What are the Best Chip Carving Knives in 2023
Wood Carving Tools reviews 20.02.2020 Jeff Richardson 2
Best chip carving knives – comparison review
- Product
- Our Rating
- Description
- Our Review
- Amazon Price
- TwoCherries Long Chip Knife
- I would recommend it to someone who only is starting his path in chip carving and doesn’t want to spend too much on his first cutting knife.
- $21.25
- Flexcut KN15 Chip Carving Knife
- The Knife from famous wood carving brand Flexcut is not the best idea for beginners, however, you can choose it if you already made few steps in chip carving and want good quality chip carving knife from the US manufacturer.
- $19.66
- BeaverCraft Chip Carving Knife C2
- Manufactured in Europe (Ukraine) BeaverCraft is a versatile pick for professional and beginner chip carvers. The ability of the Knife to hold it's edge well made it most welcomed in this review and in my workshop.
- $12.95
- PFEIL”Swiss Made” Chip Carving Knife #2
- Second European (German) manufacturer in our list looks good at the beginning, however after few weeks of use you can realize that it's not the best choice for the beginner. Check out Why?
- $18.50
- Elemental Tools Whittling Knife
- Chinese mass-product that looks good from the beginning and may suit you well. However, dozens of negative Amazon reviews prooves that chip price and an elegant bamboo case have the flip side of the coin.
- $12.99
*The prices above are given for your guidance. Make sure to check current availability and pricing on Amazon.
As I would describe it happened once upon a time on the internet…
I was searching for a new hobby and this thing came along … wood carving.
I always wondered about work people did only with their bare hands and one mini chip carving instrument. Later I found out that sanding and finishing are also quite an important part of the process. If you’d like some advice on choosing sandpaper (I certainly needed it when I started), you can read it here – How to Choose Sandpaper for Your Wood Carving Projects?. And after reading it you might need some suggestions or recommendations on best sandpaper.
So today I’m going to tell you what I learnt after researching this truly fascinating topic.
I did my first try about 8 years ago, I went to amazom.com and tried to find the best option for valuable price, I bought it and after it came to my house, I stopped trusting people on Amazon with their carving knives reviews on products, chip carving knife was really bad and holding it so it didn’t cut my hand every time I carve has become real challenge, but then I watched a lot of videos on YouTube and read hundreds of articles and I tried to do some wood carving with it, and I didn’t do much because I didn’t know techniques and stuff that you need to know when you entering as I previously said fascinating and exciting hobby. Here you can see some ideas for new projects if you don’t know where to start – Horse Wood Carving Projects.
And “stuff” I’m talking about its really good quality chip carving tools such as bench knife and chip carving knife set. This article about wood carving tools for beginners can be useful for you if you don’t know a thing about that stuff either.
I looked up and did quite a research of knives by features such as: price, razor sharp, hold the fine edge, knife with a comfortable handle, high quality, proven guarantee from seller, and that is why this carving knives review is the most honest you can find about best chip carving knife, and for those who looking for chip carving knife set, stay tuned this article is going to come out pretty soon.
Choosing the best chip carving knives
First Chip carving knife we will talk about – TwoCherries Long Chip Knife
When I first took it to my hands I noticed the great German chip carving quality and edge performance – hard to beat.
The material of the knife and handle has excellent quality, the knife itself is made of quality steel and the handle was made from hornbeam.
The logo is Two Cherries and is easy can be removed.
Also important fact: this knife requires sharpening and honing before use and remember to keep it as sharp as possible you have to do it on a regular basis.
The knife itself is not as big as you would expect but it also has a small grip.
If you have tiny hands, it’s awesome, the best thing about this knife that it is ideal for detailed work.
Easy to sharpen as the edge angle is already perfect. Finish the edge with a fine ceramic stick and it’ll be scalpel-sharp.
I thought about myself, and I think for most occasions I won’t be using it because in my opinion grip is too small and not as comfortable as other products I feature in this review.
- Low price.
Good quality.
Nice package and design of the knife itself.
- Feeling in hand as not confident as you might expect.
Small grip.
To Sum Up
So as we know the pros and cons let’s do a little summary on the German chip carving knife from two Cherry’s.
I would recommend it to someone who only is starting his path in chip carving and doesn’t want to spend too much on his first cutting knife.
The material of a wood carving knife is really good quality steel and comfortable handle is made from pretty good wood, but there’s a flip side to that coin it’s really slippery if you work without gloves and grip itself is cool small like I said if you have big hands it can really uncomfortable to use, but low price and warranty for this product would make it a good choice of carving tools for beginners.
