Best Spydercos for Pumpkin Carving?

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MFlovejp
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Best Spydercos for Pumpkin Carving?

#1

Post by MFlovejp »

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ZDP Delica and a P4 did the trick for me- both ground to about 30 degrees. Happy Halloween!
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Mushroom
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Re: Best Spydercos for Pumpkin Carving?

#2

Post by Mushroom »

Nice work!

I’ve entered a few carving contests over the past couple years, and surprisingly the Roadie and McBee have been my most used for pumpkin carving.

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I carved a small pumpkin a couple weeks ago with my nieces using only the Lil Native. Worked well enough for the simple jack-o-lantern.

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I’m going to be carving another one either tomorrow or Friday for another pumpkin carving contest.
Last edited by Mushroom on Wed Oct 26, 2022 3:58 pm, edited 1 time in total.
- Nick :bug-red
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Soanso McMasters
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Re: Best Spydercos for Pumpkin Carving?

#3

Post by Soanso McMasters »

Mule knife all the way!
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Re: Best Spydercos for Pumpkin Carving?

#4

Post by jwbnyc »

We’ve got some ringers here.

Nice work!
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ladybug93
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Re: Best Spydercos for Pumpkin Carving?

#5

Post by ladybug93 »

i knew nick would be all over this one. nice work!
keep your knife sharp and your focus sharper.
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Bdubs808
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Re: Best Spydercos for Pumpkin Carving?

#6

Post by Bdubs808 »

I don't own one, but I bet a Wharncliffe delica with serrations would be the perfect knife for the job.
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JSumm
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Re: Best Spydercos for Pumpkin Carving?

#7

Post by JSumm »

Ohh, good question. How about the Watu? I may try that one unless it would be too hard use.

Strong work Nick!
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bearfacedkiller
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Re: Best Spydercos for Pumpkin Carving?

#8

Post by bearfacedkiller »

Something small for control and a thin blade because pumpkins are hard. I’d probably pick a Delica or Native. For me, what the native gives up in blade geometry it makes up for in controllable ergonomics.

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Mushroom
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Re: Best Spydercos for Pumpkin Carving?

#9

Post by Mushroom »

ladybug93 wrote:
Wed Oct 26, 2022 4:15 pm
i knew nick would be all over this one. nice work!
:grin-squint Hehe! I need to get another one done before the weekend, so I’ll be sure to post that one too!

JSumm wrote:
Wed Oct 26, 2022 4:40 pm
Ohh, good question. How about the Watu? I may try that one unless it would be too hard use.

Strong work Nick!
Thanks Jeff!

I think the Watu would be a good choice for pumpkin carving. It has a nice thin and slicey blade.
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Re: Best Spydercos for Pumpkin Carving?

#10

Post by James Y »

According to Frank Black, lead character of the '90s show Millennium, a SE Delica.

The knife appears from about 1:10:

https://youtu.be/l44yv9scoK4

Jim
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Re: Best Spydercos for Pumpkin Carving?

#11

Post by RustyIron »

I bagged four pumpkins today and carved them up with a Police 4 SE K390. Rather than go with the Jack-O-Lantern style that seems to be so popular, I chose the Hemispherical Style as shown in the picture. Tomorrow the Hemispherical Style pumpkins will be converted to Cuboidal Style pumpkins, otherwise known as loaves of pumpkin bread.
IMG_8563.jpeg
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Cl1ff
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Re: Best Spydercos for Pumpkin Carving?

#12

Post by Cl1ff »

RustyIron wrote:
Wed Oct 26, 2022 11:58 pm
I bagged four pumpkins today and carved them up with a Police 4 SE K390. Rather than go with the Jack-O-Lantern style that seems to be so popular, I chose the Hemispherical Style as shown in the picture. Tomorrow the Hemispherical Style pumpkins will be converted to Cuboidal Style pumpkins, otherwise known as loaves of pumpkin bread.

IMG_8563.jpeg
I’ve been thinking about trying to make pumpkin bread (I love it, but haven’t made any myself).
Recently made some edible banana bread with my Dad, which was a lot of fun, so I think this could be the next thing we make.
rex121 is the king of steel, but nature’s teeth have been cutting for hundreds of millions of years and counting :cool:
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Re: Best Spydercos for Pumpkin Carving?

