Wood Carving for the Rest of US
Cheapest 3 Knife Woodcarving Set on Amazon
I wanted to try out the cheapest 3 Knife Woodcarving set on Amazon, do you need an expensive knife for woodcarving?
The 3 Knifes were a Roughout Knife, a Chip Carving Knife and a Spoon Carving Gouge – there must 100s of knife sets like this on amazon, from ones with 3 knives to ones with 3 knives, a holder, strop, basswood and sanding sponges
What is required to make these usable?
The knives come relatively sharp, they will cut, but they are not sharp enough to carve wood, so I started stropping them on a strop with white polishing compound until they were sharp
After I got them sharp with White Compound, I moved to Green Polishing Compound, until they were polished to a nice shine and could cut paper with very little resistance
This took HOURS, but you only need to use the white compound ONCE, after you get the knives sharp enough to carve wood, when you notice them getting a little dull, strop them on the green polishing compound until they are sharp again
The trick is to never let them get dull, keep them sharp, and you will extend the life of the knife dramatically
The knives come with a bevel ground on the knife, as long as the bevel is correct, you only need a strop to get it sharp and keep it sharp
If you get a knife with an incorrect bevel, a stone is required to fix it, and I recommend you return the knife and get another one
How can the bevel be wrong?
The bevel can be the wrong angle, or an inconsistent angle
I had one of these knives that did not come with a sharp tip, in fact, the tip was also too wide and the knife tip would not sink into the wood to cut chips, I sent this knife back and go another kit and it was ok
Out of 4 knife kits I got from Amazon, only one could not be used, the one with the messed up kit, the rest sharpened up nice and I use them for wood carving
So, this proved to me that an expensive knife is not required for wood carving, it more about learning to use your knife correctly
Cheapest 3 Knife Woodcarving Set on Amazon
