Thoughts on Vesper Joinery Knife

[Tony Wilkins]

I’m thinking of getting a Vesper Joinery knife as a larger, “heavy duty” marking knife for dados etc where I want something a little beefier. My current largest marking knife is the larger of the two sizes of Blue Spruce. Thoughts/experiences with it?

[Dominik Dudkiewicz]

I have one of Chris' large marking knives, along with a super thin Cohen knife, and think you would not be dissapointed - I love mine. Comfortable to hold, blade takes and holds an edge well, blade is nice and solid / stiff and in my opinion looks great - what more do you need from a marking knife. I also have a blue spruce regular knife and really like the weight of the resin handle and it's a perfect in between size, between the cohen knife and the large Vesper joinery knife.

Cheers, Dom

[Bruce Haugen]

It bears an amazing resemblance to Patrick Leach’s layout knife

[J. Greg Jones]

It bears an amazing resemblance to Patrick Leach’s layout knife

Patrick says that his layout knife is a copy of a knife that was made sometime in the late 1800s/early 1900s.

[Jim Koepke]

From my own experience it is helpful to have different marking knives for different kinds of work.

My marking knives are shop made. One is some what light weight being made from a piece of saw blade. The other is quite a bit heavier being made from a plane blade.

IMO, you will likely find a heavier knife beneficial on many joinery projects.

jtk

[Derek Cohen]

I’m thinking of getting a Vesper Joinery knife as a larger, “heavy duty” marking knife for dados etc where I want something a little beefier. My current largest marking knife is the larger of the two sizes of Blue Spruce. Thoughts/experiences with it?

Hi Tony

I guess I should add a little. I do not have a financial interest in anything that Chris Vesper does, but he is a good friend and he makes a range of knives I designed (and, no, I do not make a dime from this).

The Cohen knives and scratch awls are similar and essentially equivalent to the Blue Spruce knives and scratch awls. The one knife that is different, and as far as I know Chris Vesper is the only one that makes this, is the ultra thin bladed Cohen knife mentioned by Dominik (above). This is the only knife I know of that slips into a single kerf tail to transfer it to the pin board.

There are two heavy duty knives made by Chris. They have the same V-blade, but there is a choice of short- and long handle. I think that most would plump for the long handle as it has more leverage. I have both, and would go for the long handle if only choosing one. The blade on this knife is about 1/8" thick (from memory), with a wide bevel, and thus easy to sharpen. The V-blade allows for left- and right handed use. The knife excels not just for scoring deeply, such as tenon shoulders, but also can act as a chisel for cutting a knife line or clearing the corner of a dovetail socket.

Now this is a larger knife. It is larger than the Patrick Leach knife. It is larger than the Blue Spruce or Cohen knives.







These are the Cohen knife/scratch awl and the two Joinery knives compared for size ...

• Curly Maple, Tiger Myrtle, Hairy Oak. Mid Range
  
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Regards from Perth

Derek