Thread: Where to buy crooked/spoon knife in Victoria

There is no solid consensus about the name. A 'hook' knife is a 'bent' knife is a 'crooked' knife.
Here in the PacNW, the common term is 'crooked.'
Sources: you have several, the most obvious will be the master bladesmiths of the Pacific Northwest = Kestrel, North Bay and Cariboo.
They have worked with carvers for decades to refine the designs.
The Scandanavian designs are center-hafted with more-or-less cylindrical handles ( Mora #162, #163 and #164)
Google 'crooked knife' and select Images to see what the rest of the world is using.

In your part of the world, the very best way to get into this is to find top quality farrier's hoof knives and revise and refine the bevels
to 12 degrees (often as stiff as 30 for the Mora #171 and #188).
Any farm shop catering to the horse/show cattle people will have some.

www.profarriersupply.com shows off most of what we can get here.

Mora and Diamond are OK but soft steel when compared with the Hall knives (Calgary/Stampede), the hardest, most difficult steel
to render as a wood carving tool.

In my carving explorations of the past 6-8 years, I have rebuilt a number of farrier's knives for wood carving.
I have hafted 4 of the Lee Valley "Haida-style" knife blades (not the best).
I hope that you can judge by the shapes of my kit what the sweeps of the blades must be.
Any questions at all, I'm here to help.

Thanks for the info RV.

Hi,

Pinewood Forge make really nice kit and are reasonably priced for hand made knives.
They come carving sharp and beautifully finished.
They send to Australia. There is a bit of a wait but worth it. They also sell spoons blanks!
http://www.pinewoodforge.com

A cheaper alternative is for one of the Swedish Mora knives.
Unlike the Mora straight knives, the curved knives don't come very sharp and will need some work before use. Amazon won't send these direct to Australia so you need to find an alternative.
http://www.amazon.com/Morakniv-Carvi.../dp/B00343VCCK

hiroller: as you have no doubt figured out already, just any old crooked knife is not a good decision.
The bigger part is selecting a knife for the subject carving(s).
The Mora #162, #163 and #164 are well designed for spoon and bowl carving.
The Scandanavian design means center-hafting and basically a round handle.

I see several advantages to the Pacific Northwest design style.
The best of which is that you can buy blades alone (Kestrel shows 18 different crooked blades
and they make straight blades also.) Next, the hafting is simple and effective, you have a fabulous array of beautiful hardwoods for that part.
I want a carving tool with a handle size and shape which fits me. Largely why I make my own.

What I have done also is to locate a farrier and buy used hoof knives from him.
They are servicible for wood carving and cost me $5 each.
Otherwise, any farrier supply in Australia should have some choices for new knives.
The stock handles are entirely adequate for wood carving (Hall/Mora/Frost/Diamond/Ukal and others.)