the Sea horse, or you may end up with little gashes in what your working on if you are pushing really hard, that a rounded tip may be more forgiving with. - Then again practice makes perfect.

Good luck with your decision.

sp
 
I actually bought one of the Carvin' Jack and recieved it this weekend.

Here are the projects I did.

carving002small.jpg


carving001small.jpg


I really like the actual carving blades, gouges and chisel on the thing. I really makes some of the carving easier. The ball inside the cage would be pretty tough with a regular blade, but was pretty easy with the 90 degree gouge. I was overall pretty impressed with the Carvin Jack. I also like that the straight blade is profiled right for carving to begin with, which I have heard is often a problem with knives. Its not hard to belive. I havn't bought any slipjoint in years, but all the other knives I have bought have a more obtuse edge bevel than I would want for carving.
 
I wish I could pop for a Carving Jack right now. That looks like a great fiddlin around knife. I used to make walking sticks and have some seasoned limbs in the garage. I'm getting a hankering to start on making a few walkers again. That Jack would be great for that.

I've found SAKs to be good when working with the sticks. Granted, the springs aren't always as strong as I'd like, but the blades have worked well for me.
 
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