By Tim Stouffer, Piragis Northwoods Company and the Boundary Waters Catalog Creative Director
Art below and photos by Tim Stouffer
I often get asked via email or over the telephone when someone is placing an order about Flexcut carving tools. I first discovered them about 25 years ago when I was looking for something that didn’t hurt my hand. At the time I had a bad habit of gripping my tools too tightly. This was partially and mostly due to their narrow, straight handle shapes.
You can carve with the simplest of knives. A razor knife like a box cutter works. An old pocket knife works. A short blade, sharpened well, superglued into a dowel rod or an antler works. However, all of these will slip in the hand and each will become uncomfortable in the hand with long use. Depending on the steel they are made with, they will also be hard to sharpen.
Not only are Flexcut Carving Tools sharp when you purchase them, they are easy to keep sharp. One of the best features of Flexcut tools are the ergonomically shaped wooden handles. They don’t shift in your hands while using. They have a much smaller tail that allows your hand to close around them naturally, especially with your last two smaller fingers.
What Kind of Carving Projects?
I begin with roughing knives to take off the most wood. Then I follow up with different shapes of the more delicate detail knives. All of these are very durable. Flexcut carving tools are designed to meet a variety of wood carving, wood cut print and linocut print cutting needs. The best advice for Flexcut maintenance is to clean and take the time to sharpen your knives so that they are always at their best before your next use.
I hand carve and create fishing lures and darkhouse spear fishing decoys. I also make folk art carvings, Christmas ornaments, woodcut art and linocuts for printing. This blog has a lot of pictures because I wanted to inspire you to use your Flexcut carving tools in new ways. I use these tools predominantly on softer woods like white cedar or basswood. They work very well on hardwoods like walnut, butternut and mahogany. I’ve carved some oak and old hardwoods too.
Examples of Carvings
Like all of our canoe camping gear, we are proud to use all of the items we sell in the Boundary Waters Catalog. This allows us personal knowledge of each of our products. This makes sense to us. Why would you buy something from someone that knows nothing about it? This is true of the smallest piece of camping equipment to technical gear and the sharpest axe. I personally have used and continue to use Flexcut Carving Tools on nearly a weekly basis.
Here are the beginnings of some projects. If you look close, you’ll be able to see later in the blog what they turned into.
The Art of Fish Decoys
Several years ago, the Minneapolis Star Tribune published an article about my creations and collections. I was surprised to find out that many people in Minnesota (let alone other parts of the country) had never heard of Darkhouse Spearing and fish decoys. They’d never sat over a big hole in the ice in the dark and watched Northern Pike swim in because they were curious of a swimming fish decoy. They were admirable of the functional sport as an art form though and as something to be collected and displayed at cabins or homes.
It is very satisfying to keep the centuries old craft and practice, not to mention the sport, alive and still kicking. It sure is an experience to catch or spear a fish after using a lure or decoy that you have created yourself!
Where do I start?
There are several beginning sets I would recommend that are very economically priced. After that, if you find yourself in need of advanced and more detailed tools, we have those as well. Flexcut Carving Tools make great gifts and we often sell more during the holiday seasons!
Are they worth the investment?
Flexcut tools for carving are as nearly perfect designed as tool can be.
— Affordably priced per tool.
— Extremely comfortable to use.
— Sharp
— Easy to sharpen
— Durable and Versatile
— Travel easily
— Multiple use
Show us some finished creations!
Woodcuts for Art Prints
While you do need to use gouges or chisel points (Palm Knives/Palm tools) for some wood carving projects they have other specific uses. They are fantastic tools that provide excellent control for carving wood blocks and linoleum for printing purposes. From the finest detailed “v” gouges to extra wide palm tools, Flexcut Carving Tools meet all your needs.
We’ve even used them in the initial creation of art that graces two of our most popular coffee mugs here at the Boundary Waters Catalog. When we told you Flexcut Carving Tools had multi use applications, we weren’t kidding. (original art by Simon Stouffer)
Woodcut Owl Mug click here Loon Lake Mug click here
Click mugs above to purchase.
Thanks for reading, please comment about your experience with Flexcut Carving Tools.
