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

[Robson Valley]

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]

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.

[A_Swope]

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]

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]

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]

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

Dave

[carvingbarn]

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.
xacto kit.jpg

[uvawyo]

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

[mcooksy]

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