(Cue the western theme song)
A while back I did an offshoot series on the loops I use on my slides, and after giving it as little thought as possible, I now present my thoughts on knives. I’m starting with a recent purchase that was picked up for me so I wouldn’t have to check a bag while traveling. (Hint: more vacation slides coming.) What follows is my review.
This set was purchased at a famous hobby store (the one closed on Sundays), though you can find the same kit under different branding in other stores.
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Right off the bat, the small screwdriver was broken—or perhaps it had never been glued properly into the handle. I eventually inserted the “bit” into one of the knife handles, sharpened it, and used it as a small chisel.
The blades were thin and brittle. I broke one within five minutes of starting my carving. They also don’t hold an edge for long, which meant frequent sharpening.
The silver blades, which only fit the larger handle, arrive with no real edge and are so soft that they bend in half with even light pressure. By the time I had roughed out my first slide, I had already gone through about three-quarters of the blades in the kit.
I’m not sure why tweezers are included, but after gripping a single object they bent out of shape—another example of very soft metal.
Three of the four handles have soft “comfort” rubber grips that slide forward during use. After pushing them back into place several times, I eventually removed them altogether.
The calipers are very cheap, but surprisingly they are fairly close in measurement.
In all fairness, I didn’t end up using the scribes, but they actually appeared to be the best tools in the kit.
Five days later, I threw away the last unbroken and unbent blade, three of the handles, the tweezers, and the scribes (I couldn’t bring them on the plane). I kept the large handle, the calipers, and the case after stripping it out (keeping the magnets). I’ll rebuild the kit and post the results in a future installment.
Despite the low price, it’s my opinion that this knife set is suitable only for very light-duty work—and even then, I’d recommend using Kevlar cut-resistant gloves. I would not recommend this set for general use or for wood carving.
