whittling and little knives

[siguy]

i am starting to get into whittling, and have found my opinel #7 too large and unwieldy for anything much finer than rough shaping. consequently, i have finally found a use for my tiny shrade old timer 1040T.

this knife is just about the same size as my bear&son single blade peanut (is this still a peanut or something else?), but has an ever so slightly narrower main blade and a pen blade on the opposite end. i was lucky enough to find this one at a hardware store made before shrade went out of business in 2004, from when the knives were made with carbon steel in the USA, instead of the new versions made from stainless in china. i would love to carry this knife as my only knife, but i have found that it is simply not big enough.

i have big hands, and find the shrade to generally be a very small, uncomfortable knife to use, but great for detail carving tasks. paired with a small cheap chisel, it has been tackling about 80% of my amateur carving needs. the other 20% is roughing work done with larger sharps.

some pics:

next to the bear&son

in hand

with the little chisel

so, do you guys do any whittling, and if so do you use traditional slipjoints or some other cutting tools? (also, any good resources for learners?)

 

[Blues]

I use a Case 4 blade Congress (Yellow CV) for much of my whittling.

 

[jackknife]

Hey siguy. That Old Timer was called the minute man, I think. Its a very nice little knife. I think that Bear is very much a peanut, and a nice one at that!:thumbup:

I do woodwork making hiking staves for the family, and I use mostly a Buck 303 cadet, or a Case peanut. I like to make use of the natural stubs and knots in the wood for little knome faces on my sticks. The small blade on the peanut lets me do a decent job on the eyes.

 

[camo kid]

Well it all depends. Lately I have been using a Greenly draw knife, and a Stanley spokeshave along with a few random old chisels and a homemade maul on the bigger stuff. For knives I use a medium Case jack knife, medium Case stockman in cv, Boker Barlow, Sodbuster jr., Schrade medium jack, Henckels whittler, and some times Victorinox swiss army knives. Joe

 

[fasteddie]

Rogers/seahorse whittler with a warncliffe blade, 4 blade, 3.5 inch 4 blade congress, and swayback jack with a warncliffe blade are my favorites for whittling. Warncliffe and sheepsfoot are my favorite blades for whittling. And I'll take A-2 steel for cutting wood given the choice.

Oh, and I think it has to be done with a folding knife to be called whittling. If you use carving tools, its no longer whittling. Proper carving tools make it too easy. That being said, Pfeil palm handled carving tools are great, and will move a lot more wood a lot faster than a slipjoint will.

I'd rather whittle than carve.

 

[sixgunner455]

My scoutmaster used to use little Old Timers for whittling. I have a Boker and a Camillus whittler that I mostly use for such things -- they are a bit larger, but have the same tiny secondary blades.

 

[mp510]

I like to use the small blade on my vic camper or spartan for little whitling/ wood carving projects.

 

[bdws1975]

I like to use the small blade on my vic camper or spartan for little whitling/ wood carving projects.

My vic pioneer alox is perfect for whittling. The small pen blade works great.

i did reprofile it by narrowing the width of the tip of my pen blade. It really made it useful for narrow spots.

Best,
brett

 

[mnblade]

i was lucky enough to find this one at a hardware store made before shrade went out of business in 2004, from when the knives were made with carbon steel in the USA, instead of the new versions made from stainless in china.

I would like to propose a little Folksy Forum rule. Guys, I don't give a rat's behind what they say on the handle, NO stainless knife made in China is an Old Timer! :grumpy: I think when we write Old Timer it should be understood we're talking about the rock-solid carbon steel gems that Schrade produced in upstate NY for decades. If - for whatever perverse, distorted reason - one finds it necessary to mention the newly produced, stainless alleged Old Timers, you should write it with an asterisk or maybe put it in quotes. You know, like: "I gave my uncle an Old Timer from my collection because he needed a good work knife and was going to buy one of them new Old Timers* down at Wally World."

 

[JohnnyR]

I did a couple of ball in cages this Summer. I started the first one with my 30 yr. old Shrade Old Timer, 4" stockman. Had it nice and sharp. While marveling at how I could push the spey blade like a chisel and attempting to have a conversation with my wife at the same time, the blade snapped shut on my finger. I ended up with 4 stitches on the back of my right middle finger near the nail. Lesson learned.

I decided to finish the project, but used a little Byrd Robin G10. I could not believe how great this little knife cut. I was able to slice micro thin wafer sections of wood which helped in controlling the shape of the ball. I completed both projects using primarily the Robin. The only issue I had was the handle edge created a sore on my palm. Impressed, I bought the Byrd Meadowlark which is a bigger version of the Robin.

I still like my traditional slipjoints and have a collection of stockman's, pen's, peanuts, jacks, and a canoe on the way, but I was very impressed with the Byrd. If and when I attempt a whittling project again, these will be the first ones I reach for. Both cages came out very nice.