How to Find the Best Whittling Pocket Knife – Buyers Guide

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How To Pick The Best Whittling Pocket Knife For The Money

When looking for a whittling pocket knife you are probably going to want something that you are going to be able to carry around in your pocket easily so you will probably want to go with a whittling pocket knife that is foldable and not a fixed blade design.  

With a fixed blade design, the knife is usually going to be too large to fit comfortably in your pocket. With a folding whittling pocket knife, the blade can be folded into the handle to allow you to easily carry it in your pocket without worry of accidentally cutting yourself.

What to look for when buying a whittling pocket knife

Sharpness

The most important characteristic of a whittling knife is that it is razor sharp allowing you to shave off the wood with ease.  That is why it’s important to go with a whittling knife that will keep a sharp blade edge for a long time.

One thing that will help with this is buying a whittling pocket knife that comes with a sharpening strop such as this knife.  A strop is a blade sharpening device that is used to allow you to sharpen your knife blades to keep them as sharp as possible between uses of your knife.

Flexcut Right-Handed Carvin’ Jack – Comes with a strop

Size

Most whittling pocket knife blades are going to be short because a smaller blade is typically preferred for whittling knives.  And because you are most likely looking for a folding whittling pocket knife the blade length will need to be short enough to fold into the handle, so that is another reason why these types of knife blades will be short.

Multiple blades

Some whittling pocket knives will have multiple blades that are designed to be used for different whittling techniques.  If you are looking to whittle something intricate you may want to look at getting a whittling pocket knife that has multiple blade tools designed to be used for specific jobs.  

Weight

When looking for the best whittling pocket knife you would want to look for something that is going to be on the lighter side so that it is comfortable to hold for long periods of time.  While whittling you may have to hold the knife for hours depending on how long it will take you to get the job done so the lighter your whittling pocket knife the easier it will be for you to hold the knife.

Blade steel type

Carbon steel blades are going to be the preferred blade type for whittling pocket knives because of their ability to stay sharp for long periods of time.  Carbon steel blades are designed to be able to hold their edge and sharpness better than a stainless steel blade.

However, carbon steel knife blades usually do not hold up as well to water and will be more likely to rust than a stainless steel blade so keep that in mind.  If you are planning on going with a carbon steel blade just make sure that you take care of the blade by washing it off after use and making sure that the blade is dry before you store it.

Handle

When looking for a whittling pocket knife you want to make sure that you go with one that will have a comfortable handle as you may be working on your whittling project for extended periods of time.  

If you go with a whittling knife that doesn’t have a comfortable handle your hand will eventually get fatigued and you will need to stop. It’s also important to go with a handle that fits your hand size.  

If you are an adult you would be fine with most whittling knives but if you have small hands or are a kid you may want to go with youth or kids whittling pocket knife as their handles will be designed for smaller hands.  Below is an example of a junior whittling pocket knife.

Morakniv Wood Carving Junior

Warranty

If you want to ensure that your whittling pocket knife lasts a long time you may want to get one that offers a lifetime warranty on the craftsmanship of the knife.  If there is any defect or issue with the craftsmanship of the knife or blade you could then turn the knife back into the manufacturer for replacement. These types of warranties would not cover issues with the knife or blade from normal wear and tear, however.  

Sheaths

With most whittling pocket knives they will be foldable so you will not need a sheath to help protect you from cutting yourself accidentally.  However, some are designed to be held in a pouch when not in use. As long as you don’t go with a fixed blade whittling knife you don’t really need a sheath.

Blade maintenance

Using sharpening stones

You can buy sharpening stones that are designed to have you run your blade across the sharpening stone to help sharpen the edge of the blade.  When doing this you typically use two types of sharpening stones one stone that is coarse, and one stone that is fine.

You would first sharpen the blade with the coarse sharpening stone to clean up any big imperfections in the knife edge.  You would then follow up with the fine sharpening stone to leave the blade edge with a smooth finish. You can find some sharpening stones that have both coarse and fine stones built into the same sharpening stone

Below is an example of a two-sided sharpening stone

Premium Knife Sharpening Stone 2 Side Grit 1000/6000 Waterstone

Here is a video showing how to use a sharpening stone properly

If you want you also have the option of mailing your knife to your knife manufacturer to have them sharpen your blade if you don’t feel like messing with doing it yourself.  You would probably save some money doing it yourself but if you are hesitant to do that shipping it to your manufacturer is another option that you have.

What whittling pocket knife brand is best?

The two leading whittling pocket knife manufacturers I found when doing my research look to be Morakniv and Flexcut.  I personally have a bias towards Morakniv because I own another Morakniv knife and I know how well they make their knives.  

It looks like however if you want to have a whittling pocket knife that has many different whittling tools that you would be better off going with a Flexcut knife as Morakniv doesn’t have a knife with multiple blades or tools to help you with specific whittling jobs.   

In conclusion

I hope that you were able to get a better understanding of what to look for in when looking for the best whittling pocket knife.  Ultimately it’s up to you to decide which whittling pocket knife to go with based on your preferences but I hope that I at least gave you more to think about in helping you select a whittling pocket knife that fits your needs.