Detail Pencil Knives

Making your own carving knives is a relatively simple process. All you need are a few scraps of hardwood and a couple of hardened steel knife blanks. Most of the work is in the blade preparation. You’ll have to cut the steel to length and shape and hone it – all without losing the steel’s temper. However, if you work with a cup of water close at hand and continually quench the blade, you shouldn’t have any problems. Lately I’ve started to do my grinding on a Tormek wet grinder. While it’s a little slower, I have greater control over the grinding process and the blade never blues.

I started to make these detail pencil knives because I couldn’t find a tool that was comfortable to use when I wanted something more than an X-acto blade but less than a standard carving knife.