Crooked Knife Specifications and Pricing

Here are the profiles of the blades we make.  Buy a blade and assemble your own knife or choose a ready-to-carve tool.  These blades have nice flowing lines without hard spots.  All "standard" blades are flat on their bottom, with bevel on top. They are very long angle cutting tools, and get quite thin towards the tip because they taper in both width and thickness. Because the blades are bend by hand one at a time, there can be some variance in final shape, but typically not much. The blades in the picture above have a “flat” ground into the bevel to leave a wider bit of bright steel so you can better see the shape of the curve. It was hard to get a straight on shot, but hopefully you get the idea!

The micro blades (8,9 and 10) are sweet little flakes of steel for "surgical" wood removal.  These are difficult blades to make.  Keep razor sharp and slice, do not pry!  These blades are perfect for 2-D relief work in Cedar, like formline, as well as detail and finish cuts on any carving.

When you first get your crooked knife, you may want to mark the blade number on the underside of the haft with a wood burner or carved initial or some other means.  This will identify the knife without having to remove the hose guard, as well as remind you of what blade you have if someone else asks or you need to order another blade.  Add an owner's mark as well.

I do not offer an option for handle wood material. Typically they come in eastern hard rock Maple, and sometimes I mix things up with some black Walnut and European Beech.

The smaller knives (numbered 1-10) come with a proportionally smaller handle, which feels good in the hand when doing fine, light cuts and reminds you that you have a smaller more delicate knife in your hand… remember not to pry, especially with the tip! If it gets dug into the wood, back it out and try from a different angle or with less pressure, don’t force it.

Happy carving, and watch your runout!

Specs & Prices

These prices are subject to change (prices in chart below are not current, they’re from about 7 years ago). Right now we charge $100 for a crooked knife blade, and $125 for a complete knife.

Reverse-bevel Crooked Knives

Years ago we made some reverse-bevel knives for Rick Beasley, a fine artist of Tlingit heritage. I made a reverse knife for myself at the same time but never quite gave it a chance until Steve Brown came to help on the shop frontal pole and started singing the praises of his reverse-bevel knife. I brought out my old reverse-bevel no-so-crooked knife and tried it out. I don't know how I could have gotten by without it, especially carving the background areas on this pole. Reversing the bevel gives in essence a narrower blade, which can improve performance by making tighter radii without chatter. The angle of the knife's approach is at a tilt of about 15° off flat. This means it is better at reaching into tight spaces. For backgrounding on a pole, the A/X B/X not-so-crookeds are superb. In spite of all this praise, I do not recommend you complicate your life unnecessarily. These tools are more difficult to control than the standard tools. Most carvers still use inside bevel tools for 90% of their carving.