Woodcarving knife on a budget

[mcooksy]

I'm looking for a decent whittling knife that's fairly cheap. Don't have much spendin money these days but I'd really like to start carving. Can anyone recommend some websites for cheap wood carving knives or tell me which would be the best for a beginner? Thanks alot. Love this forum so far.
-Mike

[Brian T]

Re: Woodcarving knife on a budget

Just about any knife will do if you're willing to learn to make it "carving sharp." That's an important issue. Lessee here. Fruit tree grafting knives, scalpels, single edge razor blades, utility knives = that's what I had. Done up sharp enough, I liked what I could do.

[SlowMover]

Re: Woodcarving knife on a budget

See Lynn Doughtys OutWest blog and consider using a fixed blade utility knife. You don't say what style of carving you want to try, so if it is chip carving you need more and different kniives than figure carving. consider Butz knives at Woodcraft ($17.99 each, often on sale for $12.99)..do a search for posts about these knives and special considerations on the detail knife problems/good points. Any sharp knife works as said before....consider going to a carving club if one is near you and ask around and look at various knives folks are using. There are literally hundreds of posts here on knives...research old post and you will get lot of viewpoints. Everybody has a favorite knife, and it is usually different than their neighbors..really a personal matter of opinion.

[Country_Carver]

Re: Woodcarving knife on a budget

I agree with Slowmover on the Stanley,
Try Mountain Woodcarvers Bench knife, I got mine for $12.00 and I can get it really sharp.

Alex

[Howie]

Re: Woodcarving knife on a budget

I'm a fan of FlexCut, myself – the blades are nice and clean, easy to hone, and the handle fits nicely in my grip. I got my roughing and detail for about $15 each, and the mini detail for $22.

[Nomad]

Re: Woodcarving knife on a budget

I think the Two Cherries 3358 is a great little carving knife and can be had for around 20 bucks. It really holds an edge well and I like the feel of it in my hand. As I recall, it comes with a secondary bevel so it needs to be flattened a bit, but after that, you have a sweet carving knife. Mike Shipley knives are in the same price range,

[Gulf Coast Handyman]

Re: Woodcarving knife on a budget

Here is what I would go with, Murphy Knives at Little Shavers

Dave

[Guest]

Re: Woodcarving knife on a budget

I carver for many years using xacto knives and blades. I still use them for some detail work. about $18. I did have to sharpen them some.

[uvawyo]

Re: Woodcarving knife on a budget

I, too like the Murphy, but just getting started a stanley knife is very inexpensive

[mcooksy]

Re: Woodcarving knife on a budget

Wow, thanks for all the suggestions. I don't think I'll be doin much chip carving, but I'll definitely be checkin out all these knives. I bought the only whittling knife they had at Michael's on sale for 13 bucks a few weeks ago but it wasn't sharpened and I can't seem to get it sharp enough. The Murphy knife looks exactly like it, but I assume the Michael's knife is some cheap foreign knock off. Thanks for the info guys, enjoy your day.
-Mike

[Whittled Thumb]

Re: Woodcarving knife on a budget

I used Xacto knives but not what was posted above. Those look like no. 11 blades to me. To flexable to bendable, not durable. You can buy CARVING blades just for carving for them. Then I just strop them out when needed or re sharpen them. Also I make my own blades from jig saw blades that I break while doing projects. I've found I'd rather use my blades than the XACTO ones. Anyway I paid 9 bux for the knfe with blade and I think you can buy a pack of blades for 4 bux or so. With stropping and keeping them fine tuned you won't need to buy them often. I found that when I sharpen and strop them myself, they are sharper than they came in the package. I'm gona make my own knife soon. I think I have blade making down to an art, knife is next.

This is the XACTO knife i use. I like that blade okay but they have other blades aswell. They are type D blades. Very hard very durable blades made for carving.

http://www.xacto.com/ProductImages/images/X3261.jpg

Also as stated above, you can get a stanley utility knife and use that. HomeDeopt and lowes now carry a couple of lines of them that re non retractable type. They are smaller than what Lynn uses and I think they'd be perfect for carving.

[davidinsarasota]

Re: Woodcarving knife on a budget

Dave's suggestion of a Murphey knife from Little Shavers gets my vote. Good steel (unlike Xacto), good handle, longish blade. Little Shavers is a long time friend of the forum, and I've read many posts of carvers sending in problem blades for him to fix or tune; thats the kind of vendor you want to have a relationship with.

[Eddy-Smiles]

Re: Woodcarving knife on a budget

MC... For a just a few bucks more, and I do mean just a few, you can call or email Mike Shipley at Ozark County Characters Ozark County Characters and get a really decent knife that you'll never regret buying and the best part about it is that he'll send it to you first and you pay him when you receive it and you only pay what it actually costs to ship it, usually less than $2.00. These are the same quality knives that Ron Wells use to make! I recommend that mini 1-3/8" detail for small whittling!

[Canopener]

Re: Woodcarving knife on a budget

I would suggest going to Little Shavers, Rick and Teresa will sell you what you want and need and how to keep it sharp. It is a rare pleasure to do business with them.
You already found out what cheap will buy you.
Jim

[Siva Ramasamy]

Re: Woodcarving knife on a budget

I did buy mine at Michael's, and it was really cheap for a real beginner like myself.
Siva