One of the great things about picking up a new hobby is the great gear that goes with it. With my thirst for woodcarving gear in full swing, I came across this sweet Mora draw knife. To the uninitiated it may appear to be an amusing assembly line accident. What it really represents is a recently constructed version of a very old tool.
As you might imagine, this blade works a little differently than some of the knives you might use in day-to-day shop use. It really only does one thing — it strips wood very quickly by placing it near the top end of the wood and pulling or drawing the blade down. If the edge is keen, everything in between the handles gets a very smooth shave.
It works a great deal like a spokeshave (which is used to do exactly what it sounds like it would) but doesn’t have a preset gap so much more material can be taken off in one pass at a time with a draw knife — plus it’s a bit harder for a beginner to do precision work with one.
This Mora does have a double bevel edge dissimilar to other draw blades I’ve run across in my travels. It might have been that it was used before it got to me, but the edge itself was very dull and little more than a stick before we handed it to the Toolmonger sharpener. It can now slice through hardwood without any trouble and seems to be holding its edge just fine.
It’s not the best or biggest draw knife, but for the kind of carving projects I’m undertaking it’s about the fastest way to de-bark a limb I’ve found. The blade was an $8 find from the depths of eBay, but normally a 4 3/8″ knife like this would run about $20 retail.
Woodcutting Knife [Mora]
Street Pricing [Google Products]
