Drawknives

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HillBill

Bushcrafter through and through
Oct 1, 2008
8,633
463
W. Yorkshire
I'm looking at getting myself a drawknife for general use, nothing specific. I know little about these tools though. So who makes a good all purpose drawknife? Preferably straight bladed and wide enough to be used for most things?

Any recommendations and advice welcome

Thanks :)
 
....light blue touch paper and stand well back....

1) The old English makes can be really good, but they're usually completely blunt and they can be badly worn. Re-grinding a drawknife is a horrible job to do.

2) Of the new English makes, my thoughts are:

a) Ray Iles - cheapest, nice handles, nicely ground

b) Crown - mid priced, poor handles (too small, shiney varnish), poorly ground

c) Robert Sorby - dearest, not too sure, not handled a brand new one.

3) There are also some French and German ones available. I don't know what they're like.

4) If you're really really rich, you could look at the Swedish and American ones. I haven't handled them either.

5) I have almost certainly forgotten some other makes - sorry!

I have a Ray Iles/Mike Abbot design drawknife which I'm very happy with, and an old Marples which I would be happy with if I could summon up the energy to regrind the thing.

Cheers
 
hillbill, Biker is the guy to talk to, he gets some great ones from the car boot sales in france and refurbishes them, good looking tools.
 
Mmm, drawknifes! I love mine, as Robbi said Biker is your man for them. I got a pristine example off him a couple months back and it's a real joy to use.
 
Thanks chaps.

Ian, I'll have a look into those you mentioned, i don't mind paying top dollar for top tools as they always pay you back over time. :)

Robbi, sasquatch, yeah i thought about Aaron, ill drop him a pm and see if he has anything.

Cheers
 
I have a folding drawknife (think its a Wilkinsons, made in Boston Massachusetts) and I like that.
The handles folding inwards protects the edge from whatever its up against in a toolbox.
 
Hill Bill,
I have three sitting on my workbench ready for final stropping and polishing for eventual sale here. Just tagged your name on one of them as a "Karma" thing... PM me your address. :D

I just Pm'd you :) I'll send you another with my addy, cheers Aaron
 
You kept that quiet when you popped in the other day mate

Hey Toby, spent too much time drooling over your custom made knives to remember I had them. The Opinel has been stropped and is now razor sharp. Thanks for that. We'll talk later, I'm off out to a US custom car and bike show at Bagnole.

HillBill. PMs read, I'll reply later but basically the drawknifes I have are all aboout 300mm long from handle to handle with a curved blade. Run a search for all postings by me and you'll see some examples of them. These are nice drawknifes, I ignore the knackered ones unless they're a good make.

Thanks for the endorsements folks, means a lot.
 

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