Is the knife supposed to do this?

[Collin]

Hi, everyone. I just registered.

I bought a Flexcut detail knife to try my hand at carving. I did a lot of research on knives and stropping etc. I get the knife and start carving, and after a few minutes I notice that the knife's edge has a bunch of micro chips in it and the tip at the cutting edge has broken off!

I thought maybe I was going too long between stropping, so I resharpen the knife to where it was from the factory and do more carving....and the same thing happens. After just a few cuts the edge is toast and there's no amount of stropping that could remove them.

I contact Flexcut and they send a replacement. I carved a little ball in cage out of cedar and by the end of carving, the edge is full of chips and the tip has chipped off again. I resharpen this knife and since the ball only needs a little extra work, I went very easy on the knife....but the edge is starting to micro chip even from this.


Is the second knife defective as well, or is it something I'm doing?

[Tom Ellis]

Collin, don't drag your knife sideways to get rid of the chips, the fine edges on carving tools are very fragile. With compound on the strop, strop some more until the nicks are gone, and you should be good to go. You create a little micro bevel that strengthens the edge.

Good luck, don't give up. Tom

[Gergie]

I purchased the flexcut several years ago, and they hold their edge well. I'm wonering there is something in the wood, Do you sand it before carving? Those grits will remain in the food.

If not contact Flex Cut and talk to someone about it. Good luck

[Kadiddle]

Collin it is possible to have a bad knife. Did you send the first one back to Flexcut? They can test the make up of the steel to see what went wrong or at what point it went wrong. Then again it could of happened at the grinding stage. They are good to deal with. Im sure if you got 2 bad knives they have a problem somewhere and would like to correct it. Could be many more out there. Let us know how it turns out.
Carve On,
Kadiddle

[Collin]

Originally Posted by Tom Ellis

Collin, don't drag your knife sideways to get rid of the chips, the fine edges on carving tools are very fragile. With compound on the strop, strop some more until the nicks are gone, and you should be good to go. You create a little micro bevel that strengthens the edge.

Good luck, don't give up. Tom

Hi,

I'm not dragging the knife sideways or anything strange. I'm new to carving, but not woodworking.

After I resharpened the new knife to get rid of the chips, I stropped it every 30 seconds and that didn't keep the edge from deteriorating. The compound isn't aggressive enough to take out the chips on its own.

It seems unlikely I would get two bad knives, but I can't see how a knife could go from paper slicing to chipped in a couple minutes from red cedar.

[kimschance]

Hello Collin,
Funny you should say this - not funny, just rings a bell as I went through a similar process a few months ago, although i was using butternut. After the set was replaced and the same thing happened, I just set them aside. I thought that I was sharpening them wrong, came here to get suggestions and input. My intent is to take them back to the store directly, so i can talk to someone in person. haven't done that yet, as it is a 2 hour drive. Will let you know the outcome, although I believe more than ever now - that it is just a bad run of steel.
Margo

[mpounders]

I suspect it is either something in the wood, like grit or dirt, could also be something from sanding. I have a lot of flexcut tools and have never had an issue, and I don't strop except about every 30 minutes. It could also be how you are using the knife! Since you mentioned carving a ball in a cage, I bet you are using the tip to get in all those little spaces and are twisting it to pry out little bits, breaking the tip off. I learned the hard way, that you slice instead of prying. I ended up paying a guy to fix the tip and edge on my Shipley knife, and I have managed to not break them since! You might prefer a slightly thicker blade depending on how you prefer to carve. And you might find basswood a bit easier to carve also. It's hard to say, not seeing what you are doing or the what the wood looks like, so we are just guessing, based on things we have did wrong! Try a different piece of wood, like pine, and just whittle on it, and see how the edge holds up?

[Collin]

Originally Posted by kimschance

Hello Collin,
Funny you should say this - not funny, just rings a bell as I went through a similar process a few months ago, although i was using butternut. After the set was replaced and the same thing happened, I just set them aside. I thought that I was sharpening them wrong, came here to get suggestions and input. My intent is to take them back to the store directly, so i can talk to someone in person. haven't done that yet, as it is a 2 hour drive. Will let you know the outcome, although I believe more than ever now - that it is just a bad run of steel.
Margo

Yes, it's frustrating when you think it's the tool, but you don't want to look like a fool by complaining about something you're doing and waste someone's time.

Originally Posted by mpounders

I suspect it is either something in the wood, like grit or dirt, could also be something from sanding. I have a lot of flexcut tools and have never had an issue, and I don't strop except about every 30 minutes. It could also be how you are using the knife! Since you mentioned carving a ball in a cage, I bet you are using the tip to get in all those little spaces and are twisting it to pry out little bits, breaking the tip off. I learned the hard way, that you slice instead of prying. I ended up paying a guy to fix the tip and edge on my Shipley knife, and I have managed to not break them since! You might prefer a slightly thicker blade depending on how you prefer to carve. And you might find basswood a bit easier to carve also. It's hard to say, not seeing what you are doing or the what the wood looks like, so we are just guessing, based on things we have did wrong! Try a different piece of wood, like pine, and just whittle on it, and see how the edge holds up?

I just cut the block of wood out with a jigsaw. I didn't do any sanding to it.

Actually, I only used the tip of the knife to score the wood and used a chisel to do all the real work.

I'm going to send them an e-mail right now and see from them if anyone else has had any problems. It sounds like I'm either abusing the knife, or there's something wrong with it.

[Midnight Carver]

I had the same problem after freshly sharpening my knives (not flexcut). I learned I have to strop ALOT after sharpening to create a micro-bevel. When I start carving again, I watch for the little white lines in the wood which tell me I have another nick starting. I stop and strop immediately, rather then let the tiny nick get any bigger. I repeat this process until my knife quits getting the nicks. Hope you find something that works for you

Eric

[Collin]

Originally Posted by Midnight Carver

I had the same problem after freshly sharpening my knives (not flexcut). I learned I have to strop ALOT after sharpening to create a micro-bevel. When I start carving again, I watch for the little white lines in the wood which tell me I have another nick starting. I stop and strop immediately, rather then let the tiny nick get any bigger. I repeat this process until my knife quits getting the nicks. Hope you find something that works for you

Eric

Why would you put up with so much work? Tools shouldn't be chipping when you're using them the way they're meant to be used.

It does sound like we're having the same problem.