Flexcut VS BeaverCraft Knife Showdown - Which Set is Best for Beginner Whittling & Wood Carving?

welcome back to woodcrafter's corner where we talk about all things woodcrafting but not a ton about corners in today's video we're going to be doing a head-to-head battle between two of quite possibly the most popular carving knives at least that i've come across the beaver craft which is perfect for beginners which i've already reviewed by the way and the flex cut which is kind of the gold standard if you will for intermediate and beginners alike also did a review on that one by the way so here they are as you can see they're very similar this is of course just one example of the three knives that come in each kit but today we're going to be diving into a little bit more detail about what comes with each what the pros and cons are and ultimately how one stacks up against the other the results probably won't surprise you but you might as well stick around anyway and of course if you prefer a written review be sure to check out my website at woodcrafterscorner.com but for now let's get right into it so here it is the ultimate showdown on this side we have beavercraft the budget friendly whittling set and then on this side we have flex cut which as far as i'm concerned is one of the more premium brands you can get especially as a beginner and honestly one of the more popular ones even amongst long-time whittling wood carving veterans so over here again budget friendly over here just a little bit more but we're going to see how they stack up today is it really worth going with a flex cut with the extra cost involved or would it be better to stick with the beavercraft especially if you're just starting out let's find out so let's begin with the detail blade and we're just going to do a visual comparison here so as you can see i'll just turn it like this so as you can see these are very similar you'll notice that the beaver craft on top is its handle is just a little bit bigger but if we turn it like this i personally definitely prefer the way flex cut does our handle it's just a little bit wider here where your fingers are going to rest while you're holding it and i don't know if you can see this on camera but the beaver craft has just the slightest ridge there you go you can kind of see it there which the flex cut is pretty well perfectly rounded that does make it just ever so slightly more comfortable to hold like this especially for long periods of time than the beaver craft while we're on the handle might as well talk about this the flex cut and the beaver craft both use an ash handle where the difference comes into play is that flex cut uses some kind of laminate over the top you can kind of see the difference in how shiny it is and you can definitely feel a difference too like this one has that wood grain texture and this one is almost perfectly smooth so take that as you will some people prefer the smoother texture some people prefer the rougher one i do actually like having something a little more grippy i guess you could say which is what the beaver craft does but i do prefer the shape overall of the flex cut so for longer term whittling sessions this is ultimately more comfortable so keep that in mind now in terms of the blade itself you can see that they're very similar in shape and size they're a little bit different though in terms of size so the detail blade on the beaver craft here is 1.38 inches and the detail blade here on the flex cut is one and a half inches so just a slight difference there but nothing major so that kind of wraps it up there we'll set that aside now let's move on to the roughing blade which both have as well so again beaver craft on top and as you can see it's just a little bit bigger so the beaver craft uses a 1.97 inch long blade where the roughing blade on the flex cut is one and three quarters inches so just a small difference now what you might notice here and i don't know if you can see it again on camera maybe i might turn it this way the flex cut is a thinner blade uh so that's actually it's good because this makes it a lot easier to glide through wood especially in a roughing blade when you're pushing through larger chunks i mean it's not a huge difference but it is it is noticeable so this one is a little bit thicker which i think is partly a compromise on beavercraft's part because the blade is just a little less uh overall durable so we might as well talk about the steel while we're at it so both knives use a high carbon steel flex cut uses 1095 spring steel which is quite a bit more durable and overall more robust they also have this black coating over the top near the top half i should say which helps prevent against corrosion and rust now i will say since both types of steel are high carbon rust is a problem no matter what but hopefully your whittling blades will not be in contact with a ton of water so take that as you will the beaver craft on the other hand uses a 65g according to beavercraft which is again also a high carbon steel it's not necessarily as durable as the 1095 spring steel that flexcut uses so what that means is that you'll find yourself having to sharpen the beavercraft knives just a little bit more often than you will to flex cut especially to keep them as razor sharp as whittlers and wood carvers usually prefer myself included so i find myself having to hone this with a strop usually about every 20 minutes or so whereas this one it's usually about every 45 minutes or so so i mean it's not a huge difference but that just comes down to the difference in the quality of the steel rockwell hardness for these so interestingly enough this is between 56 and 59 on the rockwell hardness scale now that is according to beavercraft themselves whereas this one is between 55 and 58 and again that is according to flex cut directly so that is an interesting difference i have noticed needing to sharpen these a little bit more often but on the rockwell hardness scale this one is actually better now they do give a range of hardness so it is possible that these are consistent more consistently on the high end of that scale whereas these are more consistently on the low end it's hard to say maybe different batches are different but what i can say is that i have noticed a difference in how often that i have to sharpen or hone these so do with that information as you will next up we have the cutting blade versus the chip blade so flex cut calls this a cutting blade and beaver craft is clear that this is a chip blade now obviously chip carving is a different style than whittling i don't actually do a ton of that myself at all actually so i can't really speak to how well this works for that purpose but given the quality overall of the other blades and i have used this just as a regular wiggling knife sometimes you want to get in there sometimes around facial features and you don't want that pointed tip that the other two have and so the fact that this one's a little bit shorter can make it a little bit easier in some cases so i've used it for that and it works great nothing bad to say about it there the flex cut is obviously quite a bit longer so this is a one inch blade here from beavercraft and this one is one and a quarter so uh one and a quarter inches so it's a little bit more in terms of length now you may notice that uh on all of the knives there's this hole around where the blade is inserted into the handle on the beaver craft whereas there's one here of course but it's been filled in so there is a little bit extra durability included in that so that's something to keep in mind as well so i'm not 100 sure if you can compare these directly i would say it's very similar uh in terms of length and i assume that the blunted end here could be used similarly for a chip carving knife on the flex cut so i've used both for different applications but not for chip carving so somebody who has maybe let me know in the comments and let me know how the how these stack up for that specifically but for everyday carving and also just how it glides through the wood they both work really well and again you'll notice that the beaver craft is thicker than the flex cut so again just do with that which you will but the thinner blade for me is a lot easier to use so there you have it every blade lined up together and kind of compared one with the other we've seen some of the differences so let's move right into talking about the conclusion and which one i'd recommend and why all right so what's the final verdict beaver craft versus flex cut of course you're probably not surprised to learn that the flex cut while costing a little bit more is a more premium tool whereas the beaver craft while costing a little bit less gives you a little more bang for your buck if you're a beginner of course the fact that the beavercraft comes with several accessories that you probably will need anyway right in the box means that it's perfect for somebody who's just starting out wanting to test the waters of this hobby and see if it's for them whereas the flex cut may include a little bit less in the box but the knives themselves are much higher quality they're going to last longer they hold their edge a little better and overall they're just going to be a more intermediate tool that will grow with your skills as you progress as a whittler and a woodcarver so it really just depends on where you are in your whittling journey the beavercraft will be perfect for you if you're just starting out and they'll last you a good long time and they'll adapt to your skill level for quite a while but if you're looking for something more premium that's going to be able to keep up with you in the more detailed the more intricate projects if you will the flex cut is probably the better option and overall it's just a better feel so if you're willing to spend a little bit more on the flex cut in my opinion it's well worth it but starting out with the beaver craft is not a bad way to go so the ultimate winner between the two probably isn't surprising to anybody the flex cut is better built higher quality and just overall a better knife whereas the beaver craft is a good beginners tool and it'll probably get you through a while but still overall the flex cut is the ultimate winner now of course i've done detailed reviews about the flex cut and the beaver craft which you can find on this channel and if you again prefer the written version be sure to check out woodcrafterscorner.com which as you might have guessed is a website i hope to see you there and i hope to see you in the next video thanks for watching

Channel: Woodcrafter's Corner

Views: 43,349

Keywords: whittling knife, best whittling knife, best whittling knife for beginners, whittling knife for beginners, whittling knife reviews, wood carving knife, whittling, whittling for beginners, whittling knives, whittling knife brands, best wood carving knife, wood carving knives, whittling knives for beginners, best whittling kit for beginners, best whittling knives, best wood carving knives, flexcut carving tools

Id: IAQYESG6NiE

Length: 9min 57sec (597 seconds)

Published: Tue Jun 01 2021