# Paul Beebe #11 Carving Knife for Lee Valley



## a1Jim

Great review and nice photos too.


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## DaleM

Looks nice. My main go to knife is a kitchen knife I cut down to length. The handle is cracked and I believe I overheated the steel when cutting it as it dulls rather quickly, so yeah, I need a new one. Since you said you have used all sorts of knives, I'm guessing you see this type of knife with a slightly curved cutting edge as being better than a straight edged, chip carving type knife, or do you see both as having advantages in different areas? Sorry, I'm on a very limited budget right now and I'm trying to get an idea for something rather inexpensive for Santa to bring me this year.


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## just_adam

Hi DaleM - I was vacillating between a straight edge and this slightly curved edge one, too. I'm not what you'd call an expert carver, so keep that in mind: I'm guessing what knife will work better depends on what kind of carving you plan to do most of.

For me, I wanted something that would be able to take very fine pieces of material off around compound curves. I've found straight edges can sometimes "get away from me" and end up removing more than I want, so I end up having to correct a too deep cut made.

I also want something that can trim "facets" of wood like to relieve a dovetail pin that is too tight, for instance. Here I typically have to remove a long, thin wafer of material if the pin/tail is too thick, or to trim some material of the "shoulder" of a dovetail if need be. For this type of maneuver, a straight edge might be easier to control (heck a pairing chisel might be the answer here), but I think I will be able to control this knife enough to make it happen.

So I guess my answer is to ask the Lee Valley guys. See what they think, and also maybe cruise around the forums on this site and see what people say. Regardless, I think you will be elated with the performance over your repurposed kitchen knife! That is pretty cool, by the way, I'd make a little shadow box for it and put it on display somewhere as a homage to "Necessity is the Mother of Invention"

Cheers, 
adam


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## DaleM

Adam, thanks for the reply. I will probably go with the curved knife too now that I think about it and I do have plenty of chisels, and my current knife, if I need a straight edge, or get a straight one later on if I think I still need it. I'm actually thinking more trash can than shadow box someday for my knife, but your'e probably right because I can't seem to throw anything away.


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## reggiek

Cool review. Nice knife…and great propeller

I have one of the murphy knives from little shavers and it works really great…plus you get free sharpening (you only have to pay postage) - I sharpen my own…but it's good to have in the background if I need. I am glad I bought their set of tools as I use them all the time for trimming, shaping and texturing….I am playing with carving (as said…it is nice to have a use for smaller pieces left over)....but I have a bit to go before I would consider myself a carver. (It's a problem when you have all kinds of interests but not enough time to explore them all….)


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