Modifying Flexcut carving knife

[lhow2000]

Just wondering if anyone has ever thinned down a flexcut knife blade and if so how they went about it. My knives are sharp and cut through end grain fine but I feel that they could be a better knife if the blade was a bit thinner. Thanks for any info.

[tbox61]

Flexcut knives have a bevel that is not conducive for a good carving knife. I would recommend getting a different knife, but if you already have it, the knife needs to have a flatter bevel.

I will get torched for saying this, but I have a guy that does a great job putting a flat bevel on a knife...Dallas Deege with Deege Tool Sharpening.

I keep my knives touched up by stropping, but I really don't care how to learn to sharpen...I can spend much more time making chips...

Flexcut palm tools are great, but their knives not so much.

[uvawyo]

Flexcut palm tools are great, but their knives not so much.[/QUOTE]
I agree

[lhow2000]

Thanks for the comments guys. Ya I thought as much. Might have a try on my grinder and see what I can do but I hate to screw up a half decent knife because money is scarce as I live on a small disability pension.

[DiLeon]

My flex knives I sharpen and then strop often....once they are sharp you do not have to sharpen again until they get dull and refuse to cut after stropping. I do not recommend the grinder if you never sharpened. If you ask a hundred carvers how they sharpen their chisels and knives you will get 100 different answers. Plus there are ways to sharpen that are cheap and even used by master carvers. I use the scary sharp method

Tons of great videos on Youtube...check them out. Some people send their tools out to be professionally sharp and there are lots of different kinds of machines to sharpen but you need to know the pro and cons of each one. Before you try a method make sure you understand what you doing and read lots of information about these processes so you know what you are looking for. There are lots and lots of threads on this subject over the years, make sure you check them out also.

[DiLeon]

I have bought tons of knives over the years,...although there are ones come ready to use, most are not as sharp as I like some have really dull blades. So you do need to learn how to sharpen and how to strop. If you do not want to learn some people use the old reliable fixed box knife and throw away blades, or like I said send them to pro sharpener.

[tbox61]

Thanks for the comments guys. Ya I thought as much. Might have a try on my grinder and see what I can do but I hate to screw up a half decent knife because money is scarce as I live on a small disability pension.

Before I would do that, I would contact Dallas Deege at Deege Tool Sharpening. He charges just $2.00 to redo the blade...the biggest expense you will have is postage both ways...he will get your knife going in short form!

[lhow2000]

Thanks everyone for the comments. I do know how to sharpen and strop pretty good but I know there is always room for improvement. I have just sent an email to a local knife maker and sharpener who lives here in Newfoundland hoping that he will be able to help me out. To send them out of the country would just really would not be worth it. Excluding Helvie,and Flexcut, what detail carving knife would you guys recommend me purchasing? I know every different carver has a knife but would be looking for something in $50.00 range. Cheers

[Brian T]

I'd begin by having a chat with your local blade smith. Get the blade of your desired shape made with experience. Then, you make the handle to fit your hands.

Handle hardware, like different sorts of rivets, are not difficult to find.
Snoop around anyplace which sells horse tack and the like sorts of leather and parts.

[Claude]

Yes, I had my Flexcut KN13 Detail knife modified. It was done for me by Allan Goodman at the Tennessee RWR several years ago. I think he had a Burke sharpening system and used a sandpaper-covered wood wheel to grind it down. The blade on the right is an unmodified KN-13 (except it's shorter because I dropped it on the floor and knocked the tip off 3 times, then ground the back down to get a new point). The blade on the left was only dropped once, after modification. The unmodified one is 1.27mm thick, and has an included angle (on the beveled part) of 14.3 degrees. The modified blade is flat all the way from edge to back, is 1.17mm thick, and has an included angle of 9.6 degrees. That difference of 4.7 degrees makes it much easier to cut the wood.

My Helvie medium detail knife has a blade thickness of 0.83mm and an included angle of 6.8 degrees.
Claude
IMG_7528.jpg

[joepaulbutler]

The big difference is the angle of the knife's edge. For what I hogging out the wood you a less steep angle, once you get ready to finish, a thinner blade is what you need to switch to. I've made some of my own that the blade is 1-64" thick with an app. 12° total cutting angle. For what I find to be a great finishing knife for about $9, OLFA 5023 Multi-Purpose Craft Knife, 9mm equipt with their 30° tip blade.
Even though they are snap blades, I broke the blade less than 5 times, just keep them stropped like and of your other knives.
Again my 2¢

[lhow2000]

Thanks again guys for all the info. That’s what I am trying to get done to my knife Claude. And yes Joe I have used one of the olfa craft knives also. Cheers

[NoDNA]

Just a thought, I use a few Hack Saw blades they sharpen well and flex in the right places too. Plus yuou don't have to temper them. My 2 p.
Chuck

[lhow2000]

Thanks Chuck, I will certainly be trying the hacksaw blade, never thought about sharpening one of them. Cheers

[joepaulbutler]

I made some small gouges out of hacksaw blades, work great. Had to reharden & temper after shaping the gouges, but no problems.