Most carvers have more than one carving knife and if the truth would be known, we carvers have in unquenchable thirst for accumulating carving knives.  Among the several carving knives that a carver uses, which one is a cut above all the others?  Which knife maker makes the better knife is sometimes a question asked as the search goes on for the best knife.

From among my Knife Favorites of custom made knives I choose four to use in a carving experiment in what I call the BATTLE OF THE KNIVES.  Each knife made by a custom knife maker will be used to carve the entire figure of a Sea Captain.

The four knives in the photographs above represent the four contestants in the BATTLE OF THE KNIVES.  Each knife represents a custom knife maker.  Each knife is positioned in front of a one inch square by six inch tall basswood block of wood that has the basic form of  the head of a Sea Captain carved.

The four knife contestants are knives made by Bud Murray, Bob Barts, David Notto and David Lyons.  Each Sea Captain figure will be carved using a knife or two by the knife makers named.  One exception will be an additional knife with a very narrow blade will be used to under cut around the sextant.  The other exception is that a Gil Drake detail knife was used to help the Murray knife.

These photographs represent the finished carvings of the Four Sea Captains to give an idea of the destination of the carving process.  The first things carved on the Sea Captain is his hat and then his head fitting into the hat.  After the hat and head are carved to the basic form, then the rest of the body can be laid out.

A Sea Captain is characterized by his uniform and a sextant in one hand and a map in the other.  A Sextant is an ancient instrument used to measure the altitude of a celestial object above the horizon to chart the course on a map.

Sea Captain Murray was carved almost exclusively with a Bud Murray knife with some detail carving done with a Gil Drake knife (the one in front of first photo).

Both Bob Barts knives were used to carve Sea Captain Barts.

When the cap and head of Sea Captain Notto were carved in the first photo above, he sported a tobacco pipe.  In the carving process where the bottom of the pipe was attached to the coat lapel it did not match up properly, so the pipe was carved away.  Carving design changes often have to be made during the carving process.

Dave Lyons knives were used to carve Sea Captain Lyons.

These five photographs are a study of the sextant.  The first stage is to draw the outline guidelines of a sextant and then begin caving the sextant to its basic form.  Of course the hand holding the sextant is also carved to form.  The inside of the sextant requires a narrow bladed knife blade to carve gently in the tight areas.  A narrow detail knife made by Charles Berold was used on all the Sea Captains to under cut in and around the sextant.

These four photographs study the development of the hand holding the map and the carving of the shoes.  The next series of photographs will show four views of the face and head of each of the Sea Captains, Murray, Barts, Notto and Lyons.

All of these facial study photographs show the details of facial features.  But even more so they come to the same conclusion as this carver that each knife preformed equally with the others.  Each is a superior carving knife evident by the end result.

Custom knife makers are special people who give their heart and creativity to making excellent carving knives.  So my Thanks to Bud Murray, Bob Barts, David Notto, Dave Lyons, Gil Drake and Charles Berold and all the other fine knife makers for making their knives a “Cut Above.”