Which Pattern of Knife is Best for a New Whittler?

M

Major Chord

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Feb 3, 2011
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Over the past few months my 11 year old brother has shown an interest in wood working, and on a recent Boy Scouts camping trip with my father, apparently spent his time carving a sling shot from a fallen branch. So I've decided to get him a how-to book and a whittling knife for Christmas. (I've trained him to be very safe and proficient with knives since he was quite young, so I'm not at all worried about him working with a non-locking knife.) I've already found a book that I believe he will enjoy, and now I'm turning to you folks for some help with finding him a knife. While I enjoy traditional style knives in addition to more modern designs, I never use them for anything more than regular EDC tasks-I'm no woodworker.

Obviously, I'm going to assume that the Whittler pattern knife was designed for whittling wood. But judging by a recent thread I saw in this forum on wood whittling, just about any pattern will suit the task. I've already decided that whatever the pattern, it will be a Rough Rider knife, because that brand is firmly within my price range, and I'm always satisfied with the quality of the knives they produce. What do you guys recommend? Should I just start him off with the good old namesake knife of the craft, or are there any patterns that those who have experience in woodworking find especially useful/useless?
 
IMO a simple plastic handled victorinox such as a tinker works great, it as a large and small blade as well as a very sharp, pointy and therefor usefull awl.
 
I like the Whittler pattern myself, and use the Case 6308 often, but I prefer the arrangement on the Schrade 804 better (large clip main, small clip and coping secondaries). A congress pattern works very well, especially if you get one with four different blades like the Case medium congress with spear and sheepsfoot mains and pen and coping secondaries.
 
I am not a whittler, but an older fellow I know is and he always uses a four blade congress. Seems to work great for him. His stuff is pretty trick.
 
Rough Rider makes so many different models, but if I had to pick just one to start with I would go with a Stockman with the Clip, Spey/Pen, Sheepsfoot combo.
You definitely want a straight edged blade for woodwork (or I do anyway), and the Stockman gives you that and two other blades that he can experiment with while he learns what works for him.
 
The RR Congress is a great whittler. IIRC mine had 2 sheepfeet, a pen and a coping blade. That's good stuff right their. At 3 1/2" I feel that it was a bit small in hand to me as congress patterns go but the whittler at the same length was good to go.

Until recently I have been using the RR whittler and I kinda want to lean that way in general. Mine had a main clip, a small clip and pen blade that were fine for me. As a bonus, RR really nailed the split spring old school pattern to a tee. ATM I find myself in need of another whittling knife and it will be another RR whittler pattern.
 
Exacto Knife with a selection of blades ander a leather strop ( homemade even ) unless it NEEDS to be a folder. For carving neckerchief slides and other SMALL Boy Scout stuff you'll have a hard time beating that. You could also try to find a "vintage" carbon steel folder/whittler/stockman with some life left in it ( under $30 easy ) and probably have a better tool then Rough Rider produces

Syn
 
synthesist said:
Exacto Knife with a selection of blades ander a leather strop ( homemade even ) unless it NEEDS to be a folder. For carving neckerchief slides and other SMALL Boy Scout stuff you'll have a hard time beating that. You could also try to find a "vintage" carbon steel folder/whittler/stockman with some life left in it ( under $30 easy ) and probably have a better tool then Rough Rider produces

Syn
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He's certainly a...mobile...child, so I'd imagine that carrying an Exacto on him wouldn't be all that safe. The book I bought to go with it focuses on whittling things "on the trail" out of woods you find on your way...sticks and limbs, stuff like that. The homemade strop is a good idea though-he's a wiz at making stuff, truly better than I am with tools (I once found him in the garage with a butter knife and a file...he had put a nearly perfect 40 degree inclusive edge on it!). And I'll also consider the vintage idea.

The general consensus I'm getting here is either a stockman, whittler, or congress. That straight-edge sheep's foot/coping blade is a must...the other blades though...are just icing on the cake? Does the length of these blades matter? I was looking at a whittler with a 2" pen blade, and a 1" spear and coping blades, which strikes me as a tad small compared to a stockman with a 3" clippoint, 2 1/4 sheepsfoot, and 2" spey blades.

Thank you all for the replies, I look forward to more input.
 
Major Chord said:
Does the length of these blades matter?[/B] I was looking at a whittler with a 2" pen blade, and a 1" spear and coping blades, which strikes me as a tad small compared to a stockman with a 3" clippoint, 2 1/4 sheepsfoot, and 2" spey blades.


Thank you all for the replies, I look forward to more input.
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Not really... in fact, shorter is better IMO. I don't care so much for the Stockman as a whittler. I don't like krinked blades for whittling and the sheepfoot really posses an issue for me with this pattern. I'll pass.

It's not so much the blades available in a pattern as what you can do with the blades available. All true whittlers i know of have no krink in the blades.

Being able to sharp the blade quickly is more important than pattern.
 
I picked up a CRKT whittler which exceeded my expectations for a blade made abroad. Thin, easily sharpened blades in a traditional package.
 
