Pumpkin carving.

J

jackknife

Joined
Oct 2, 2004
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Okay, we're almost there now. What knife are you going to make that jack-a-lantern with this Saturday?

A nice old family stockman?

A well seasoned whitler?

Or that new GEC you've been fondling, waiting for a chance to cut with?
 
For the ol' hack and slash, it's going to be my Henckels Four-Star 6" Chef's Knife.
As for all the lovely detail, i.e. eyes and mouth, it's gonna be an old Camillus Rough Cut Stockman. That sheepsfoot is great for detailing and the spey will do nicely to scrap all the junk left inside the pumpkin.
 
We jumped the gun and already made our jacks, and believe it or not, I used my Vic Classic!! My wife used a four inch blade, and had a hard time of it. I used the finer, thinner edged Classic, and it worked like a charm. The super sharp, super thin edge just ate through the pumpkin like nothing, and the smaller frame allowed me to really get creative in the design, as I had good control of it for the detailed work. A big surprise for me, that this little guy could handle such a big job, but I have to admit I was not lacking for anything with it. It took care of business.
 
Every year I dice up a nice Jack-O with several different knives while my better half roasts up the pumpkin seeds for a snack and blends up the mash for home made pumpkin pie later in the evening.. MMmm.. Yummy. :)

I use an older Marbles Woodcraft to start and typically finish with one of my many Trappers and Stockman.. This year I've selected a 1970's Fight'n Rooster Tapper and my Case 6.5 Stockman produced a few years back.
 
Actually we use a pumpkin carving knife. It's got a relatively blunt serrated edge but works great.
 
brownshoe said:
Actually we use a pumpkin carving knife. It's got a relatively blunt serrated edge but works great.
Click to expand...


My wife used one of those along with the bigger knife she had, and I have to tell you. When I first saw it, I didn't think it would do much, being all round tipped and blunt. However, those things work great!! Crazy.
 
Voltron said:
We jumped the gun and already made our jacks, and believe it or not, I used my Vic Classic!! My wife used a four inch blade, and had a hard time of it. I used the finer, thinner edged Classic, and it worked like a charm. The super sharp, super thin edge just ate through the pumpkin like nothing, and the smaller frame allowed me to really get creative in the design, as I had good control of it for the detailed work. A big surprise for me, that this little guy could handle such a big job, but I have to admit I was not lacking for anything with it. It took care of business.
Click to expand...

You have thinner-skinned pumpkins than we do, then. I had one a few years ago that even my Case trapper wasn't long enough to carve- went down to a sodbuster.
 
I used my Coats toothpick to carve this Cthulhu-o'-lantern.

Cthulhuolantern.jpg


Have a great All Hallow's Eve!
 
I got all my friend over here doing pumpkins with me. We are lame so to us this is fun lol. But I do have my knives out and we are seeing use on trappers, 2 stockmans, a copperhead, an OD-1, and my SAK farmer for the saw. Good times.
 
Rick said:
I used my Coats toothpick to carve this Cthulhu-o'-lantern.

Cthulhuolantern.jpg


Have a great All Hallow's Eve!
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Rick, that's a beauty of a toothpick.:thumbup:

The older I get the more I appretiate shadow patterns. What are the specs on that knife?
 
jackknife said:
Okay, we're almost there now. What knife are you going to make that jack-a-lantern with this Saturday?
Click to expand...

We did three this year: two small ones a week ago at a party for kids, and then one biggun here at home three days ago. I did the little ones with my yella cv trapper. Worked extremely well. As per tradition, I did the big one with my grandad's ancient carbon-steel Dexter boning knife. A long, thin blade is a must, IMO, to cut out those scary fangs. :)

Dexter.jpg
 
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Used a paring knife this year. For next, I think I'm gonna pick up one of the GEC melon whittlers. Looks to me like they will do the job very nicely! Just waiting to see what the pumpkin patch acrylic looks like.
 
jackknife said:
Rick, that's a beauty of a toothpick.:thumbup: The older I get the more I appretiate shadow patterns. What are the specs on that knife?
Click to expand...

Thanks :).
The specs from Ken:

Blade and spring Ats-34, cryo quenched, Blade at Rc 61-62 spring at Rc-48,
3/32" stock. Blade is hollow ground, 400 grit hand finish, drawn swedge.
Liners 410 ss Mill relieved.
Scales California Buckeye Burl. (WSSI Stabilized)
This knife opens at about a 5 on the pull open scale, standard nail nick.
Closed length 4.3", Open length 7.75" Back is flush open and closed no half
stop. Sunk Joint. The knife is under 1/2" thick.​

And a better pic.

KenCoatsShadowToothpick02.jpg


It sure carves pumpkins with surgical precision.
 
I used my recently acquired USA-made Schrade 340OT on two pumpkins, it did a wonderful job. It did get a little hard to hang onto with the pumpkin guts all over it.
 
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