Some questions about knives

[OldNineFingers]

I have been reading about sharpening knives and which steel is better and which brands are better. Now my questions are on which type knives are important. I bought my first knife from a supplier that was at a carving get together in Texas. It is a Flexcut and I am happy with it but I want to add to my tool set. It seems that my first knive is too blunt in the tip. It also seems to be too short. I would call it a basic carving knife. Can some of you give me a short list of what you think is the most important knives you have acquired and why. I am not as much interested in brand but in the shape and blade length. I have been watching the videos on youtube and nobody is using a knife that has the shape of blade that mine has. Thanks for putting up with a newbie's indecision.
Ray

[CarverFromNoWhere]

Hey Ray post a pic of this Flexcut ya bought. You should get many different opinions from all the folks on here, so I would take the most sugested ones as the best shapes and sizes.

In my knives my detail seems to be the most used, a very thin blade 1 3/8" long with a very fine point, I use it for all my very fine cuts, detail I can't do with anything else, and any small carvings. Then a 1 1/2" roughing blade which is quite a bit heavier then the detail, I use this for heavier work like knocking the corners off of a square or roughing out the nose on a face. Then I have a very large roughing/bench knife it is a 3 1/8" long 1/8" thick swedish carving knife I use this for all kinds of stuff from taking massive cuts to sharpening pencils. Here is a pic of all three profiles, these are my most used knives right now. I have many different knives of many different brands but these are my favorites.

The camera flash made the knife blades different colors, they are all shiny silver mirror color.

Carl

[Donna_T]

All I can give is my opinion, but I started with a generic benchknife and then added a veiner and v-tool. Although I didn't carve very much for the first couple of years, when I started carving more and different kinds of carvings, I started adding tools of all shapes and sizes. I started with palm tools, but like a medium-to-full sized tool now. In fact, I've popped the handles off several palm tools and put a full-sized tool handle on them to extend the reach and improve the comfort and control of them.

What's important to know is the size of carvings you plan to do and do you like full sized tools or "palm" tools. Personally, I have a Helvie and a custom knife from Rick in Seattle's offerings to do most of my roughing in of anything larger than a miniature. You'll want a longer, stronger blade for roughing-in.

I have 2-3 Denny tools which I use a lot, and my favorites are Stubai for shaped veiners and v-tools. But I probably have tools of a dozen different brands in my tool box.

Donna T

[AlArchie]

Is this the one you have with a "blunt" tip? Picture 1.

If so, you may want one like Picture 2.

Here's a link to flexcut's full line. Whch one do you have?
Carving Tools - Carving Knives « Flexcut Tool Company

One of the knives Carl posted looks like a "sloyd", or Swedish style carving knife. Picture 3

Another popular longer blade around here for carving is the puuko or puuku, the Finnish Laplander's general purpose knife. Picture 4

Sloydes you can find in most carver's supply catalogs. Puukus are a bit harder to find. Here's a link to a supply for those.

Saami Knives : Kellam Knives Worldwide, Inc. - Finnish Puukko Knives and Products

Al

[GeorgiaCarver]

You are going to get a lot of opinions with that question Cowboy

I like the Helvie knives and the Cape Forge knives. That is about all I use besides the one roughout knife that I had made custom by Rick-in-Seattle.

I like Helvie and Cape Forge so much that I started carrying a small inventory of them for selling at shows and on my website.

I guess if I tried other brands I might like them as well. But alas, there is only so much money Wink

Greg

[Lynn O. Doughty]

The best knife I've found in the 40 years I've been carving, and believe me I've tried them all and probably have them all, is the $2.50 utility knife you can find down at Lowes, Home Depot or any other place where tools are sold. I saw one the other day in a Pawn show for $.25, not that I frequent those places. You won't find a better detail blade...very thin, flexible, disposable when it gets dull so no sharpening involved. The only work it requires to get it up to carving speed is a few strops on the leather. Just like most carvers, it's nice to open your carving kit and marvel at all the professional tools that you might have collected but when it gets down to actually using one a high price, recognizable name brand or pretty grip adds up to not much. I've tried to do the detail work with some of them and they just can't match Old Reliable. And that cheap box cutter can remove wood from a just-sawn blank faster than a Kutzall.

[cedarshavings]

Lynn, do you alter the blades any to get into tight spots like around eyes or the mouth and nose? You've obviously proven whatever you are doing is working. I've never tried a box cutter.

Steve

[Lynn O. Doughty]

The steel used for those blades is probably the cheapest the manufacturer could find so there is no way you could alter the blade. Only the factory sharpened edge has been tempered so you can strop it a couple times but even after that it reaches a point where it's best to chuck in a new blade. But even with that they're very cheap and you don't have to waste time sharpening them!! It's the tight spots around the eyes and other areas where this knife really leaves the others behind.

[cedarshavings]

I'm afraid to try one now because I could have bought 30 of them for the knives I've been using. I might just have to try it though.

[CarverFromNoWhere]

Here is that swedish carving knife, it's not a sloyd version it is a carving blade, it's a little bit different in the shape over the sloyd but they are very close. You will have to scroll down to the last two knives on this page they are the carving blades. The first three are sloyd blades suited to carving but more of a bench knife. The carving blades are sharpend with a longer bevel angle, are polished up, and have the back of the blade rounded over for comfort.
FROST Laminated Swedish Knives - Woodcraft.com
Warren Cutlery Wood Carving Tools Industrial Knives Kitchen Knives


With all do respect in my opinion, other then Lynn, you all have seemed to miss the point of this question. You did post what knives ya use but not really why you like those specificly or what areas they are used on.

Ray asked "Can some of you give me a short list of what you think is the most important knives you have acquired and why. I am not as much interested in brand but in the shape and blade length. "


Ray another one I use alot is my flexcut roughing knife KN14
Carving Tools - KN14 Roughing Knife « Flexcut Tool Company
This bigger blade comes in really handy, I like to use it when I am roughing out whismical house roofs in cottonwood bark, so we call it the roofing knife Wink. If ya want one that is really sharp and stays sharp try the Flexcut pelican, because of the blade shape it always takes a skewed cut leaving a very fine finish after the cut. This one I have but don't use unless I need to, it is so sharp I try not to use it, I know I will cut myself with it. It also works well for detail and it is really good if your cutting v grooves instead of using a v tool you can make a really sharp line with this knife.
Carving Tools - KN18 Pelican Knife « Flexcut Tool Company

Carl