I'm kind of surprised that I'm the first reviewer of these knives.The Wayne Barton method of chip carving is typically considered the best by the majority of chip carvers.These knives are American made replicas of the swiss-made knives that he has used for years.
These are the only two knives that he uses for all of his work, and if you haven't seen his work I would recommend that you buy a couple of his books or at least google his name to find some examples.You'll be impressed.
These chip knives are extremely sturdy.The blade steel runs all the way through the hardwood handle which adds heft and balance to the tool.They arrive already sharpened and only require about 5 minutes of honing to be razor sharp.I recommend the 8000 grit ceramic stone that he endorses.I bought the 800 grit that he also endorses, but it gets very little use from me since the steel holds it's edge very well and only requires a little polishing every so often with the 8000 grit to retain it's keen edge.
Overall, these are great chip carving knives.The only reason I gave them 4 stars instead of 5 was because the blade steel on the stab knife was not correctly ground down to match the hardwood handle exactly.There was just enough steel sticking up above the wood that it was uncomfortable.I know that this is nitpicky, and it only took me a minute to fix with my bench grinder and sandpaper, but I shouldn't have had to.For $50 I expect perfection.I know that's rare in this age, but call me old fashioned.Still, these are great knives and I expect them to outlive me.
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SET OF W.B. CHIP CARVING KNIVESProduct Description: These chip carving knives are some of the finest available, and are the only two knives used by Wayne Barton to produce world class work. The blades are high carbon alloy steel tempered to hold a razor edge and are polished to a mirror finish. Handles are made from laminated hardwoods, and will last a lifetime with reasonable care. Made in the USA to Wayne Barton's specifications. Each knife comes protected by its own plastic container.
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Everything about the product description is accurate except calling these round files.I was looking for files to sharpen some expensive hardened hole saws, like doing a chain saw, but these don't work well for this job.The diameters stated really are for the final approximate 10% of each file.All of them taper down to basically needle point tips, and since they are fairly short to begin with, you are lucky to get maybe 1/2" of real round sizing.The grit is pretty good and seems to stay on the stick just fine.If you want needle files, these would probably meet your needs.
