Show us your wood carving knives!

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Samon

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Mar 24, 2011
3,970
45
Britannia!
I've been looking at some wood carving knives lately and would like to see what you guys have!

The Mora carving knives look affordable and decent, but I'm sure some of you have some lovely ones so don't be shy and get 'em out! ;)

Also, can anyone recommend a few? I'm currently using a Mora 510.

Thanks :o
 
Hmmm... I thought this thread was going to be quite informative, as I too am trying to decide on what knife to purchase to start with. I've only carved with a penknife rather than a dedicated carving knife. Shame.... :(
 
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woodlore for scale.

Carving jack
Driftwoodwalker whitler
FGYT DSP.

Also use a mora 106 but misplaced it in the garage
 
nice!

didn't think we'd ever see a picture.. ;)

I just collected some easy to carve wood from my small pile for later, so with any luck in the evening everyone with the goods will be on to shows us some lovely tools!
 
The Frosts 120 and 106 are ok for the price, if you are into handling your own blades then the Polar blades are very good also Lauri blades, after that then you can start looking at custom makers which gets more expensive, the other route is makers like Svante Djarv, Ben Orford, Hans Karlsson and Nic Weterman who make dedicated carving knives, for a reasonable price. Nics blades would have to be handled though. Tbh everyone likes a carving knife for different reasons, some get on with some and not others. my advice would be get a frosts they are cheap and although some dont get on with them you cant really loose out on much money in buying one, after that I would look at the Polar blades and make your own handle, it doesn't have to be pretty its a tool not a show knife. You will learn alot from shaping your own handle to fit your hand and also your carving needs.
I hope this helps.
 
Simon, thank you for all your advice... Just what I was after. I was going to look on amazon for something quite cheap first off but also really like the carving jack two bladed Whittling knife as something to carry in my pocket for when I feel the need on a walk in the woods.
Does anyone have any experience of the carving jack's little brother? When looking at it it doesn't suggest it locks so I would think could be carried around in a jacket pocket.

Martin :)
 
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If you want a small dedicated carving blade then the Frosts are pretty hard to beat they are Tri laminated

I do a similar blade to the short version (or any other shape you want ) Mainly because people wanted them to match their spoon knives

Nic W and Dave Budd also do good carving blades

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Mostly for field carving I use my DSP lrg or sml as its small and sharp enough to carve and big and strong enough to do other stuff

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lovely! My guess is a straight blade is the prefered style for a dedicated carver then?

I did see one with a flicked tip that looked nice, can't find the image now but it had a straight blade with a curled end..(like an elfs shoe) not a spoon knife either!

I already have a Ben Orford medium spoon knife and it's a lovely tool, but I'd like a carver a little longer than his carving knife.

Here's the Mora I'm using atm, it works pretty well due to its slender blade. (this is an old picture, it now looks a little more worn and grubby from all the beatings)

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yo samon....i use the mora 120 wood carver....(have a google)....as seen in the sheath in my makers market thread....affordable....good blade, razor sharp....nice little size for fine work...

a
 
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Third from left main user for quite a while now.
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Top knife is another newer knife that I use.
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Numbers four and five from the top are the larger blades that I use also, they have had some wood taken away where the handle reaches the blade so the thumb rests on the blade when in use, I also use three of Ben Orford's spoon knives.
 
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Liking the wood on them branco mate.
The sheath for Polar olive wood one is interesting, as I made one almost the same last week for the same blade, mine has plenty of orange peel effect on it. :)
 
lovely stuff!

I think I like the look of the mora blade the most, which ones would you say are the better blades for the actual carving jobs?
 
Liking the wood on them branco mate.
The sheath for Polar olive wood one is interesting, as I made one almost the same last week for the same blade, mine has plenty of orange peel effect on it. :)

Well Hugo here is the other side of the sheath


Olive wood Polar lama2 by alf.branch, on Flickr

lovely stuff!

I think I like the look of the mora blade the most, which ones would you say are the better blades for the actual carving jobs?

The Mora lamintaed blades are superb ask Robin wood.

The polar (same as the lauri just logo and ricaaso are different) whittler is lovely to use too especially with the birch bark.
 

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