Spyderco Forums

I decided to start whittling blocks of wood. Because why not? I want a hobby. Think I'm starting off with basswood or balsawood.

I'm thinking about using my wharncliffe k390 dragonfly for this. Feels like the right shape, size, toughness/edge retention.

Curious if others have this hobby and what they use in terms of length, shape, and steel.

yablanowitz is the most accomplished whittler I've seen post on the forum...

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=90817

I have considered whittling before, Welsh style spoon carving was actually something I wanted to do, but never got into it. I would strongly prefer some sort of fixed blade for whittling and in my searching I found that Flexcut seems to make some great carving knives, but I can say for quite certain that your Dragonfly should work just fine.

I keep a block of wood on my work bench and in my desk at work and I'll occasionally use the knife that's on my to peel some off but it's not really what I call whittling. I kind of use it as a scale to see how sharp my knife is. Sometimes I'll take that block of wood out back and peel some wood while drinking a beer. It's just a way to relax for me. I have enough creativity to actually make something

Ha! My wife just came by, saw the wharncliffe dfly on my desk and said "oh great this'll be perfect" and walked away with it. I have other dflys (20cv, vg10), but also am considering delica. Don't know if that'll be too big a blade. Maybe I should (re)purchase a k390 wharnie delica for this.

I’ve been dabbling in spoon making for about 6 months off and on. I most recently used my k390 Stretch to hog off material on spoon blanks and it has worked great. I like the bigger knife for removing large amounts of material. So far I have then switched over to dedicated wood carving knives, particularly for the bowl portion of the spoon. I don’t have anything else to offer for advice, but next time I will try my k390 Dragonfly for a bit of finer work, just to see.

Airlsee wrote: ↑

Thu May 26, 2022 12:10 pm

yablanowitz is the most accomplished whittler I've seen post on the forum...

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=90817

Was going to say the same thing. I’ve seen him whittling in person and it is nothing short of impressive! He has done some really remarkable pieces using only Spyderco knives and some were so great that the Spyderco Factory Outlet kept them and often displays the pieces in the showroom.

Any wood carvings I did were almost entirely with files and sand paper. I would use saws and a dremel for many of the large rough cuts but any detail work was done primarily with files and sand paper. Rarely ever using a carving knife or x-acto knife.

I admit that my jaw dropped to the floor when I saw yablanowitz's post in the other thread ! I knew some cool stuff was possible, but this is really intricate !!

I also picked carving up over the past year. I think a Wharncliffe isn't the best blade shape for carving - you'll get more versatility from a knife with some belly to it.

For example, in softer wood, you can use a leaf-style blade to dig out a spoon bowl without having to use a hook knife. I can't do that with a straight blade. This technique is more difficult with harder, dense woods however.

Para 3 is a good folder for carving. Good sized handle to grip onto and you can choke up on it easily for finer work. The Para 3 spine would be better for carving than the dragonfly, since it's wider, and you can press on it for hard cuts or for more control.

That said, try it with your Dragonfly! (If it works ok for you I might try out a Wharncliffe.)

Here's a couple recent pieces.

I actually prefer a slip joint folder for carving.

Lovely stuff, Bill.

If y'all can whittle with a Dragonfly, it should work okay, at least for some things. Broad blades don't work well for getting into tight spots and aren't very manueverable. My big problem with it is there just isn't enough handle for me. I, too, tend to gravitate toward traditional slip joints for most of my whittling.





Although this got done almost entirely with a Nilakka.

My brother has been carving these exact duplicates, or at least similar for many years.

yablanowitz wrote: ↑

Thu May 26, 2022 3:41 pm

If y'all can whittle with a Dragonfly, it should work okay, at least for some things. Broad blades don't work well for getting into tight spots and aren't very manueverable. My big problem with it is there just isn't enough handle for me. I, too, tend to gravitate toward traditional slip joints for most of my whittling.

Do you ever do a whittling project with just spydies? Which steels/shapes/models do you use?

sethwm wrote: ↑

Thu May 26, 2022 4:15 pm

yablanowitz wrote: ↑

Thu May 26, 2022 3:41 pm

Do you ever do a whittling project with just spydies? Which steels/shapes/models do you use?

LOL! Say I don't read my own threads without saying I don't read my own threads...

Airlsee wrote: ↑

Thu May 26, 2022 4:27 pm

sethwm wrote: ↑

Thu May 26, 2022 4:15 pm

yablanowitz wrote: ↑

Thu May 26, 2022 3:41 pm

Do you ever do a whittling project with just spydies? Which steels/shapes/models do you use?

LOL! Say I don't read my own threads without saying I don't read my own threads...

I was asking him in particular. I didn't see a response from him. What'd I miss?

Mushroom's post, and if you follow the link in the first response the knife is literally listed on the skull base, and he comments on knives several times in the thread linked.

i asked for some wood carving knives a couple years ago as a gift and got them. i haven't even opened the package yet. i just know i'm gonna slice my hand wide open.

Airlsee wrote: ↑

Thu May 26, 2022 4:36 pm

Mushroom's post, and if you follow the link in the first response the knife is literally listed on the skull base, and he comments on knives several times in the thread linked.

Oops. I didn't read the other thread.

But a lot of these mentioned (kiwi and Nilakka) are discontinued. What's a good one that's still in production? A lot of people have mentioned Native 5 and Calypso.