Today’s whittler can choose from a variety of knives available in a huge selection of sizes and shapes. If you are wise you will commence your craft with a minimum number of tools and add others as you need them.
A beginner will tend to waste their energy and time fretting over ‘what’s the best whittling knife.’ Stop wondering too much start carving and the necessary tools will become obvious.
Do you need a special knife to whittle?
One of the neat things about whittling is that you can do it anywhere. This means your knife should be portable, and nothing beats the convenience of safely slipping a folded knife into your pocket.
Many manufacturers create folding knives for whittling (or carving) with blades that resemble classic carving knives. These specialty knives can get expensive, and are worth the money if you intend to do
a lot of whittling, but you don’t need to buy a specialty knife to whittle. However, the knife needs to be as sharp as possible. check out our sharpening guide for tips on sharpening carving tools.
Can you whittle with a kitchen knife?
The kitchen knife is designed differently from a whittling knife. the handle especially will feel off and is bigger than that of a whittling knife. the blade is also big and long. With all the aforementioned can you still use a kitchen knife to whittle?
Whittling with a kitchen knife is quite possible. However, don’t expect to produce anything beautifully complicated or with intricate details especially if you are not an experienced whittler.
Prehistorically more crude tools than the modern kitchen knife were used to whittle wood. But they had little success at doing most of what we can do today using a knife. To achieve something close to today’s details mastery of tools, years of experience, patience, and a good amount of force would be needed.
Carving with a kitchen knife will be erasing all the advancement that has since been put in place to mitigate a whittler’s needs while whittling. Therefore I wouldn’t advise you to use your kitchen knife for whittling. It’s way much easier and better to invest in a whittling knife if at all you’re taking the craft seriously.
If you just want to have some fun and whittle leisurely a few times and don’t want any investments you can still use a kitchen knife. But be sure to select something a bit smaller it will make things much easier and improve dexterity.
Should you buy a specialized whittling knife?
Once things are getting serious and you are now carving more often. You may be wondering if you should finally buy a real whittling knife or just stick with the current knife and overcome all its shortcomings with mare skills and maneuvering.
If this sounds familiar then fear not. Investing in a good whittling knife is a step toward bettering your whittling skills. Using the right tools for the job is both safe and efficiently fast.
Buying a specialized carving knife will see you learning quickly and improving the quality of your creations. You may end up spending a bit higher but the return and service will be worth it. Check out the fastest way to learn to whittle.
So, how do you tell a good whittling knife from the rest?
What makes a knife good for whittling?
There are many knives available in the market. Most knives today are made for a specific purpose and function. Such knives perform better at their specific functions than multi-purpose knives. In whittling, we have special knives designed to fit a carver’s requirements. In this segment, we will analyze some key factors when choosing a whittling knife?
The Blade of a whittling knife
Blades can be made from several materials like stainless steel, high-carbon steel, or laminated steel. The blade we are going for as carvers will be made from high carbon steel. High carbon is an alloy with small amounts of other metals. it is specially enhanced to hold an edge.
The blades Length
The blade’s length is an important aspect as well. Since whittling happens mostly by flexing our wrist rather than our elbow short blade is ideal. Short blades provide better control and precise detailing. Short blades will be of up to around 4″.
Bigger blades still have their place in whittling. They are mostly used when working on big chunks of negative space. Since they are strong and swing at a bigger angle they can chop off the unwanted sections quicker with less effort.
The handle of a whittling knife
After the blade, the handle is perhaps the most important aspect of your knife. there is a variety of materials that makes handle including plastics, metal, and wood. The most common material for carving knife handles will be metal and wood.
You want something comfortable so you can flex your wrist with ease. Something too big will bring about dexterity issues. If the handle doesn’t fit well given the uniqueness of individuals there are ways of modifying the handle.
Fixed blade vs pocket knife
This question squarely falls on what kind of a whittler you want to be. There are those that would like to whittler at any given moment or place if you’re such a guy I would advise you to get a pocket knife.
A pocket knife is best for a person that will want to whittle outside the workshop. Here I use the word workshop lightly to refer to the workspace that is used to create carvings as well as store your tools. The pocket knife can be easily folded and kept in the pocket safely. A fixed blade knife can’t be kept in your pocket even if it has a cover. The cover can slip off and you end up accidentally stabbing yourself.
For a person that will be just working at their workshop, a fixed blade is better specialized for whittling and will give better comfort.
Wrapping up
Do you need a special knife to whittle? No, because whittling can be done with any knife. Though if you’re getting serious start investing in a good whittling knife and take your craft to the next level.
Be sure to identify your knife’s quality by examining the quality of the blade material, the length of the blade, and the handle’s shape and build. Lastly do not worry too much about what knife will be best for you.
Focus on learning. As you learn to whittle, you will understand that some difficulties will require special tools to overcome and can acquire those tools then.
check out our beginners guide to knife sharpening