Which swivel knife if NEWBIE

[DaveP]

Looking to start carving. Which swivel knife would you reccomend to someone who has never touched one? 

 

Thank you again,

 David

[Rhale]

Personal preference,  everyone likes different brands!  If you can go to a show and try different brands and sizes it would help.  Barry King is very good for the price!  Robert Beard is one of the best but expensive!  Henley is right up there with the Beard and a little less money.  Chuck Smith is very good,  Leather Wrangler is very good and priced about like the previous ones.  Then you get into barrel sizes, most are 3/8, 7/16, or 1/2 inch.  I prefer 3/8”.  Blade sizes are about the same choices as barrel but you can get 1/4”  and you can get straight or angled, and some offer regular or thin. I prefer 1/4” thin straight.  You can get 1/8” angle which works well for detail and filigree work also.  So now you should be real confused! Ha ha!  I would start with a Barry King 3/8” barrel, 1/4” straight blade and go from there which is about $60 if you don’t have a way to try different makers and sizes!  Just my opinion.  Hope I didn’t confuse you to much.  Best of luck with your carving and choice of swivel knives! Rodney 

 

[LumpenDoodle2]

I would suggest that you should buy yourself a cheap and cheerful swivel knife to start with.   That will give you a basic, no frills knife to start practicing with.  

It will also give you a starting point for finding out what suits your needs, whether it’s a wider/taller body, or blade angle.   Basically, you’ll get enough ‘hands on’ experience to work out which knife you want to pay out decent money for.

 

[Hardrada]

I got a Kyoshin Elle from goodsjapan.com. Very nice and adjustable.

However, they come without blade, and finding a good blade to put on can be a chore. It was for me. The Kyoshin Elle knives are Tandy compatible, and Barry King makes Tandy-compatible blades, so does Tandy (d'oh). Tandy also sells ceramic blades which never need sharpening (you still have to strop them, though). I ended up buying a cheap steel blade from Tandy; guess I can always upgrade to a Barry King one later.

Edited May 21, 2020 by Hardrada

[DaveP]

Thanks for the responses.  Good advice from all.  I'll look at some on Amazon and go from there.  Hopefully I'll get enough practice to upgrade. 

[chuck123wapati]

I would , if I had it to do over again, would buy a moderately  priced good one that was adjustable in length. I bought the tandy cheapo and struggled with it until I lengthened it some and bought a better blade.  A good swivel knife can be resold if you don't like it a cheapo is just wasted money if you find you don't like leather work.

[Art]

Bite the bullet and buy a Robert Beard or a Henley. If you don't like it, you can put it up on eBay and get more than you paid for it. Both of those brands lean more toward being a "generic" swivel knife while being very adjustable for length. When you get enough experience to know if you want a bigger or smaller knife, like I said above, you can recoup your cost (hell, I'll buy it from you). 

[DaveP]

Sounds good!