I bought your wrong 'handed' flexcut
. To be honest for the type of whittling I do (small stuff) the RHS inward cut works fine for me, Dont use it as much as I should but like to have it in the pack all the same.ATB GH
I bought your wrong 'handed' flexcut
. To be honest for the type of whittling I do (small stuff) the RHS inward cut works fine for me, Dont use it as much as I should but like to have it in the pack all the same.ATB GH
Whittler Kev
Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Like everyone's saying it feels "safer" carving away from you. Not sure if it's because it's so sharp or what. I use a normal pull toward with the spoon knife but with the Carvin' Jack spoon blade I like to carve away if that makes sense?
N
Nomad
Guest
The knife arrived earlier in the week. Seems well made, although maybe not as slickly constructed as a SAK. The blades tend to lift each other up when you open one (needs interleaving bits, I guess), but no big hassle. There are traces of oil at the hinges, but adding a drop more seems to have helped a little (less 'dry' feeling now). Don't know why the pouch is unfinished/untreated leather. I put some neatsfoot compound on mine. I found that a couple of the concave profiles on the stropping board don't fit the blades (the two gouges), but the outsides of those can be stropped on the leather bit. Both profiles for the V scorp seem fine.
I think I need to develop my technique a bit. I cut a bit from a lump of softwood CLS (spruce or whitewood, I think) and started making a spoon-shaped object using the straight blade. I ended up putting too much effort into the push cuts and developed a blister on my left thumb. After a bit, I decided that blade was a bit light/small/thin for roughing out, so switched to my woody clone and found it much better (also put a glove on the left hand and used different areas of the thumb for pushing). So, trying too hard at first, or used the wrong tool for the heavier cuts. When doing the inside of the bowl, I found the crook blade wasn't that great for getting it started - I agree that the gouge scorp does it better.
Regarding the left/right hand thing, I think I prefer this on balance, especially when using the gouge scorp to make the bowl - push cuts feel better to me for this. That said, I'm reasonably ambidextrous and found that I can do lighter pull cuts with my left hand as well. There were times when I wondered if a right-handed pull cut might be better, but not so much that I'd buy a right-handed tool as well.
The detail blade seems a bit long for doing fine work with the tip - I didn't really get into doing that because I didn't feel comfortable with holding it like a pencil. (I sometimes trim small 3D-printed plastic parts at work, and use a scalpel for this, held like a pencil, and using a loupe to see what I'm doing.) The blade seems a good size for lighter material removal, however (shave off thicker bits near the hinge, and thinner bits near the tip).
Overall, it seems very usable. It works, it's compact, and I'm glad I got it.
Any suggestions for woods that are nice to carve? The CLS stuff is okayish, but is sometimes a bit fibrous, and I had to be careful with the depth of some of the cuts because it tended to split along the grain. It also seemed to vary a bit in hardness -easy cuts in some places, and quite tough in others, especially when cutting across the grain. Do different woods suit different types of carved things? Like, are basic spoons and the like better carved from particular species, while detailed things like wood spirits from others?
And, oils for food utensils? I've heard of walnut oil (I'm not allergic to nuts), but what else can be used?
I think I need to develop my technique a bit. I cut a bit from a lump of softwood CLS (spruce or whitewood, I think) and started making a spoon-shaped object using the straight blade. I ended up putting too much effort into the push cuts and developed a blister on my left thumb. After a bit, I decided that blade was a bit light/small/thin for roughing out, so switched to my woody clone and found it much better (also put a glove on the left hand and used different areas of the thumb for pushing). So, trying too hard at first, or used the wrong tool for the heavier cuts. When doing the inside of the bowl, I found the crook blade wasn't that great for getting it started - I agree that the gouge scorp does it better.
Regarding the left/right hand thing, I think I prefer this on balance, especially when using the gouge scorp to make the bowl - push cuts feel better to me for this. That said, I'm reasonably ambidextrous and found that I can do lighter pull cuts with my left hand as well. There were times when I wondered if a right-handed pull cut might be better, but not so much that I'd buy a right-handed tool as well.
The detail blade seems a bit long for doing fine work with the tip - I didn't really get into doing that because I didn't feel comfortable with holding it like a pencil. (I sometimes trim small 3D-printed plastic parts at work, and use a scalpel for this, held like a pencil, and using a loupe to see what I'm doing.) The blade seems a good size for lighter material removal, however (shave off thicker bits near the hinge, and thinner bits near the tip).
Overall, it seems very usable. It works, it's compact, and I'm glad I got it.
Any suggestions for woods that are nice to carve? The CLS stuff is okayish, but is sometimes a bit fibrous, and I had to be careful with the depth of some of the cuts because it tended to split along the grain. It also seemed to vary a bit in hardness -easy cuts in some places, and quite tough in others, especially when cutting across the grain. Do different woods suit different types of carved things? Like, are basic spoons and the like better carved from particular species, while detailed things like wood spirits from others?
And, oils for food utensils? I've heard of walnut oil (I'm not allergic to nuts), but what else can be used?
