All About Pocket Knives

Hi All,

I am very interested in beginning wood whittling and am looking as much advice as possible when It comes to buying a knife set,

I have my eye on a beavercraft set that is reasonable and I think will cover all bases apart from spoon carving I have included a picture of the set, again as a complete beginner any advice would be gladly accepted.

If you could also give me any info on the best way to start and what projects I could get stuck into and what types of wood, I am from Ireland so I know we may not have some types of wood you would get in other parts of the world and vice versa

Thank you all in advance

PaulM

The set you show will get you started in basic whittling, wood carving, but not spoon carving. Beavercraft tools are decent starter tools at a reasonable price, I have a couple that I use regularly. There are other Beavercraft sets that cover a broader range of carving tasks, you might look them all over on the Beavercraft website before choosing.

All you really need is a roughing knife, around 2 1/2", I prefer a straight blade but many prefer a curved edge, a detail knife with a good pointed blade at around 1 1/4" or 1 1/2" and if you plan to carve spoons either a hook knife/spoon knife and/or a bent spoon gouge around an inch or so wide.

You might also check out OCCTOOLS for good quality carving tools, their steel is superior to Beavercraft.

The set I have for general carving is an old Delta set that was made by Robert Sorby. As you can see it includes a 10mm spoon gouge because you will eventually need to hollow or do relief. I dont know if this set is still available under the Sorby name. I also have a couple of knives in addition to this set and it pretty well covers it for me. I started out carving mini decoys and birds, spoons, and mini canoes. There are many good project books out on carving.

I agree that beaver craft are fairly good starter tools, but get yourself a strop too. You will get discouraged if your tools don’t remain sharp. Also bass or lime wood is great and white pine will do. I believe lime wood should be available where you are. For people and starter projects watch videos, Doug Linker and Kevin Coats are both really good. Don’t expect your first projects to be perfect, it takes work. I have posted a few pics on this site, look under my profile and you may find them.

A strop definitely; a decent quality medium SiO and fine ceramic stone as well, from there the strop with a quality abrasive will get you to a carving edge. I use powdered Aluminum Oxide and leather strops, others have great success with wax based abrasives and cardboard strops, I've even seen some use various grits of Wet or Dry papers. If you aren't experienced in hand sharpening I suggest you practice on an xacto knife or utility knife to get the hang of stropping without rounding the edge. I learned when I thought I had a sharp blade I was just getting close, you will see the difference when you get a properly sharpened knife in your hand.

Beavercraft, most knives in fact, will come sharp enough to cut wood for a short time but not very efficiently, you will want to have your sharpening kit ready.

Most of us learned to whittle with some old pocket, lot of time mimicking an older gentleman, uncle, grandfather, etc. It's kinda' refreshing to watch someone who enjoys whittling, sittin' there, intent on making something appear from a stick or a special piece of wood.
My 1st recollection of whittling was watching my uncle's dad whittle a toy pistol for me out of a scrap of red wood. Grandpa Wes made several for me, I either lost them or broke them somehow, he'd make me another one. Seems like he would hollow out a trigger guard and that was the weak point of the carving with the scrap of the red wood facia board.
Somewhere here on the forum there are several posts of items folks have whittled. Having one of the nice carving kits you posted would really be a boost in being able to produce hand carved items.
PaulM, glad you came to AAPK, ! Stay with us and share your carvings.
Treefarmer

Here is a little known secret. Bass wood comes from the linden tree. Pretty sure they grow over there.

Don’t be afraid to modify knives you already have. Broken and worn blades can be made into fine carving knives. I prefer straight edges like coping sheepsfoot wharncliff etc. A LoomFixer is a good knife too. Look for big comfy handles with no hotspots.

You came to a good place...we have several carvers here
and none shy to respond to any questions you might have...
so fire away and to AAPK

Stag

Guys thank you all so much for your inputs they really are fantastic,

I'm very excited about ordering my knives and can't wait to get going,

Keep the advice coming and thank you for accepting me into the forum it's greatly appreciated.

Thanks

PaulM