Flexcut KN15 Chip Carving Knife – My second pick
I thought about what does make it this little cutting knife stand out from others? They are all similar in some cases but usually, they have one thing in common – its material, high-quality 1-inch blade of carbon steel.
What I noticed after using this skew knife it’s fine and yet very simple Ergonomic ash handle, it really fits good in my hand and even if the palm of your hand gets wet.
But here is some good news for those who like to support USA Manufacturing production.
This knife is fully made in the USA.
I have to say It needs to be sharpened a little, I did mine, before using but I don’t find this to be a big deal.
I want you to pay attention to what description on amazon says: Razor sharp high carbon steel blade is ready to use right out of the package. This knife is suitable for the development of different kinds of cuts, such as vertical cuts and others.
Like I noticed in my case, it’s not true, so be careful before you bought it, make sure you have a tool for sharpening in your house, just in case.
And one last thing before we go to pros and cons: I have to say a couple of words about an angle of the knife, it’s slight downward and it’s specifically for chip carving but be careful before you start working with wood if you don’t pay much attention you can cut yourself very easily.
- Carbon steel blade.
Made in the USA.
Almost perfect carving tools for professionals.
- Slippery wood.
Has to be sharpened because the manufacturer doesn’t pay much attention to it.
If you’re only starting you need to be extra careful.
To Sum Up
So what we can say about Flexcut Chip Carving Knife, it’s really good knife for certain people, even though I said it almost perfect for beginners because talking about my experience and it’s 8 years in chip carving you should avoid knives that can harm you as beginner because you see how stressing it is to constantly cut yourself.
But if you’re already experienced chip carver, you want to support USA Chip Carving manufacturers and you need a really good carbon steel knife, I think: Flexcut Chip Carving Knife is a really good option for your next purchase.
BeaverCraft Chip Carving Knife C2 – Third knife we are going to talk about
When I first saw BeaverCraft knife I was really interested not because of its unique design or simply because it’s a well-known brand among professionals and beginners in chip carving.
BeaverCraft is a European manufacturer and this company will be my obvious choice for many years.
Nothing like that can get my attention, but because it was Amazon choice and also BeaverCrafthas a lot of good rating carving knives reviews so I thought I’ll give it chance and what a surprise when the knife came over to my mailbox and when I unpacked I was really surprised.
I don’t have a problem with the slippery handle of the BeaverCraft chip carving knife and I thought to myself, finally some decent knife I can review both for experienced and unexperienced of chip carving community.
And there was a little downfall – mass produced knives rarely can come to you sharpened correctly and this one makes no exception.
Also, I noticed one thing and that was that blade was very thick, BeaverCraftknife has an angle of 25 degrees one’s I review sometime before has 12 degrees, and you probably thick
So what a difference?
It’s not as bad as it sounds, if a knife is less thick it allows the knife to glide through the wood much easier.
But there a lot of good stuff in this knife let’s see the pros and cons
- Price is extremely low.
The material of BeaverCraft wood and blade is very good.
One man army for beginner and well-trained professionals.
- Has a thick blade.
Not so suitable for micro detailed carving.
To Sum Up
What is my summary about BeaverCraft knife?
It’s very good I’d say it tied to word perfect, but nobody’s perfect as you know.
I would recommend BeaverCraft knife for beginners’ wood carving because it is good for every hand size and it doesn’t have slippery handle, and difference in blades can only be noticeable if work on very detailed models which beginners aren’t, cause they only learning how to do it, as for professionals I would recommend as a second or third knife in your chip carving knife set, because if your main one is going to broke – C2 Knife will be the great second player. Seriously, 12 dollars for this kind of BeaverCraft knife? It’s incredibly cheap.
PFEIL”Swiss Made” Chip Carving Knife #2 – Forth knife that got into my attention
People always said to me Pfeil Swiss knives are the best and you should try one, and I’m like, yeah right.
And I did try it from time to time but I don’t feel any excitement… Regular knives like everybody else, but this one I really enjoy to use.
It’s was really good pre-sharpened after I unpacked it and started to use it immediately.
The handle is made from really good hard wood and to be honest, I don’t feel any slippery when I used it.
Manufacturer saying that this is special alloy good steel and I have a chance to try it and I can tell you it was decent.
But what I really like about this detail Pfeil Swiss knife it’s a classic design and looks of razor, I don’t know why it reminded of my childhood.
But what I noticed too and I think in future this could be a real problem if you are seriously involved in chip carving.
