Advice for first knife and spoon please

[Goodison555]

Hi everyone,

I've been browsing the forum for a while now and really enjoying a lot of the informative posts.

I'm hoping to do some wild camping with friends, much more experienced than I am, and hopefully spend more and more time outdoors. I'm a keen fisherman (sea angling, and game fishing) and walker so not totally green when it comes to outdoor persuits.

However, I have no knowledge of what would make a good bushcraft knife (i want to spend less than £100). Are there any you would personally recommend? What is your preference when choosing between high carbon and stainless steel and why? I have also been thinking about starting my first carving project (a spoon no less!) but need some help on what wood i should be looking for. There is a woodland area near where I live that is full of birch, a lot of which is just lying around (a lot of this wood seems to be very wet/rotten). What should I be looking for? Any suggestions and help will be greatly appreciated.

Regards,

 

[MartiniDave]

Hello & Welcome.

For your first knife I would recommend any one of the various Frost Mora knives that can be had for £10-£20 from many on-line retailers. Learn to sharpen it and use it, then make your mind up if you really do need anything "better". While you're at it get a Frost hook knife to use for the bowls of your spoons - again around a tenner. What metal? Well, I like stainless around food and the coast, but high carbon is fine if you look after it.
For wood I would sugges birch for spoons, as it's relatively easy to work. Have a good trawl through these forums, theres a LOT of information. Robin & Nicola Wood's site a also very useful for spoon carving.

Enjoy,

Dave

 

[FGYT]

might as well get a Frosts at the £10 it will cover you for pretty much every thing

i like the stainless steel one its a very good blade and you can use it for Fishing to

you can then see what you would like after that to you will be hard pushed to get better value than the mora

you could make your own with a kit blade or totaly from scratch


not going to comment on the mora spoon knives other than they need a bit of work to get them ot cut

ATB

Duncan

 

[Tony]

i use a wooden red handled classic more than anything else, about £8, lovely knife

 

[PaulSanderson]

Mora for a first knife for sure! still use my mora a lot, despite having quite a few others. Its easy to get swayed by shiny expensive blades with exotic wooden scales, but for the price, i havent found anything to beat a mora. I learnt how to look after the blade and sharpen too. If it breaks, you've lost a tenner. But that tenner could last you a long long time :O) just me 2 pence worth...hope it helps...

 

[Goodison555]

Great advice guys thanks. A good idea to get a relatively cheap and good value knife and see how things go. With regards to the wood I intend to collect for the spoon - do you think that wood that has been lying around for a long time on the forest floor would be suitable? I don't really want to cut anything off a live tree if I can help it. It's mostly birch btw.

 

[Melonfish]

Birch is fine for carving but you'll probably find it easier to carve green over dried. i would recommend you try and find a piece that's recently fallen and you shouldn't have much trouble.

 

[robin wood]

There is a woodland area near where I live that is full of birch, a lot of which is just lying around (a lot of this wood seems to be very wet/rotten). What should I be looking for? Any suggestions and help will be greatly appreciated.

Regards,

Birch lying on the forest floor is almost certainly too rotten to use. Also who owns the woodland and do you have permision to cut and collect?

I would advise contact local tree surgeon or parks department for fresh cut wood. Birch, willow, alder, lime, poplar are all great for starting. The stuff you want is 2-3" diameter branch wood, it normally goes through the chipper.

 

[3bears]

another vote for the clipper here, best value £10 i've spent - still sees a lot of use today!

 

[robin wood]

I forgot about the knives. I would buy 2 a Frost/mora 106 sloyd knife to keep clean and sharp for your woodcarving and a clipper stainless for food prep, general duties, fishing and particularly any time it might get saltwater near it.

Then save up and spend your money on a nice hook knife.

 

[Jinsin456]

If I was spending a few quid I would but a Mora and a Falkniven DC4 stone and learn how to sharpen. I'm new to the forum as well bud but there is loads of info on here. I'm hoping to do my first spoon soon too

 

[Whittler Kev]

Got a few different ones now and still prefer a carbon Mora for general work. Easier to sharpen than a stainless blade and you can use the back to throw sparks with a firesteel. Before I got a purpose Carvin' Jack folder (£100) I did all my spoons , etc with a Mora spoon knife. Start there....you can't go wrong.
For sharpening I prefer a DC4 (Diamond/Ceramic 4" long) as it soon puts an good edge on with the diamond side, and maintains it with a few flicks of the ceramic side. At 4" long it fits easily in your pocket.
Remember NOT to get a locking folder if you want to stay on the right side of the law.

 

[FGYT]

Got a few different ones now and still prefer a carbon Mora for general work. Easier to sharpen than a stainless blade and you can use the back to throw sparks with a firesteel. Before I got a purpose Carvin' Jack folder (£100) I did all my spoons , etc with a Mora spoon knife. Start there....you can't go wrong.
For sharpening I prefer a DC4 (Diamond/Ceramic 4" long) as it soon puts an good edge on with the diamond side, and maintains it with a few flicks of the ceramic side. At 4" long it fits easily in your pocket.
Remember NOT to get a locking folder if you want to stay on the right side of the law.

stainless one throws Ferro sparks just fine but some knives need the back squaring off sharp (goes for carbon ones too ) wont spark of flint tho


ATB

Duncan

 

[Goodison555]

Fantastic advice from everyone. Thank you so much. I've ordered the mora clipper (carbon) as a few of you have recommended. I'll probably get the DC4 stone a see how I get on.

Robin - great tip about contacting the local tree surgeon (i know one local, but it hadn't occured to me). I don't have express permisison to cut or collect from the land I was talking about. I didn't think it would be an issue as there is literally tonnes of the stuff, none of which is being put to use and decomposing, but I guess that's not the point. As far as I know the woodland is maintained by the south east england development agency, whoever they may be. I'll be getting the mora 106 sloyd btw, and I really like your blog.

 

[ex member coconino]

If you've got £100 to spend, buy the two Moras, one carbon, one stainless, and a spoon knife, all at less than a tenner each. Get the DC4 stone for about 12 quid as suggested too, and then order the Husqvarna hatchet for 21.99 mentioned in this thread. It's much easier to carve a spoon with a hatchet and use the knives for finishing. This will give you the heart of a great bushcraft toolkit and leave you enough for a decent single malt. Sycamore is everywhere and works well.

 

[ex member coconino]

Here's a beautiful film of a chap making a spoon. Beware that this fellow has clearly been using a hatchet since before he was weaned, it takes a lot of practise to carve that freely and retain one's fingers.

 

[marcelxl]

Here's a beautiful film of a chap making a spoon. Beware that this fellow has clearly been using a hatchet since before he was weaned, it takes a lot of practise to carve that freely and retain one's fingers.

He's nearly as good as me!

 

[Whittler Kev]

If you've got £100 to spend, buy the two Moras, one carbon, one stainless, and a spoon knife, all at less than a tenner each. Get the DC4 stone for about 12 quid as suggested too, and then order the Husqvarna hatchet for 21.99 mentioned in this thread. It's much easier to carve a spoon with a hatchet and use the knives for finishing. This will give you the heart of a great bushcraft toolkit and leave you enough for a decent single malt. Sycamore is everywhere and works well.

Well said .