I actually find longer blades something of a hinderence for most whittling. The vast majority of this was done with a blade under 1 1/2" long.

DSCF1077.jpg


DSCF1042.jpg
 
That's some chain!:D:thumbup:

I like the Böker you show, I've got some of these and find them well made and worthwhile for all sorts of tasks .

RR's Old Yellow version of the Whittler is well worth considering . It has a small Clip instead of the Cope blade,split back construction too, another nice pocket-friendly knife that could be right for the OP's young brother.
 
Check out the dog leg whittler in red bone... I might pick up this one up at some point myself, looks nice.

Edit: on second thought this might be a little too large for the little 11 year old guy's hands, also upon searching around I found a 15$ Boker plus stockman on SMKW. 440c. I've used Boker Plus 440c in s lockback before and its some pretty good stuff. I'd say go with this.
 
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If doubling as an actual pocket knife is not a concern, and you still need a Rough Rider:

7neYI.jpg


Search for it using "Rough Rider 565"
 
I vote a RR yella whittler, possibly with a lockback main blade, as his friends are prolly not as proficient with nonlocking knives, and we don't want that blade closing on their fingers when they borrow his knife, or he could just not lend out his knife. Yella will be easy to keep track of on the trail, and the whittler pattern has the cope and pen blades for whittling and the main blade for actual pocketknife chores.
I also recommend getting him a small lightweight pocket sharpening stone, and if I may suggest another book, "How to whittle the whimsies of yesterday" is a good one, and you can get it all in for under $35 with one SMKW order.
 
This one looks good to me (RR375):

RR375.jpg


Rough Rider also makes a congress whittler, but the main blade looks a little narrow to me:

rr457.jpg


I have this little whittler they make, it's a great little knife, but again, I think the main blade is too narrow for whittling:

rr409.jpg
 
FLymon said:
If doubling as an actual pocket knife is not a concern, and you still need a Rough Rider:

7neYI.jpg


Search for it using "Rough Rider 565"
Click to expand...

I like the look of that knife...though I think he may want something that might have some function outside of the realm of whittling, just so he can let his mind wander and let his creativity shine. If he really gets into it though, I'll pick this up for his birthday in February! Thanks!

thatotherguy said:
I vote a RR yella whittler, possibly with a lockback main blade, as his friends are prolly not as proficient with nonlocking knives, and we don't want that blade closing on their fingers when they borrow his knife, or he could just not lend out his knife. Yella will be easy to keep track of on the trail, and the whittler pattern has the cope and pen blades for whittling and the main blade for actual pocketknife chores.
I also recommend getting him a small lightweight pocket sharpening stone, and if I may suggest another book, "How to whittle the whimsies of yesterday" is a good one, and you can get it all in for under $35 with one SMKW order.
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I'll look into that book for his birthday if he enjoys this set! As for the stone, I haven't had much luck with freehand sharpening, instead preferring my Lansky turnbox sharpener (basically a cheaper Spyderco Sharpmaker), but it may also be something to look into for him. I have no doubts that he can figure it out. He's not one to lend knives to friends though...he's smart enough to know that most of his friends aren't as safe as he is with guns and blades.



Nixelplix said:
I have this little whittler they make, it's a great little knife, but again, I think the main blade is too narrow for whittling:

rr409.jpg
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I believe this is the one I was originally considering, however, with only 1 inch long coping and pen blades, I wasn't sure if he'd have enough blade to work with.

Right now, I'm considering this:
41tnabznoflss500.jpg


It has a 1 7/8" spear blade, and 1 3/8" pen and coping blades, which should give him enough steel to do any working tasks while giving him short enough whittling blades. And based off of thatotherguy's suggestion...yellow composition handles, to make it easier to find just in case he happens to drop it. I'm also happy with the price (of course, most of RR's models fall within this price range, so that's not much of an issue). Thoughts?
 
With the stone, you did say he put a nearly perfect 40 degree inclusive edge on a butter knife, I think he should be good.
1" pen and cope blades are plenty for whittling IMO, they will give you excellent control with your knife tip, and with whittling, you only use about 3/4 of an inch anyway, block of wood to finished product.
If you are really concerned about not enough blade, there's always the 2 knife system, but with a fullsize whittler, you shouldn't need it.
 
If your boy is looking for a 'whittling' knife, then I'd recommend Flex Cuts 'Whittlin Jack' item number JKN88. This is a two blade 'whittlin' knife - I have one & I consider myself a whittler. You can also get him a carry pouch but it fits in a pocket just fine (but you'll know it's there). This is a fairly new line from Flex Cut but are available anywhere from $32 - $48 & comes out of the package ready to use. Now, if he wants a 'pocket knife' that he can whittle with then I'd recommend the Rough Rider Congress Whittler (there's a picture of one in the above post). They are fairly inexpensive (about $15), come ready to use (maybe some light honing) & have decent fit/finish. However, he MUST be taught how to sharpen a knife first. More people get hurt/cut from a dull knife than a sharp one. You put too much pressure on the blade on a dull knife & it either slips or jumps & then you move into the first-aid portion of the knife hobby.
 
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