Drawknives for Bow Making | Sharpening, Recommendations, and my Vintage Collection

Which drawknives should you buy or avoid? Sharpening tips, tricks, and show and tell with my massive collection.

0:00 Introduction
0:30 Kirschen 10" Straight Drawknife
3:20 Narex 240mm Curved Drawknife
5:12 L&IJ White #6 Cooper's Drawknife
6:40 Barton Unknown Model Drawknife
8:59 Kirschen 10" Curved Drawknife
13:24 Oxhead 10" Curved Drawknife
18:45 Oxhead 10" Straight Drawknife
21:43 L&IJ White Timber Framing Drawknife
24:54 DR Barton #16 Timber Framing Drawknife
25:52 Unknown Vintage: My Dad's Drawknife
28:12 Barton #9
30:03 Swan Drawknives
30:18 Morakniv Wood Splitting Drawknife (Not recommended)
31:57 Flexcut 3" Drawknife (Not recommended)
33:56 Felled 5" Drawknife (Not recommended)
38:53 Sharpening Checklist
43:42 Sharpening Example



Oxhead 10” Curved drawknife https://amzn.to/3SOw2OX
Oxhead 10” Straight Drawknife https://amzn.to/3dh4qBR

Kirschen 10” Straight Drawknife (New model, the one in the video is the old model) (the Oxhead is very similar and a better price) Kirschen 10” Straight Drawknife https://amzn.to/3QIia74

My main drawknife: Kirschen 10” Curved Drawknife (I recommend the Oxhead curved drawknife instead. I think they might be the same knife and the Oxhead is much cheaper.)
https://amzn.to/3QIia74

Whetstones

King 1000/6000 grit combination whetstone https://amzn.to/3Ccf4nM
King 800 grit whetstone https://amzn.to/3dhpvvZ
King 220 grit course whetstone https://amzn.to/3QK9AVF
Dan's Arkansas Stone 3 piece set (no affiliation) https://amzn.to/3AmKMh7
Tormek honing compound for stropping https://amzn.to/3w2fhq5
Leather strop (these are very easy to make, but here's a link for the lazy) https://amzn.to/3bZvHIG


NOT Recommended. Don’t Buy the following. See alternate recommendations:

Narex 240mm Curved Drawknife (A good drawknife but the bevel is way too steep for my taste, so I can’t recommend it. Great for debarking. Either Oxhead knife is a better purchase.) https://amzn.to/3AjSokd

Flexcut 3” Drawknife https://amzn.to/3SLhuQn (Instead buy a Mora 120 or 106 https://amzn.to/3JPMgn8, https://amzn.to/3Qpcnnp)

Morakniv Classic Wood Splitting Drawknife https://amzn.to/3bQ0CYa (I love most of Mora’s knives—the 106 is one of my all time favorite tools—but the drawknife is simply not recommendable.)

Felled 5” Drawknife (Worst I’ve ever used. I don’t recommend any drawknife of this style. For $10 more you can buy a serious drawknife such as the Oxhead, which will last generations) https://amzn.to/3phw9VO