"Carvin' Jack"

I bought one of those Rockler knives. Check out the pic on the PictureTrail site. The handle does seem a little small; though that might not make much of a difference in detail work. The blades seem to be a different style than usual, but I could be wrong on that. The locking mechanism is adaquate, but not very substantial. My biggest complaint is that it is tricky to open. You have to press on the lock and let the blade fall into reach. Nevertheless, it is a neat little knife, and cheap too. One of these days I'll get around to remodling that knife. I'll let you know when I get there.

I bought one of those knifes from Rockler. As the saying goes you get what you pay for. One of the blades came nice a sharp, but the other two will need a lot of work. The handle is held together with about a 4/40 screw. About the 5th time that I opened and closed the handle I stripped out the screw. I am planning on just getting a longer screw and replacing it. I think the knife will work good for light duty carving. For a serious long session this would not be a good choice.

Since you are sharing 'shopping secrets,' I will let you in on a little one. Two weeks before you commit your tool buying indescretion, purchase 5 raffle tickets. Next, make a big deal about the raffle to your spouse. When the two weeks are up go and buy your tools. When you get home, say, 'Look honey I won first prize in the raffle!'

[Randy48]

Hugo, that's got to be the best one I heard yet

[Donna_T]

Not to beat a dead horse, but this horse seems to have a life of its own.

In our little carving club, we used to have a member, a kindly, quiet gentleman in his 80's, very religious, and very much still enamored of his wife of 60 years. With a twinkle in his eye one night, he related how he shopped for carving tools and supplies.

Enter as many carvings in as many carving competitions as you can find (we really don't have many around here--and at the most, he may have won $75 a year--tops.) Always make a big 'to do' to the wife about saving your winnings for some future purchase to further your carving hobby. Then, when you finally buy something (never mind that it may cost 4 to 10 times what your winnings were) you just say (but only if she asked how you paid for it) 'oh, I just used some of my winnings stash for it.'

He always chuckled. Even though he's been dead for eight years, we still pass this helpful advice on our new carvers so they can benefit from his many years of not fooling anyone!

What a jewel!

Donna T