How To Choose The Right Chip Carving Knife!
Here, I show you all of the knives I used over the years, my own rating system, and how to avoid buying too many knives you won’t even use.
Hint: check out the collection here.
It was around 10 years ago that I first started to work on producing my own line of chip carving knives. My goal all along has been to make the absolute best chip carving knives available. Step one was to determine what elements were needed to make the best chip carving knife.
I don’t expect you to know of any of this when buying a chip carving knife! That’s my job! You should pick up one of my knives, like how it feels in your hand, easily be able to hold it correctly, and start making cuts. There’s a lot that goes into this process that I won’t bore you with. But these are the key elements that I incorporated into the design and production of my knives.
How To Choose The Right Chip Carving Knife: One element of a great performing chip carving knife is how thin the blade is.
The Knives I started with 35 years ago vs. what MyChipCarving Knives are like today:
Different Types of Chip Carving Knives
| Left to Right (approximate dates)
1. 1985 – Klotzli Swiss knife (I modified the blade from its original shape) 2. 1990 – Barton Knife 3/4 2009 – First prototypes made by ex-Army Ranger I met with in MN 5. 2010 – First edition of MyChipCarving Knives, Cutting, Modified, Stab. Available with Bone or Wood (shown) handles. 6. 2013 – Second edition. Platinum Knives made in US, Gold Knives made in El Salvador (not shown) 7/8 2018 – Third edition. Diamond Deluxe (shown), Diamond and Gold Knives. Blades made in the US and I do all the handle work and assembly. |
In the quest for knife nirvana, absolute requirements for my knives are shown in the following comparison chart.
*(Star ratings are all my own and not scientifically evaluated or corroborated by the Academy of Higher Learning for Chip Carving)
| MCC 3rd edition | MCC 2nd edition | MCC 1st edition | Barton Knives | Klotzli Knives | |
| High quality steel* | ⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐ | ⭐some too brittle | ⭐ | ⭐ |
| Full tang blade* | ⭐ | ⭐ | ⭐ | ||
| Thin blade grind | ⭐⭐Diamond
⭐Ruby |
⭐ | ⭐⭐ | ⭐ | |
| Thumb notch | ⭐ | ⭐ | ⭐ | ||
| Pre-sharpened | ⭐ | ⭐ | ⭐ | somewhat | |
| Ergonomic blade design* | ⭐ | ⭐ | ⭐ | ⭐ | |
| Comfortable feel | ⭐ | ⭐ | ⭐ | ⭐ | |
| Lifetime Guarantee | ⭐ | ⭐ | ⭐ |
If you have any questions about chip carving knives, please contact us here:
(866) 444 – 6996
UPDATE: My Carving Is Featured In The Mankato City Art Walk
It would be great if you could vote for my carving here!
This was a tremendous honor to be selected and I was humbled to watch the artisans weld it into the ground where it will stay for the next year.
Seeing as we’re talking about chip carving knives this month, I used 2 of my early knives for this entire carving. (I didn’t want to risk breaking my Diamond Knife 😉) The really large chips required removing a smaller chip first before carving on the pattern line. And, I decreased the angle on some of the really BIG chips, probably around 45 degrees, so I could get the cuts to meet.
Great work Marty
Beautiful work that is so movingly thought out and executed. Well done!