Seeking suggestions for a beginner's whittling knife

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Khoogyra

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Nov 1, 2011
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Hello everyone! This is my first post!

So I used to whittle with a Swiss Army Knife when I was camping as a kid. I never really got past making walking sticks and the hobby was dropped as I grew older. Well the house I've lived in ALL of my life has recently been sold and with it, the new owners have cut down all of my childhood trees. When they were cutting down the Walnut tree in the back yard, I told the cutters about how my grandfather had planted that monstrosity 30 years ago; and how I would like them to save me a few branches for some walking sticks.

Well now I have 8 of these decent sized, raw walking sticks and I want to start carving!! I must try to get one or two completed by Christmas; so my grandfather can have a memento of his old tree (which I don't think he knows has been cut down yet...)

Anyway, I think I'd like to whittle instead of carve. I've picked up friend's dad's carving sets before and always become quite frustrated by trying to learn the skill. Whittling is automatically a great stress reliever. As of right now... I'm using one of those blades where the tips snap off to reveal another sharp edge. It's ok, but obviously not a long term solution. I'm looking for something which will last me quite a while.

So I've been looking up Spyderco knives a bit. But I find asking questions on forums usually gives me MUCH better results than looking stuff up myself because I simply don't know what resources are out there--case and point: When I was looking up strops and razors a few months ago, the best strop deal I could find was on Amazon and was going to set me back something like $80 for a strop. A post later and I was sent to RupRazor and got 2 strops shipped to me in a week for $60 CAD!!

I live in the Greater Vancouver area in Canada; so theoretically there should be, as with many things in a port city, a number of good sources for blades... I hope. I don't mind ordering in as well if needed.

So, uh, I'm looking for something with around a $100 cap. Obviously I'd like to go cheaper if possible, but I can go a little higher too if the results are going to result in a longer lasting knife. I've been raised on the the theory of 'buy good quality once or end up spending MUCH more, eventually, on lesser quality items that break down. Also, I'd like something that I can maintain myself without too much difficulty. I only have one strop now, but I can order in a nicer strop for my razor and dedicate my current one for pastes.

One option that seems to have come up a bunch has been the Spyderco Native series.

http://spyderco.com/catalog/details.php?product=20

I don't know about the S30V steel however. Would it be very difficult to take care of myself? Obviously I need a stone for re-honing it myself at a later date, and I'm not sure how difficult it'd be with such a hard metal.

Any help would be appreciated. If you need more info, please feel free to ask!
 
Personal taste will have to guide your selection. I like S30V for some things, but for the most part, whittling is not one of them. In general, I find Spyderco knives too broad-bladed and thick-edged to suit me for whittling. I've done a lot of carving and whittling with a plain old three-blade stockman in 1095 carbon steel. It takes a nice edge, is reasonably tough and easy to sharpen, and thinner blades cut with less effort. The narrower blades also make detail work easier and will cut inside curves tighter.

We actually have a sub-forum for this stuff, check out the Workshop: http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/f...-Workshop-Projects-Tools-Techniques-amp-Ideas
 
Sounds like you need a good old fashioned carbon steel pocket knife. Many companies, like Case, Queen, GEC, etc. make Whittler patterns and they have other patterns that would work too if you don't like the Whittler. GEC recently introduced a pattern called the Geppetto (not sure if I spelled it right). Looks like it would be just about perfect for whittling.

Here's a link to the GEC website. Scroll down a bit and you will see the newly released Geppetto patterns. If they interest you, there is a "Distributors"" tab on there somewhere so you can see who carries them.

http://greateasterncutlery.net/blog/pocket-knives/2011-new-releases-3/

The carbon steel blades won't give you any trouble sharpening them and these knives are made to last a lifetime.
 
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Possibly the greatest and most popular whittling knife ever made. A USA made Old Timer Senior
http://www.foxqualityknives.com/old-timer-8ot-senior-stockman-pocket-knife
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A highly underrated knife for whittling. The Victorinox pruning knife.
PAAAAAFIOIEOMJOF.jpg

These are both for small scale whittling. Whittling designs into wood. If you're just talking about stripping and smoothing 6-foot long tree branches, I highly recommend a thin edged fixed blade. Not a folder. Or maybe a traditional "draw knife".
 
yablanowitz said:
Personal taste will have to guide your selection. I like S30V for some things, but for the most part, whittling is not one of them. In general, I find Spyderco knives too broad-bladed and thick-edged to suit me for whittling. I've done a lot of carving and whittling with a plain old three-blade stockman in 1095 carbon steel. It takes a nice edge, is reasonably tough and easy to sharpen, and thinner blades cut with less effort. The narrower blades also make detail work easier and will cut inside curves tighter.

We actually have a sub-forum for this stuff, check out the Workshop: http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/f...-Workshop-Projects-Tools-Techniques-amp-Ideas
Click to expand...

Agree on all points.

But I still will generally use whatever I am carrying at the time...which is often NOT even close to an ideal carving knife. For me it is more about the pursuit than the results. But there can be no argument that detail work is much easier with proper wood carving knives.
 
If you are using a snap blade knife, those are almost fixed blade size, so I assume a fixed blade knife would be OK? Go to a good tool store that caters to woodworkers and look at the carving knives. You should be able to find a good knife that suits your needs for quite a bit less than $100. If you'd rather handmade, North Bay Forge is up your way and sells some nice hand forged carving knives, again many are less than $100.
 
For me it does not get any better than a traditional knife for whittling. I would recommend a Case sway back jack or a case peanut. I prefer the chrome vanadium steel over the stainless. I would also recommend to buy a cheap rough rider knife in order to try out a specific pattern just to see if you like it, that way your not into a knife you dislike for too much money.

I did the caged ball below with mostly the sway back jack and peanut.
IMG_0884.jpg
 
Try FlexCuts Pocket Jack. It gives you a decent blade plus three other gouges.
Pocket Jack from Flexcut Carving Knives at Rockler.com for under $80. The next version up - the Carving Jack has a total of 6 tools in one. They also make a two blade 'Whittlin Jack' where they copied their ergonomic handle design. These are NOT traditional pocket knives in any sense, but are portable wood working/carving/whittling tools. I have the Pocket Jack & the Whittlin Jack & use both.
 
I say get a Mora #1. Inexpensive, and incredibly functional due to the design. Good grind, and easy to maintain in the field (scandy grind).

Seriously they are great, and only cost like $10!! Dont let the low price fool you, these are great knives.

If you want something more versatile, Id recommend a victorinox locking blade model. Like the rucksack (me personal fav).

Something a little more classy would be a 2 or 3 bladed Case.

But Id still go with the Mora if you just wanna whittle.

Cheers!
:cool::thumbup:
 
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