Wood carving knives.

[Soupyjones]

I am hoping that some of our wood carvers can give me some help. I am hoping to make a carving knife or two for a local wood worker to trade for some help and shop time. I have ideas and rough plans but I need some help with the fine details. 

First and possibly most important, how hard do you prefer the blade to be on a 1 1/8 straight ground blade? I understand that very hard blades are the norm bur some guys like a bit of flex in the blade. More than anything I am curious about preferences from folks who have used a few. 

Second is the balance of the blade. Is there any drawback to having the balance point closer to the center of the palm or is index finger the only real choice?

Thanks for the help and advice guys.

[bigfootnampa]

Balance is quite unimportant!  What you do want is a nice sized handle to transfer lots of power to the cuts.  Small blades with full sized grippy handles are best for making controlled cuts, even in hardwoods!  Blades should be tempered enough to be resistant to breaking, but harder is better than softer!  Should be very little flex in a short blade like that.  Do not make the spine of the blade very thick though, as thinner blades slice through the wood more easily.  Roundish handles allow more grip options.  I like to round the spines smoothly so that they can cut curved slices more easily and won't leave marks in the woods!  Hidden tang is the most common style and I like it best!

[ThomasPowers]

So are you making a striking knife used for marking wood (some nice japanese versions are out there); or are you making a carving knife like a crooked knife or a chip carving knife, or ...

Hardness and flex are dependent on what they are intended for and the user's preference---tell me what kind of tires I should have on my pickup?

[Soupyjones]

9 minutes ago, ThomasPowers said:

So are you making a striking knife used for marking wood (some nice japanese versions are out there); or are you making a carving knife like a crooked knife or a chip carving knife, or ...

Hardness and flex are dependent on what they are intended for and the user's preference---tell me what kind of tires I should have on my pickup?

Blast I got caught with a lack of information! Truth be told at this moment I am looking at making small whittling blades lIke chip carvers. Something akin to a scalpel which leads me to think a very stiff blade is ideal. 

[SLAG]

Scalpel blades are great for scoring lines in wood. But they are too flimsy for prying motions. There is a certain amount of prying when carving wood. I mean lateral movement (side by side movement). The scalpel blade is too thin to stand up to that. Therefor the spine should be mere substantial. I had a scalpel blade snap in half, at the base, while carving. Fortunately, It missed my face and eyes. The spine should be tempered to fairly soft, and the blade to about straw or full yellow. Check out Flexcraft carving tool handles. Their handles are very comfortable, with the convex curve where fingers grasp the knife.

SLAG.

[Frosty]

Whittlin knives eh? Hook knives are nice carving knives and the scooping action is very precise. They like wider and flatter handles to make it easier to twist the blade. The blade wants to be relatively rigid but being relatively short and narrow you can go with a dark straw for most of the blade and pale straw for the edge.

Hook knives are typically single bevel and the hook can be shallow for bowls and spoons to pretty tight 180* for detail work. They are a favorite of Tlinget carvers, masks and such smaller carvings, totem carvers use push chisels and slicks. You do canoes with axes and adzes after you're done roughing it in with chain saws that is.

Frosty The Lucky.

[BIGGUNDOCTOR]

I did most of my carving with a Schrade Old Timer pocketknife. 

The main thing you need for wood carving is control of the blade, so a good sized and shaped handle is paramount. 

Google wood carving knife and see what comes up in images.

[Soupyjones]

Thanks for the responses guys. I have done lots of hunting for popular knives and the style that most guys seem to like. I knocked one together to try out knowing that the handle was not right for a competent carver. I will try it out and see what needs improvement then go from there. It is still super rough until I grind it a bit and sharpen it.

[natenaaron]

I have a Cape Forge knife with switchable blades, an Allen Goodman knife and a few flexcut knives.

The cape forge is way stiff and I hardly use it.  I prefer, as do many carvers (I refer to myself as one very loosely) a blade with some flex.  The Allen Goodman knife is heads and tails a better carver than the others, and I stopped buying knives after I gt t one.  Take a look at carving knife profiles.  What you has wil be pretty tough to carve with.  Needs more point.  Some folks like the big belly on a blade.  I don't I I prefer straight.  Carving knives are a very personal thing.  A carver may have a hundred knives and other tools but they gravitate to one.  Go look at the guy's knives.  That will tell you what he likes to work with.

[Soupyjones]

That is great advice nate, thank you. The crux of the matter seems to be that each person prefers something different. Maybe I will clean that little blade up and give it to a hunter as a precision skinner and start from scratch on carving knives.

[BIGGUNDOCTOR]

I agree with Nate. One reason I used my pocketknife was that I had three blades on it. I used the long clip for roughing, The spey for refining the shape, and the sheep's foot for fine details. 

As you can see with these, the blade is very small compared to the handle. You are taking small controlled cuts, not big bites. 

 

[SLAG]

BGD,

Has most of the knives Flexcraft makes. Impressive.

They sell a three knife beginners set. Also, a chip carvers' set, micro carving set, a scorp set, and others. The first set is a good place to start. Try them out. See what you think, carve for a while, and then make your own knives. Most specialty woodworking stores sell them. The blades are very high quality spring steel, and will last a very long time. But they are not cheap.

Woodcraft, here, puts the knives on sale fairly frequently. If you have six to nine months to spare you can catch one of those sales.

Nota Bene,I do NOT have any financial,  or any other interest in the company, None at all!

Just saying.

SLAG.

Edited July 20, 2016 by SLAG
translating into English

[bigfootnampa]

Here are some from my collection.  I didn't make any of these and don't have any that I have made with me now.  These are good knives though!  The two on the bottom are made by a smith who goes by the name "neza" on eBay.  He usually has other knives listed and some are really beautiful!  You can look at them for inspiration.  The two larger knives here are roughing knives with about 1 1/2" to 2" blades.  The top knife is by a well known maker and is more of a detail knife.  I make the little scabbards myself.  I prefer very little flex in my carving knives but I carve pretty hard woods most of the time.  You can use a softer and more flexible blade with softer woods and do just fine.  For me, cherry or walnut is about as soft as I usually work, with but many carvers carve pine and basswood almost exclusively.