swivel Knives

[dustin29]

I am looking to upgrade my swivel knife. I am looking for suggestions on what brand to buy. I looked into a Barry King knife, and also a Henley. The Barry King was more in my price range but if it is worth the extra money I could swing the Henley. Does anybody have any input that could help me? Are there any other Knives out there that are in my price range? Please help me I really need some advice!!!!

[heath]

I've used Chuck Smith's Ol' Smoothie. It works well for me.

Heath

[westtxcowboy1979]

I am looking to upgrade my swivel knife. I am looking for suggestions on what brand to buy. I looked into a Barry King knife, and also a Henley. The Barry King was more in my price range but if it is worth the extra money I could swing the Henley. Does anybody have any input that could help me? Are there any other Knives out there that are in my price range? Please help me I really need some advice!!!!

Check out Leather wranglers Inc. I have bought two knifes from them and I could not be happier with them. Ithink they run around 135 but they are worth every penny. they stay sharper longer and quick to take an edge.

[dustin29]

Where do I find Chuck Smiths Ol' Smoothie?

[heath]

olsmoothie@sbcglobal.net

[hidepounder]

Dustin,

King, Henley, Beard, Leather Wrangler, Smith all make excellent knives. The differences between them are really personal preference. The only way for you to be able to make a decision is to handle each of them yourself, and determine what you like. Maybe you could find a leather artist in your area who could let you handle some of what he has. That is really the only way to tell. Also, one knife won't do it all. In the beginning, one knife is okay, but there will come a time when you will begin to accumulate different sizes and blades to do different kinds of work. I have ten knives on my bench, six of which are in use constantly. Sorry there's not an easy answer to your question....a swivel knnife is a very personal tool and you will get a wide variety of recommendations. I know this doesn't help, but you really need to see them to choose.

Bob

[dustin29]

Dustin,

King, Henley, Beard, Leather Wrangler, Smith all make excellent knives. The differences between them are really personal preference. The only way for you to be able to make a decision is to handle each of them yourself, and determine what you like. Maybe you could find a leather artist in your area who could let you handle some of what he has. That is really the only way to tell. Also, one knife won't do it all. In the beginning, one knife is okay, but there will come a time when you will begin to accumulate different sizes and blades to do different kinds of work. I have ten knives on my bench, six of which are in use constantly. Sorry there's not an easy answer to your question....a swivel knnife is a very personal tool and you will get a wide variety of recommendations. I know this doesn't help, but you really need to see them to choose.

Bob

Thanks Bob, I have seven Tandy Knives with all the different blades they offer, but I am afraid that maybe I wasted my money on them. Good thing they are cheap. I dont know of anybody in my area that is into leather, I think it is a rare thing here in Maine. I am going to buy a good knife and hope for the best, it will have to be better than what I have now. I will also buy a couple different blades to go with it. Your help is very muych appreciated and needed. Thank you very much.

[TimKleffner]

Dustin

I own Chuck Smith , Barry King, Henley, and Lancer swivel knives. I like all of them . Lancer knives are sold by Hide Crafter Leather out of Fort Worth. They used to be priced about 59.95 and at times they are on 'sale'.

That's when I bought my last couple of them.

I also bought several blades from Jeff Cook. These blades tune up real nice. I also like the Henley blades, which take no tuning

Happy Tooling

Tim

[hidepounder]

Dustin,

I will attempt to explain some of the differences/similarities. To begin with, I can't really comment on Barry's knives....he's a good friend and I use a lot of his tools but his knives are made of brass which I just don't care for. I have no doubt they are good quality knives. If I'm not mistaken, the shank on his blade is flat, not round like you are accustomed to. I find flat shanks more difficult to fit in a sharpening jig.

Henley is an excellent knife, I have four of them. The yoke is wide and stable with excellent ball bearings. Their checking pattern is the coarsest on the market which is one of the reasons I like them. I also think they make excellent round shank blades, which are available in a hollow grind which I also prefer.

Bob Beards knives are excellent also. He provides a very nice, wide yoke with excellent ball bearings. His 3/8" barrels are not offered in an adjustable size due to the way he constructs the yokes. I would call the checkering pattern, medium fine. His blades are some of the best I've seen, made of tool steel, their edges last a a long time. He is custom maker and will fashion any style blade you can imagine. I use his blades more than any other and they are all round shanked. He made a detail blade for me that is 1/32" thick, it's amazing. He made two custom barrels for me with a coarse checkering pattern that I am crazy about.

Chuck Smith's knives are right in line with Henley's and Beards. Top notch quality, excellent yokes and ball bearings. I have not used his blades so I can't comment, except that they are also made with round shanks. Chuck offers a wide variety of barrel sizes, lengths and colors. The only reason I do not use them is because the checkering on the barrels is very fine and I do not like that style checkering. It's only fair to add, here, that I think I am in the minority regarding checkering....I think most toolers prefer a finer pattern than I do.

