# Flex cut carving knives - any good?



## MagicTorch100 (Jun 4, 2013)

Hi there

I'm in the market for a new carving knife and I've been looking at the flex cut brand.

There are a series of models and the one thats caught my eye is the Flex cut Detail (not mini detail).

Anyone have any experience of them, or possibly suggest a viable alternate?

Thanks


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## ruthiexxxx (Sep 15, 2012)

I do have a flexcut knife (top one in photo) and a couple of sets of their palm gouges

I do use the gouges sometimes although I prefer my other ones like Pfeil but the knife gets used very rarely....I just don't find it as good to work with as the non flexible blades like the ones below. The bottom one of the three is the standard carving knife shape and very useful. The middle one was a chip carving knife....also a very useful shape.

I found very little advantage in the flexibility of the blade and , to be honest, you could make one just as good from a bit of decent quality hacksaw blade in half an hour or so.


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## MagicTorch100 (Jun 4, 2013)

Thanks Ruthie

Very helpful, I'm going toward something similar to the bottom 1 of the 3 you posted. Once ordered and used I'll let you know how it goes.

I do have my eye on a nice set of Stubai chisels from Austria as well, they'll be a touch more pricey than the flex cut though. 
Cheers.


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## ruthiexxxx (Sep 15, 2012)

Stubai, Kirchen , Pfeil and just about all the main carving tool makers do good knives like the bottom one. Do let us know how you get on. I really like your carving style !

The Stubai gouges and chisels are good too.

And if you're doing a lot of naturals maybe treat yourself to a Japanese saw rasp...they rough stuff out at warp speed !


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## quemado (May 10, 2013)

Any quality knife is a good choice. Other than that it is down to personal opinion. I have a helvie knife I paid a fortune for someyears ago. It cuts wood same as any two dollar pocket knife, just does it better and stays sharper longer. I also have flexcut and a set of no-name brand of chisels and they both work fine.

My suggestion is pick the knife you think you will enjoy using the most within the price range you have to work in. That will be your baseline. After some amount of time, you will either be very happy with your purchase or you will be looking for another knife, chisel, etc. gl


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## MagicTorch100 (Jun 4, 2013)

Cheers Quemado

I've a good selection of larger bushcraft type blades but this is what I'm working with at the mo.








The blade is fine but the handles bust, I will fix it but its a good excuse to expand the collection..


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## quemado (May 10, 2013)

Sorry, I misunderstood. One thing I do not enjoy about my flexcut knife is the sound it makes while cutting, so mine sits in a drawer. Silly thing to get hung up on I suppose. The quality is good though, you can do worse value wise.


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## Gardengroove (Feb 13, 2012)

Thanks Ruthie, you have encouraged me to make myself a carving knife  We had an old circular saw blade for our table saw, which had done its duty. Several teeth were broken of and it was already very dull. Without knowing the exact steel I made a small rat tail tang blade. I used an angle grinder to cut out the basic shape. The rest was done with files. I did stress free annealing in a charcoal grill. Then heating it up till non magnetic and quenching it in rapeseed cooking oil. After that normalizing the blade in the oven for 2 hours. Turned out that the heat treatment was a success. I am definetely hooked right now, and I am looking forward to make more knifes.

My carving knife is a clone of the Mora 120. I never had a knife with such a small blade before, and it's really a joy to experience a whole different way of whittling and carving naturals. I can reach spots now I couldn't with my Helle, which is a lot bigger. The natural on the picture was the first job I did with the carving knife. The wood is Prunus padus (wild cherry) with a little spalting.









I don't really know much about carving and the tools, so I guess my Mora 120 clone is some kind of basic allround carving knife? What's the purpose of the recurved carving knifes Ruthie postet this picture? Can those be sharpened on a stone?

Thanks for looking, Simon


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