Halloween Discussion Forums, Costumes, Horror!

Are there any special knives people would recommend for very detailed pumpkin carving?

... that depends entirely upon what you mean by "detailed"... and how you plan to carve.

Are we talking sculpting? Traditional carving? Partial traditional, partial sculpting? The tools of the trade vary depending on what you want to do. I use everything from wood gouges and dremels to the pumpkin masters tools. Might use those clay sculpting wire-looking tools too... if I ever buy 'em.

Ohh.... I do remember my youngest brother picked up the knife, and saying "I'm going to stab it through your throat!" He's really insane! He's really Azz-hole!

I have some very small-bladed paring knives that I use for detail work. They came in a pack of four, with plastic handles (one red, one green, one yellow, one blue) and you can find them in the knife section of most stores that sell kitchen stuff. They are really sharp, have just the right amount of flex, and don't get caught in the tough pumpkin skin.

For bigger cuts (like taking off the top), I like a good, heavy duty serrated steak knife, with a rigid blade and very tiny, very sharp teeth.

MacPhantom wrote:I have some very small-bladed paring knives that I use for detail work. They came in a pack of four, with plastic handles (one red, one green, one yellow, one blue) and you can find them in the knife section of most stores that sell kitchen stuff. They are really sharp, have just the right amount of flex, and don't get caught in the tough pumpkin skin.

For bigger cuts (like taking off the top), I like a good, heavy duty serrated steak knife, with a rigid blade and very tiny, very sharp teeth.

Are they really good? Great for carving pumpkins?

Yes, yes they are. They are really good. Really, really good. And also quite great for carving pumpkins, too. Really, really, REALLY great.

Mac, got a pic or a link where I can see the best knives?

Pumpkin_Man wrote:I also, believe it or not, have a power tool designed for carving pumpkins. This thing is powered by 2 "AA" batteries and dies a pretty good job on larger eyes and the nose, but for more intricate carving, it's no good at all. For those kind of jobs you really need to use one of the smaller tools.

Is this the dremel one?

I just started a seperate thread asking about it before seeing this.

We were thinking about getting a power tool this year.

I think I will get one now & get some better small knives for the more intricate carving. The one we're using at the moment is the little saw that get's sold in the supermarkets every year over here. Infact i'm amazed about how ours look so good just using that!

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I saw a nice set of sculpting tools at Micheal's the other day. This would be for sculpting, not carving a pumpkin. Been wanting to try that, probably won't have time this year.

supermau5 wrote:Are there any special knives people would recommend for very detailed pumpkin carving?

What I recommend is:

1) Buy a #2 xacto Knife - The FAT One
2) Buy X-acto Key hole Saw Blades.







It's like the Pumpkin Masters Saw, on Steroids - LOL
Much Sharper, Bigger (now Pen Size).

One Blade will last a very Long Time, I carved over 100 Pumpkins using the same saw blade.

I have over $5,000.00 worth of custom combat/fighting and hunting knives. I couldn't carve one of those special faces to save my life. I buy the pumpkin and buy the stencil set, and then I pay someone to do it for me.

I know. I'm useless. I'll go crawl under a rock now.

Had a guy on TV last year that was even using a chain saw and blow torch to do his pumpkins.