Wild Dingo
19th June 2006, 01:33 PM
A few weeks ago before leaving for the mine I called into Perth Carbatec store and bought a couple of things and made enquiries about carving chisels
Now as I was heading to the remote Sandy Desert by plane I considered that on my last flight I had my pocket knife confiscated I had no intention of buying an expensive set of chisels to have some dimwit at the airport confiscate them so I had a yarn with Garry and Joe and finally decided on the Flexicut Carving Jack
http://www.carbatec.com.au/store/images/hires/JACK.jpg
And decided to put it in my luggage instead on on my person... yep bright bloody spark eh?... anyway I went to the airport and instead of going on one of the main players in the airline industry we went on a small players plane... yep no checks of anything!! Coulda worn the ruddy thing on my noggin and nothing would be said as long as it didnt go over the 10 kl weight limit :rolleyes:
Anyway... I took it out with me to the mine and over several days found that it didnt like desert hard wood... not much does... damned stuff is harder than granite... so I waited till I returned to Perth to grab some offcuts from the shed
The Carving Jack a few important considerations:-
Its just a tad thicker than your average pocket knife
It weighs slightly more than your average pocket knife
IT COMES SHARP!!!
It has no fear of drawing red stuff at every opportunity
Okay... its heft (weight) is good... it fits nicely in the hand the blades come out and lock in position very easily if a bit tight which is good in my book unlocking the knife to put it back entailes pushing down on the small lock peice on the back of the handle... good safe setup
Being small enough to fit into the palm of your hand with only the extended blade showing gives some great flexibility to movement... the blade becomes a part of your hand an added finger if you will as they extend beyond your palm... and so putting and cutting where you want to is easy... its very well controlled
As for being sharp? YES ITS DEFINANTLY BLOODY SHARP!! if only my fingers could talk they would have some serious horror stories of this thing :o ... As an added bonus the carving jack comes with its own sharpening stone setup thingy small and each blade has its own shaped area on it... it also comes with some of that gold polish stuff... sharpening is a breaze a couple of quick slashes up or back depending on which blade a quick wizz with the gold stuff and your done... believe its done!! Do not run your finger along the blade to check do not run the blade up your arm to check!! THIS IS PAINFULL :(
Follow the small brochure of instructions and the sharpening is a breeze... its not hard mates!! I read them in a few short minutes and nothing hard or confusing was found... other than cleaning the blood off since I read it AFTER I had a go at sharpening... hey! its a male thing what can I say? :p
As to the results of my efforts? nope you definantly DONT want to see that!! I have come to the conclusion that am not a Flexicut Carving Jack carvers earhole!
But I promised a few people to do a bit of a critique on this thing and so I have done that...
So in a nutshell
The Flexicut Carving Jack
Comes as a complete unit... knife sharpener and polish
Has excellent sharp blade holding capabilities
Weight is perfect
The 6 blades contained are enough to begin with and probably more than enough to complete some serious carving... if you know what your doing of course!
The blades are small/large enough to be extentions of your palm/hand
The blades are hardened steel and finished black this is grand in that it allows the sharpened edge to be seen clearly and easily a good thing on the smaller blades
A final note... at $199 including the sharpening stone and polish a good investment for ease of use and compact carving its ideal :cool:
Now I gotta get me some of them Phiel carving chisels and make a wee mallet... I may not be a woodcarvers left gonad but by heck I will give anything a birl once!! :D
Actually Ive got me a chainsaw down the back I wonder if I could trust me to carve usin the chainsaw?? mmmm WITHOUT carvin meself while Im at it! :eek:
Now as I was heading to the remote Sandy Desert by plane I considered that on my last flight I had my pocket knife confiscated I had no intention of buying an expensive set of chisels to have some dimwit at the airport confiscate them so I had a yarn with Garry and Joe and finally decided on the Flexicut Carving Jack
http://www.carbatec.com.au/store/images/hires/JACK.jpg
And decided to put it in my luggage instead on on my person... yep bright bloody spark eh?... anyway I went to the airport and instead of going on one of the main players in the airline industry we went on a small players plane... yep no checks of anything!! Coulda worn the ruddy thing on my noggin and nothing would be said as long as it didnt go over the 10 kl weight limit :rolleyes:
Anyway... I took it out with me to the mine and over several days found that it didnt like desert hard wood... not much does... damned stuff is harder than granite... so I waited till I returned to Perth to grab some offcuts from the shed
The Carving Jack a few important considerations:-
Its just a tad thicker than your average pocket knife
It weighs slightly more than your average pocket knife
IT COMES SHARP!!!
It has no fear of drawing red stuff at every opportunity
Okay... its heft (weight) is good... it fits nicely in the hand the blades come out and lock in position very easily if a bit tight which is good in my book unlocking the knife to put it back entailes pushing down on the small lock peice on the back of the handle... good safe setup
Being small enough to fit into the palm of your hand with only the extended blade showing gives some great flexibility to movement... the blade becomes a part of your hand an added finger if you will as they extend beyond your palm... and so putting and cutting where you want to is easy... its very well controlled
As for being sharp? YES ITS DEFINANTLY BLOODY SHARP!! if only my fingers could talk they would have some serious horror stories of this thing :o ... As an added bonus the carving jack comes with its own sharpening stone setup thingy small and each blade has its own shaped area on it... it also comes with some of that gold polish stuff... sharpening is a breaze a couple of quick slashes up or back depending on which blade a quick wizz with the gold stuff and your done... believe its done!! Do not run your finger along the blade to check do not run the blade up your arm to check!! THIS IS PAINFULL :(
Follow the small brochure of instructions and the sharpening is a breeze... its not hard mates!! I read them in a few short minutes and nothing hard or confusing was found... other than cleaning the blood off since I read it AFTER I had a go at sharpening... hey! its a male thing what can I say? :p
As to the results of my efforts? nope you definantly DONT want to see that!! I have come to the conclusion that am not a Flexicut Carving Jack carvers earhole!
But I promised a few people to do a bit of a critique on this thing and so I have done that...
So in a nutshell
The Flexicut Carving Jack
Comes as a complete unit... knife sharpener and polish
Has excellent sharp blade holding capabilities
Weight is perfect
The 6 blades contained are enough to begin with and probably more than enough to complete some serious carving... if you know what your doing of course!
The blades are small/large enough to be extentions of your palm/hand
The blades are hardened steel and finished black this is grand in that it allows the sharpened edge to be seen clearly and easily a good thing on the smaller blades
A final note... at $199 including the sharpening stone and polish a good investment for ease of use and compact carving its ideal :cool:
Now I gotta get me some of them Phiel carving chisels and make a wee mallet... I may not be a woodcarvers left gonad but by heck I will give anything a birl once!! :D
Actually Ive got me a chainsaw down the back I wonder if I could trust me to carve usin the chainsaw?? mmmm WITHOUT carvin meself while Im at it! :eek: