Whittling, what knife ?

[bikerdoc]

I have a bunch.
I make canes, it involves debarking oak , Maple and Crepe Myrtle with minor designs
My favorite is a real Schrade Imperial from the 90's ( not the current junk)
What is your favorite?

 

[rust collector]

I like my Ka-bar Dozier folding knife with AUS 8 blade. It was purchased before the D2 option was available. Light and handy, with a big enough handle to give good control.

 

[Meeks36]

My scout master used an old boy scout knife with the three blades. And he was dang good. I haven't gotten into yet. One day.

 

[Kingcreek]

I use a mora whittling or carving knife.
https://morakniv.se/en/product/woodcarving-120-lc-natural/?v=7516fd43adaa
For debarking walking sticks a draw knife is best.

 

[Speedo66]

I use a mora whittling or carving knife.
https://morakniv.se/en/product/woodcarving-120-lc-natural/?v=7516fd43adaa
For debarking walking sticks a draw knife is best.

Mora makes draw knives, too. https://www.knivesofthenorth.com/pr...MIr7Xjq4LC7QIVZAnnCh2-rQGdEAQYASABEgLkwfD_BwE

 

[ms6852]

I agree with the Mora knives guys. Very sharp and a great value too.

 

[Kingcreek]

I originally picked up my erikkson mora carving knife when I had a greenhouse years ago. I was always pruning tomato vines or cutting twine or bags of potting soil and I had a clip on tool pouch with the handy little mora and a couple sharpie markers and pliers etc. used it for years before I tried whittling with it. I made a simple walking stick for a young neighbor boy and carved a whistle into the top of it. He and his parents thought it was pretty cool. He called it his whistle stick and every once in a while I would hear him blowing it in the woods across the road.

 

[mope540]

Interesting thread. Thanks to all for posting the knife suggestions.

I have a few nice sticks of cherry, walnut, oak, and other types that have been drying out for years maybe too long... they're probably hard as granite by now.
Will retire soon, so I may be doing some carving during the winter to kill time.

 

[Kingcreek]

Interesting thread. Thanks to all for posting the knife suggestions.

I have a few nice sticks of cherry, walnut, oak, and other types that have been drying out for years maybe too long... they're probably hard as granite by now.
Will retire soon, so I may be doing some carving during the winter to kill time.

Don't know what you will be carving but with seasoned hardwood, you might find a dremmel or other power tool less frustrating. Or you might want to use a combination of power tool and blade.
I'm not a pure traditional carver. I'll use a drill, saw, dremmel, flap disk grinder etc and a draw knife and knife at times.
It's all about removing material until the remaining piece is what you want.

I got to know an amazing man, an old Lithuanian sculptor and artist (fought stalins people then escaped from a Russian gulag to join an underground resistance fighting nazis before escaping from a nazi work prison). I saw him "carve" totem poles and life size bears and more with a chainsaw and air impact chisels. I asked him how he could just start free hand and create these amazing things. He just shrugged and said for him it was easy. He picked up a small cedar log and asked me "what do you see?" I said a piece of cedar. He said " I see a fish that wants to be free. I just have to remove the wood that has trapped it inside."

 

[theotherwaldo]

I use the blade at hand to carve what I see in the material at hand.... .

 

[bannockburn]

When I use to do wood carvings I liked to use a three bladed Case Stockman, sort of like this one: