Bud Murray  ~ budmurray9@gmail.com ~ is well known for his quality carving knives and tools that he has been making for many years. It has been my pleasure to recommend his knives that he has made according to my design because each knife is a great carving tool. Each knife is made one at a time by the hand and creative eye of Bud who puts pride in each tool he makes as if he was making it for himself. If fact that is how it all began with making tools for his own use and after others tried his own personal knife, the orders for custom made knives grew into a custom knife making business one knife at a time.

Recently Bud has been experimenting with new tool steel that will hold a sharp cutting edge for a long, long time. He made a knife for me out of the new steel to field test for him which was used in carving the hillbilly figure in the photos. From start to finish the new steel preformed with extreme sharpness and remained so throughout the entire carving project. This new Premium Knife is the real deal. Even though his original knives and gouges remain super carving tools, yet the new Premium Knife is well worth the extra cost for any carver who would like a knife to retains its sharpness over a long period of use before requiring the use of a strop.

The new Premium Knife as well as other Bud Murray tools can be ordered through his catalog printed below with information on how to contact him. NOTE: Email has changed to: budmurray9@gmail.com 

Bud Murray’s Custom Carving Knives ~  1490 Thunder Mountain Road   Camdenton, MO 65020 ~ e-mail  budmurray9@gmail.com         Phone 573-346-7321

Handles are made of walnut or chinaberry, hand sanded and rubbed with tung oil. Then several coats of paste wax are rubbed in to bring a fine luster to the wood. Handle “A” has finger grooves to give you a comfortable fit. You also know as soon as you pick up the knife, where the sharp edge is. Handle “B” has no grooves, as a lot of people prefer a plain handle. However I have put a notch on the forward right hand side of the handle. With your index finger in the notch you can tell where the sharp edge is.

All knives are totally hand made of high quality steel. This steel will hold an edge much longer than your average knife. You must, however, stop occasionally and strop the knife to keep a razor sharp edge. Because all knives are totally handmade, they may vary slightly from the picture shown. Gouges are subject to the same thing. I do not mic. Anything; if it is closer to 1/8” than 3/16” then I send it out as a 1/8” gouge. Close works for me.   If you are not satisfied with this product for any reason, return it within 30 days for a full refund or exchange. See page 4. For shipping and handling fees. Please allow 3 to 4 weeks for delivery.

Stropping my knives might vary from that of other knives, as the bevel is from the front of the blade to the back of the blade. Therefore you must lay the blade flat on the strop, and with medium pressure draw it away from the sharp edge. When you reach the end of the stroke, raise the blade straight up. This will prevent rolling the edge and dulling the knife. Do this several times on each side of the blade. Be sure, however, that you are raising the blade straight up. Check your knife to see how it cuts; if it still isn’t cutting right repeat the process again. This should keep your knife in good shape. The sides of the blade should be flat, the flatter the better. A high spot will keep the cutting edge from making contact with the wood and give the illusion that your knife is dull. I try to get the sides of my blades as flat as possible. This makes for a better cutting knife.

Remember stropping is not the same as sharpening. It is a polishing procedure only. However, I and many of my customers find that we can get by for months by only stropping our knives. I hardly ever do anything else to my knife, unless I do something stupid like dropping it. Then you must give it some serious attention.   I use a sandpaper strop on my knives. It is about 13 Inches long, with a sandpaper surface of 9” by 1 ½” It Is rubber backed and double sided. Side one is 600 grit wet or dry sandpaper; side two is 2000 grit wet or dry sandpaper. The sandpaper is put on with double sided carpet tape. Just trim and remove the excess tape, place sand paper on the tape and trim it to fit. A leather strop will work as well; I just prefer the sandpaper.