Need help finding a draw knife

[wood2woodknot]

Are flexible draw knives a good thing or a bad thing? I was looking for a small draw knife (never used a draw knife) to use with some hardwoods (cherry for my first effort). I saw Flexcut had a 3" and 5" one. Price was favorable, but then I read closer and both say "flexible blade" that can help follow the contours of the piece. Suddenly, that doesn't make sense to me. Makes me think "weak" blade. Will it hold its original shape? Is it more of a toy, just for small jobs and softer woods? Will it hold up?

Or am I better off with a traditional rigid blade? at a steeper price (or a used one if I can find one)?

I don't have a good feeling about many of the Flexcut knives to begin with. Maybe I am just prejudiced. The only ones I would use would be the knives with fixed blades. The rest, like those with the interchangeable blades, seem like they are for lightweight carving.

Can anyone help me out?

[Bill_Houghton]

Can't answer on the flexible blade drawknife.  You can get a "carver's drawknife," with a shortish blade, from places like Lee Valley (like this).  If you want used, search That Auction Site for "small drawknife," but the current offerings are more expensive than retail, with less reliable sharpness.  There's something called a "pushknife," which is like a drawknife but with the handles in line with the blade; Gooooogle "pushknife woodworking" and do a bit of searching.

And don't ignore just a plain chisel; it takes practice, but you can do a lot with a chisel.

[mongo]

What are you trying to make.... perhaps we can offer better advice that way?

[wood2woodknot]

What are you trying to make.... perhaps we can offer better advice that way?

Project at hand is a set of large cherry kitchen utensils that I need to shape out of a large pieces of stock. I do not have a band saw and the stock is too big for my scroll saw. I have been using chisels and a box plane, as I did when I carved a 6 ft. canoe paddle last year. Would like to get some experience with a draw knife because there are places where a plane cannot go - as in transition areas. I have also used a spoke shave in places and find it handier than a chisel for some things. However, a spoke shave is also limited in some places, or unable to take bigger cuts. There are just some places I think its big brother, a draw knife, would be quicker and easier.

Push knives - actually the 3" Flexcut draw knife above is very much like a push knife in shape.

Basically just trying to broaden my horizons, learn new tools, new ways of doing things, find different advantages of various tools.

[GNP]

You can pick up a good vintage one at flea market for $20. Be as good or better than new.

[wood2woodknot]

You can pick up a good vintage one at flea market for $20. Be as good or better than new.

That was also in the back of my mind but it's not garage sale/flea market time yet and both the Woodcraft and Rockler stores are within 3 miles of me and readily available. Was looking for comments. Didn't want to go off on a dash and then find out they weren't the quality I was expecting.

[AHill]

I have the Flexcut drawknife and I'd say it's mostly for light duty and fine work. It's sharp as heck straight out of the box, but it's not something I'd use for more coarse work. For the more coarse work, I use either my Barr chair maker's drawknife (excellent!) or a vintage Witherby. Sometimes you need to aggressively split wood and use the handles to pry open a split in the wood you're working. That's not something the Flexcut will excel at. If you need to work tight curves, use a spokeshave or a rasp.

[fptahoe]

I have the Flexcut drawknife and I'd say it's mostly for light duty and fine work.  It's sharp as heck straight out of the box, but it's not something I'd use for more coarse work.  For the more coarse work, I use either my Barr chair maker's drawknife (excellent!) or a vintage Witherby.  Sometimes you need to aggressively split wood and use the handles to pry open a split in the wood you're working.  That's not something the Flexcut will excel at.  If you need to work tight curves, use a spokeshave or a rasp.

I just recently bought a Flexcut draw knife and used it to round out some hard maple, turning squared hard maple stock into round(ish) legs for a table my daughter wanted as I don't have a lathe.  I finished them with a spoke shave and sanding.  I was surprised how well the Flexcut worked, and yes, very sharp right out of the box.  I bought the smaller size and I also used it to make a wooden spoon for cooking and it worked great for that, too.  I think I paid about $32, or so.

[Bill_Houghton]

Ah.  Look at just plain knives.  Some of the carving knives might work, or a Sloyd knife.  Or a hooked knife.  Wander over to one of the websites and look around.  At Lee Valley's, for instance, the categories you want to explore are "knives" (here) and "hand carving" (here), plus "Haida carver's knife blades" (here).  Other retailers will offer a slightly different mix of the same sorts of knives.

[MichaelMouse]

Are flexible draw knives a good thing or a bad thing? I was looking for a small draw knife (never used a draw knife) to use with some hardwoods (cherry for my first effort). I saw Flexcut had a 3" and 5" one. Price was favorable, but then I read closer and both say "flexible blade" that can help follow the contours of the piece. Suddenly, that doesn't make sense to me. Makes me think "weak" blade. Will it hold its original shape? Is it more of a toy, just for small jobs and softer woods? Will it hold up?

Or am I better off with a traditional rigid blade?  at a steeper price (or a used one if I can find one)?

I don't have a good feeling about many of the Flexcut knives to begin with. Maybe I am just prejudiced. The only ones I would use would be the knives with fixed blades. The rest, like those with the interchangeable blades, seem like they are for lightweight carving.

Can anyone help me out?

I've got both a straight from Lee Valley and a couple old laminated steel types.  Hardly ever use the straight one as a draw or push - flexes,  For roughing, get a nice hatchet.  It's your miniature froe, your hogging blade, and, sometimes shrubbery trimmer.  

Will certainly do until you get a traditional.  They might come LARGE, if you're in lumber country.  Peeling pulpwood with those back when. 

You'll want a nice knife or two regardless. Mora my recommendation.