What I’m talking about is the flexibility of the blade, so when you carve you might have some issues with your work in terms of models look.
- Classic design.
The great quality handle of hard wood so it doesn’t slip every time palm of your hand gets wet.
Pre-sharpened right from factory Pfeil Swiss made.
- Flexibility of the blade.
The great quality handle of hard wood so it doesn’t slip every time palm of your hand gets wet.
Pre-sharpened right from factory Pfeil Swiss made.
To Sum Up
So let’s make little summary about this Pfeil Swiss knife and my conclusion is very obvious I would recommend to buy this knife if you willing to spend as twice much as you would regularly spend on chip carving knife.
Pros are obvious I really enjoy use it and do some modeling with it also I really like design and feeling this knife gives me when I’m working with it, but con’s needs to be considered and I’m talking about flexibility of blade which could cause you couple of new grey hair’s when you going to be working on very detailed model 😉
Elemental Tools Whittling Knife – Last but not the least number 5
Wood Carving Knife for Detail Knife Woodworking, Chip Carving Knife Woodworking, Or Add to Any Whittling Knife Kit. I would say this knife is last but not least, I think it has a very unique style and touch to it, as I first saw it on amazon.com, I fell in love with this wooden case for keeping knife clean, and you know I start reading chip carving knives reviews and I thought to myself, well I’ll order one, so a few days later it came to my house and I can’t tell how excited I was when I took my first touch on wood with this knife, it was so smooth and clean in terms of work.
So now I tell you little more about this fifth knife in my carving knives review.
The first thing about this wood carving knife what I fell for its bamboo storage box, a unique thing to have and also it looks very interesting if you show it to someone, I wish all my chip carving knives would have a case.
The blade is made from high-quality carbon steel and really can be your best friend for many years also strong 65MN steel can make your detail knife sharp all the time.
Handel is made from a walnut tree not slippery at all and feels good in hand.
Sounds great right?
But I talked about this knife with my beginner wood carving friend who also practice chip carving and they said, that when they order it when it came to them, blade was not pre-sharpened, I notice that too but my case wasn’t that bad, so I didn’t pay too much attention, and also on some reviews I read afterward that sometimes knife has problem with blade. So you thinking what my real opinion about this knife?
I don’t know. A lot of people really frustrated about Elemental Tools Whittling Knife after they used it for a few months. I can not ignore it as that is why it’s not the first pick in my collection. Comparing to BeaverCraft or FlexCut you’ll never know what will you get in case of Elemental.
- Good felling of your hands and walnut handle.
Excellent bamboo case.
- Problem with pre sharpening.
Reviews that said if you use regularly it could break easily.
Chinese mass-product quality.
To Sum Up
So my honest opinion is the following: I like this knife for wood carving I enjoy using it on every basis in terms of look and feel of the knife itself, the wooden bamboo box makes you feel that you’re an owner of really expensive product, which you aren’t because of the price for knife around 15 dollars.
Also, it has a money-back guarantee so it’s also nice, but as I said to all these great pros there are couple cons that you might have in future but who knows maybe they’re just mean people who don’t know how to make your chip carving experience fun and enjoy this knife.
Would I have recommenced this knife for consideration?
I guess so but as always … it depends whatever you like or not because the final decision is always up to you.
That’s about it.
I hope you learned something new and these carving knives review for chip carving and wood carving was helpful to you, comparing these knives altogether is kind of not the point of this review. Of course, I am more inclined to the reference quality of a European manufacturer, such as BeaverCraft because the Chinese product market as Elemental tools is not always so reliable and ready to guarantee a stable quality of goods. Also, each of us must understand and decide the best chip carving knife for him. It is important to take into account many of the nuances of international shipping; for many, free shipping is a nice bonus so you should read buying guide carefully.
I just have shown great options in my opinion and only you can know what you need, I’m going to leave you with one last thought of great chip carver Mr. Mackles who’s was teaching me:
‘’Always treat wood with love and respect your art, give your passion, dedication and time and only then… You could create everything right in terms of size, shape, and color, just remember every figure that you made is going to make you immortal so do it with as much respect and love for the next generation who will remember you as an artist of chip carving’’.
Thomas
24.04.2021 #1 AuthorI’m new to wood carving and want to try chip carving, does anyone have any recommendations for a good chip carving knife?
Frederick
11.05.2021 #2 AuthorMy first wood carving was a chip carving and I used a Stanley knife. Got some really nice results by working the inside of the cuts with rasps, files etc., but it soon became apparent that this method required ear protection! Still got some very pleasing texture on my finished piece though.