swivel Knives

[Kate]

Dustin, I think that Bob's comment on a swivel knife being a very personal preference is spot on. I also had a chuckle at his reference to the Henley being chosen because of it's coarse checkering - I ordered my Henley because they gave me a really FINE checkering - they called it a "fine knurl". The coarse checkering just tears up my fingers too much - knobby arthritic joints and not enough callus, I guess.

Anyways, you will find that a high quality blade makes a whole world of difference in the ease of carving. Poor blades don't polish up as nicely, nor do they hold their edge, and they stick and hitch and chatter - a good one glides. Keep it stropped and clean, and you will have much better results!

Best of luck with your new one,

Kate

[rickeyfro]

Can I get contact info for Henley knives?

[Kate]

Can I get contact info for Henley knives?

I can't find a web presence for them... of course, on the phone to order from them, they were "good ol' boys" who were not too impressed with modern technology, unless it meant better steel.

Henley Manufacturing Co, Inc.

(318) 631-3545

4229 Pro St, Shreveport, LA 71109

That is from a web search, and it is the same as the letterhead on the invoice I got from them in 1999. I ordered their Extreme Alloy blade and a knive body custom made short for me. Still love it.

Kate

[hidepounder]

I can't find a web presence for them... of course, on the phone to order from them, they were "good ol' boys" who were not too impressed with modern technology, unless it meant better steel.

Henley Manufacturing Co, Inc.

(318) 631-3545

4229 Pro St, Shreveport, LA 71109

That is from a web search, and it is the same as the letterhead on the invoice I got from them in 1999. I ordered their Extreme Alloy blade and a knive body custom made short for me. Still love it.

Kate

Kate,

Thanks for the contact info....I had lost it and was trying to find it the just the other day. What I didn't know at all was that Henley would custom make swivel knives....I think that is really good news! I had never seen anything other than what was called the the Extreme Alloy Knife, which has the coarse checkering.

Another note on checkering: I learned form Beard when he made my knives, that what makes a huge difference in checkering, is how much the points of the checkering pattern are polished off. A fine pattern can be very "grabby" or "sticky" if the points of the checkering are not polished off, which is what I like. Of course, this is what makes fingers sore, also.

Bob

[Mike Craw]

I stumbled across this web address that showed the Henley knives. Kate is right, they don't have their own site as far as I can find...

http://gemosphere.tripod.com/GEMOSPHERE/Swivel_Knivesx.html

Hope this helps.

Mike

I just clicked on that and it actually worked! Show of hands from everybody who is as amazed as I am...

Edited July 6, 2009 by Mike Craw

[King's X]

Hey Dustin

If you take a look at our guild newsletter last month, our editor started a swivel knife story borrowed from Dave West. Take a gander and sign up to receive the other parts to come. Good luck.

[CitizenKate]

Just thought I'd mention, the information on that web page is a little outdated, and the pricing has gone up since their last update. I ordered a knife with a blade a few months ago, and it came to a little over $90. Well worth it, though. I love mine.

I will also second what Bob said about different knives for different uses. The one I use for strong lines with large curves is very different from the one I use for very intricate carving.

Kate

[hidepounder]

Thanks Mike,

I'd never seen any of their advertising before and I see a blade I need to try!

Bob

[dustin29]

I ordered my Barry King knife sunday July 5th over the net, does anybody know how long it takes to recieve an order? I just received my 1st issue of LC&SJ today, WOW what an awesome magazine. It is worth its weight in gold!! Tomorrow after work I am going to start practicing the swivel knife excercises. Thats going to make for a long dragged out day. Hope I dont day dream to much and cut my carving hand off with the table saw. Just kidding I hope.

[gtwister09]

Bob,

The first time I bought some of the Henley's knifes/blades was more than 13-14 years ago and they had the medium and fine both offered then. I have 7 or 8 of their blades and a couple that Peter had modified for very light leather. I likewise have the very fine detail blade from Bob. I tried some of the of his beader blades as well as Henley's beader blades.... I also have a couple of older hollow ground Joe Cordova blades. I have given away all 4 of the ruby blades that I had as well as a number of ceramics and "cheap" steel blades. The ceramics I had polished at work and we heat treated the cheap blades as far as we could before I gave them away so they would at least hold an edge for a little longer.

I have not tried Paul's knives and blades. I imagine that I will test it out one of these days. Knife bodies include one modified Chuck Smith's, several Henleys, one Beard, an old Tandy Pro and several starter ones that are in a box that are set aside.

Like others have said try them out. I can't stress that enough either. The first nice knife body that I bought was a Chuck Smith knife. I have fairly large hands and so I bought one of his thin long barrels. WHAT A MISTAKE!! The barrel was too long and made my hand extremely tired and fatigued it quickly. Since that time I have bought short barrels almost extensively. Once again make sure you try them so you can see what they feel like (barrel length, knurling, etc).

Regards,

Ben