#13

Post by skeeg11 »

Might take a stab at this with my serrated Byrd Cara 2 Wharnie.
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Re: Best Spydercos for Pumpkin Carving?

#14

Post by Evil D »

Sadly I really don't use knives for pumpkins, they're all far too thick unless you're doing a classic jack-o'-lantern style triangle cut. I'll use a small blade like a Ladybug to get inside the cuts afterwards and clean them out but not to do the actual carving.



I probably could done the teeth with a thinner blade like a Catcherman but most of my knives have too thick blade stock to cut small curves like the eyes.
20221027_051658.jpg
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Re: Best Spydercos for Pumpkin Carving?

#15

Post by James Y »

I don't know if it was the 'best' knife for the job, but the only time I ever carved a pumpkin for Halloween was late '90s, and I used my first Endura, a combo edge in AUS-8, and it did fine.

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Mushroom
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Re: Best Spydercos for Pumpkin Carving?

#16

Post by Mushroom »

Evil D wrote:
Thu Oct 27, 2022 3:18 am
Sadly I really don't use knives for pumpkins, they're all far too thick unless you're doing a classic jack-o'-lantern style triangle cut. I'll use a small blade like a Ladybug to get inside the cuts afterwards and clean them out but not to do the actual carving.



I probably could done the teeth with a thinner blade like a Catcherman but most of my knives have too thick blade stock to cut small curves like the eyes.
20221027_051658.jpg
I agree, that’s also one thing I’ve learned while carving pumpkins. Most knives are too thick and are really just not the best option. I pretty much force myself to use Spyderco knives while carving, just because I want to say that’s what I used… there are much better tools for the job though.

All of my carvings have been helped by something other than a Spyderco knife. X-acto blades are awesome for detail work and making really thin cuts.
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on_the_edge
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Re: Best Spydercos for Pumpkin Carving?

#17

Post by on_the_edge »

Nick, your imagination & pumpkin carving skills are top notch. Wow!!! So very :cheap-sunglasses
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Re: Best Spydercos for Pumpkin Carving?

#18

Post by Toucan »

Cl1ff wrote:
Thu Oct 27, 2022 1:23 am
RustyIron wrote:
Wed Oct 26, 2022 11:58 pm
I bagged four pumpkins today and carved them up with a Police 4 SE K390. Rather than go with the Jack-O-Lantern style that seems to be so popular, I chose the Hemispherical Style as shown in the picture. Tomorrow the Hemispherical Style pumpkins will be converted to Cuboidal Style pumpkins, otherwise known as loaves of pumpkin bread.

IMG_8563.jpeg
I’ve been thinking about trying to make pumpkin bread (I love it, but haven’t made any myself).
Recently made some edible banana bread with my Dad, which was a lot of fun, so I think this could be the next thing we make.
I've started making banana bread for the first time a few weeks ago! (I reckon it's the same idea with a very moist fruit + grain combo zucchini, pumpkin, etc). Haven't been following a recipe, but mostly used dark rye flour, a few whole oats, and a bit of regular flour. Turns out surprisingly not bad! Used more egg than normal for a binder since it was such a loose dough, and some psyllium husk for moisture retention and structure (like the fiber in FRN? hah). The extra "heft" of the fiberous whole grains really held up to a perhaps excessive amount of added spices. Really, I don't know how wheat replaces rye as our default flour when ergot poisioning hasn't been a concern for like 200 years.

The biggest take aways for me were use lots of butter (Like a whole stick per two cups of flour). Molasses tastes better than sugar, especially if you use B/"Full Flavor" instead of blackstrap. Really, not much sugar is needed to get some sweetness. And spices do a lot. Nutmeg, cardamom, allspice, etc were welcome additions and didn't taste too pumpkin spice if you keep the nutmeg as the highest proportion.

Did you have any findings with the banana bread making? Always looking to tweak and improve stuff. And I'm pretty new to baking (been cooking for decades, but baking it seems is a different animal)
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Re: Best Spydercos for Pumpkin Carving?

#19

Post by yablanowitz »

I can't believe everyone has missed the best four:

C242 Ikuchi, C25 Centofante, C153 Des Horn, K09 Mini Paring knife.
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Re: Best Spydercos for Pumpkin Carving?

#20

Post by ZrowsN1s »

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