I have one Leather Wrangler knife that I won this past spring and I am very impressed with it. Pauls knives are different in many aspects to Beard, Henley and Smith. The barrels are made of aluminum and are very light to handle. I think his blades are excellent. Paul has done a lot of research in selecting the steel he uses in his blades. The blade shanks are flat like Barry's blades. He constructs his yokes very differently than everyone else and offers two basic styles. One is a large rounded yoke similar in style to what Barry makes, the other is a much smaller, flatter version, similar in style to what Beard, Henley and Smith make.

I also have a few knives that came from HideCrafters. They are indistinguishable from my Henleys. I don't know who made them but I don't think they are still available. I don't think they have the same ball bearing as my Henley, but other than that I can't tell the difference. I do not care for the blade that came with them however. HideCrafter carries a couple of other lines of knives and I don't know anything about them.

If you haven't seen any of these knives, here's a couple to look at. The knife on the left is Leather Wranglers, the next two are Henleys, then Smith's (Old Smoothie) and the two on the right are Beard's with custom checkering. I don't know, but, I assume you can see most of these knives on the makers websites.

Hope this helps,

Bob

[dustin29]

Thanks for all of the advice guys. I just ordered a King knife and two different blades to go with it. If I find I dont like it I will order a Henley or a Lancer. I guess its just trial and error from here on out. It sounds like everybody has there own preference, now ive got to find mine. I hope a new knife and some practice will improve my carving. Thanks a bunch Bob for your extra effort in helping me out, it does not go un appreciated.

[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

[bruce johnson]

Dustin,

Add another name to the I don't have one favorite club. Like Ben, someone told me I needed a tall skinny one; like Ben, I hated it. The cool thing was I bought it Tandy's deathbed sale for $10, and it adjusted lower. I still never really liked it being too skinny though. It was in a drawer for several years. After dislocating my thumb a few times, thin barrels just don't get it for me any more. I am more comfortable with a slightly thicker barrel. Blade size depends on the type of cut. I use all straight blades and the longer ones let me have more knife in the leather and track better for long straight lines. Thicker barrels help to prevent rotation. I am attaching pics of my two most reached for knives and the customization I did. The silver one is an Ol Smoothie with a 1/4" slim blade - used for tight turns and intricate work. The brass is one of Barry's with a 3/8" blade I made the angle a little flatter to leave a narrower cut. I use it for stems and longer lines. Both of these have been outfitted with custom grips, gummy pen sleeves from the checkout display at Staples. Spit on the barrel and slid them on. If I need to plow a border ditch, I have a couple knives set up with 1/2" blades and big barrels. They really track.

[dustin29]

I received my new Barry King swivel knife and two different blades. I am very happy with the performance, it beats the cheap ones from Tandy.

[XSport]

Hey, I thought I would revive this thread as I just bought some swivel knifes and probably bought too much stuff because I couldn't find this particular info on the web. I'm fairly new to leather and thought I would try some different knives. I bought some Barry King's because they were available here in Canada (Longview Leather in Alberta).

First I bought a 3/8 barrel and a 3/8" angle blade. As for the barrell, I think the advantage of a thin barrell is that you can turn it a little easier so it is really nice for tight carving, like details of 1/2" lettering or flowers and leaves in small areas. However, i find that because I have to squeeze my hand together more, I fatigue quicker than I do with a larger barrell. I think the ball bearing swivel also helps as it just feels better as you turn it.

As for the blades, I did not like the angle blade at all. I found that because I was holding the knife straight up and down all the time, it put my hand in an awkward position. I don't know how to describe it other than to say that it made it feel like the knife was too long for my hand. Also I found it was hard to get nice decorative cuts because only the very tip of the blade was in the leather. Because the cut was so thin (on 2-3oz), it was difficult to bevel it after too.

Later, I bought a 1/2" barrel and a 5/8" barrel Barry King at Longview.....I know it sounds crazy but at $40 plus blade, I don't really think they are that expensive......anyway, as expected the bigger barrels feel very nice and comfortable and they turn very nicely in your hand, but you just can't cut as tight of a curve as you can with the 3/8". That being said, the difference is not huge.

I also bought a few different blades....all of them straight....I bought the 3/8" Thin, a 1/4" Thick, and a 1/4" Thin.....I wouldn't get the thick and thin in the 1/4", because for me, the differnence is marginal on 2 to 3 oz leather, but maybe it will make a bigger difference on 8 to 9oz. I actually wanted the thick one in a 3/8, but Longview didn't have them in stock, I think the 3/8" might be noticeably thicker and may give nice thick decorative "feather cuts". I really like the straight blades better because you can vary the angle to do different things with it. Like if you need a nice straight line or long sweeping curve, just tilt it upright and get more of the blade in the leather. If you need a tight turn, tilt it away so that it rotates better. BTW, I think I could have done just fine without the 1/4" blades at all, the 3/8" looks a lot bigger but functions almost the same.

Anyway, that's my 2 cents. I had trouble finding this info before I bought the Barry King's and probably over bought because of it. My recomendation if you can only have one.......a standard 1/2" Barrel with a 3/8" straight blade......maybe a thick blade depending on what you are doing. I guess it says something that this is the format for all the basic Swivel Knifes at Tandy.

Cheers!

[okiwen]

Even years later, I appreciate this topic and the views.