Whittling knife - 1095 carbon steel or D2?

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Melancholoholic

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It should be noted that I won't be buying that basswood off the internet. I'll be foraging my own wood and may need a knife to cut on some pretty tough wood here and there.

Thanks for any input 😊
 
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When I was a kid and woodcarving I even used hard maple ! In those days just plain carbon steels were available I would have loved to try S35VN or other powder steels.The trickis to find a balance between edge life and ease of sharpening. For more ordinary steels I'd try A-2.
 
I like to try a number of steels lol. Really liked the a2 as well. The problem is whittling has become such a yuppy hobby it seems (literally) impossible to find them in those grades. I'm currently looking at 2 knives on knivesshipfree and that is the last decision maker, it seems, before I order one
 
Melancholoholic said:
I like to try a number of steels lol. Really liked the a2 as well. The problem is whittling has become such a yuppy hobby it seems (literally) impossible to find them in those grades. I'm currently looking at 2 knives on knivesshipfree and that is the last decision maker, it seems, before I order one
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Edit: Ease of sharpening is not much of a concern for me. Blade retention absolutely is
 
Melancholoholic said:
P.S. Thank you! Sorry, sometimes I forget my coutesies :D
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No worries. :D

Even more than steel though, make sure to pay attention to design; make sure it'll fit the sort of whittling you plan on doing.

I have a Case Seahorse Whittler, and though I'd like a better steel, the design makes it work pretty darn well. :thumbup:
 
I have been whittling with a BK24 in D2, and it is working fine. Good edge retention too. When I am home, I use my carbon steel Flexcut knives for detail work, because I can get a screaming sharp edge on them fairly easily. The D2 takes more time to sharpen, and I tend to say, "good enough" when I get tired of it snickering at my feeble attempts. If I had to choose, I would go with the D2 if I needed more working time between sharpening. I used the BK24 to baton a random chunk of wood into walking stick length, smack off the branches and knots, strip the bark, shape it, and rough scrape it without perceptibly affecting the edge. Mr. Becker makes good tools.
 
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I'm not a whittler, but most of the whittlers in the Traditional forum would likely recommend 1095 over D2. 1095 maintains a razor edge longer than D2, and my understanding is that a razor edge is desirable for whittling.

Try asking in this thread, which you might want to read anyway as it contains a wealth of knowledge about whittling. We have some folks who whittle at the professional level:
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/1405809-whittlin-with-your-edc
 
Hello everyone! Long time reader first time poster!

I love whittling, it's why I got into knives in the first place. Honestly any knife you care to use will work so long as you keep stropping every 3-5 minutes as you go. You said you'd be "foraging my own wood", if that means you'll be whittling on the move then I'd go for 1095 over D2, it'll last longer till you can get it back to some tools to restore it.

Lastly, I have a ton of pocket knives I have collection purely to whittle with, that have never even seen an envelope to open. If I may make some suggestions:

If you want a knife only to whittle with and nothing else ever then hands down the Tri-Jack Pro by Flexcut is where you should spend your money. It's the most comfortable, the blades are all useful and it's easy to keep sharp with just a strop.

If you want a pocketknife that will also whittle, then any of these will do just fine and dandy:


I hope this helps and I didn't derail the thread too hard away from the steel choice. It's just never been that important to me when whittling, comfort and usability of blade pattern is much more so my focus.
 
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