Finding basswood hard...

[Robson Valley]

Flexcut blades have an included bevel angle of 12 degrees, so they told me.
When you think about the geometry of a cut, a slicing cut actually reduces the apparent bevel angle of the blade without compromising strength. I make some "stab" cuts out of necessity with a Pfeil 1/8 but it sure is a lot of work. If I can get away with it, a stab with a 1S/12 (1/2" skew) takes far less effort.

[dunedindirt]

I have to agree with BobT, get some wood from Heinecke. If you can't carve their wood then you can be certain that it is something wrong with your knife.
I bought a grab bag of wood from my local Woodcraft and many of the pieces were unusable. The 2" practice sticks that I ordered from Heinecke carve like a dream.
Heinecke Wood Products

[Ezzylearner]

I have carved a few pieces of basswood from Mid-West that I bought from a local craft store. The wood looked pretty dry but my knives still cut into them like butter. I use Shipley, Flexcut, Helvie, Deepwood, and Cherry knives. Maybe the pieces of basswood I carved were the sapwood part.

Ezzy

[rbourque77]

Thanks to all who took the time to comment on my delima with the basswood. I got my Flexcut knives in the mail the next day and they made huge difference compared to the Case knive I was using. The knife was a gift from my son, who knew I was interested in whittling/carving - so it was kind of a bummer - and then I blamed the wood.

I am impressed at how hard carving something is though. I need to buy more bandaids, after only a long weekend of carving a snowman, I have run out. I am getting smarter (it takes a while) but I use heavy leather gloves now.

If your interested in the fruits of my labor. Kind of a bad photo, but it is a finished piece. I have a bad habit of starting things and not finishing them - but with carving this snowman I was determined to finish it and give it to my granddaughter. This small piece was so rewarding though...

[richipper]

Glad to hear the knives are helping. Remember to strop often. Were a Kevlar glove! You can always put the leather over it. And make a small parts holder to keep you hands out of the line of fire.
Richard

[mpounders]

Your snowman looks pretty good! I've carved a few and although they look easy, I think it takes a lot of carving to get them all rounded out! Your Case knife could probably have the bevel flattened down to make it better for carving, if you would still like to use it for that. Or just use it for a general purpose knife?

[Alfwok]

I ran into alot of the same problems when i started out. First you need a cut resistant glove before you need stitches. Then I had problems with knives and wood. You need good quality wood (none of that hard-as-a-rock craft store stuff) and super sharp knives. A member here suggested me to try an "old reliable" stanley 199 utility knife only around $7-$10 at the hardware store. Then you will know what sharp is and how all your knives should cut. stick with it the snowman looks great.