Hi, in this post I will be talking about the best knife for bushcraft/wood carving and the different types of knives used.
What is the best knife for bushcraft?
When talking about what is the best knife first you need to know what is the main task you will be using your carving knife for. There are a lot of different carving techniques that are used as well as a lot of different knives that are best suited for the task.
For example, if you are caring a spoon you will need a hook knife. If plan on doing small wood engraving or a chip carving then a chip carving knife is more suitable. Also, you have a general use carving knife or commonly called a sloyd knife.
If you are not sure where to start or even if you want to try new things there are wood carving sets that will get you started.
Now let’s talk a bit more about different wood carving tools that are commonly used and what they are used for.
– Sloyd knife
This is the core essential knife that is used for bushcraft or whittling. Because it is such a general-purpose knife it is recommended that you get it first because it is used in almost every single carving project that you could think of. And although you will probably need to use other tools alongside the sloyd knife, some projects can be done using only this carving knife.
– Hook knife
A hook knife is a must if you plan on making a wooden spoon or a wooden kuksa. They have a curved blade making them able to cut concave surfaces into the wood. When choosing a hook knife you need to take into consideration its shape because a shallower curve is more used in spoon making while a deeper curved hook knife is more suitable for kuksa making.
– Chip carving knife
As I mentioned before a chip carving knife is a type of whittling knife that is a usually small and thin but extremely sharp knife that is used for making precise cuts into the wood. Due to its geometry, it is usually a bit more fragile than a sloyd knife, so I wouldn’t make big movements with it because it can break more easily.
There are a lot more wood carving tools that we could talk about but these three are essential for beginners. Alongside these tools, I would recommend having an axe and a saw for removing bigger chinks of wood thus making it an easier and more enjoyable process. They don’t need to be anything fancy but as with everything having a better quality item will speed things up.
That is it for this blog post, if you have any suggestions leave a comment bellow I would be glad to hear from you.
See ya!