An excellent knife for shop work is a sloyd knife. A good shoe-knife will do very well. This is better for shop work than a jack-knife. It will not close on your fingers for one thing. For general purposes, however, a pocket-knife is the best thing, as you cannot carry a sloyd knife around with you. In buying it get a good plain knife with not more than two or three blades and of the best steel you can nfford. Do not waste money in trying to get your whole kit of tools into the compass of one jackknife handle. In selecting a knife, open the blades and sight along the back to see that each blade is accurately in line with the handle, as they are sometimes fastened at a slight angle, which weakens the knife.

An immense variety of work can be done with a common pocket- or jack-knife, which is the best emergency tool for either the beginner or the skilled workman. One great thing about whittling is that you cannot rely on squares, rules, or compasses to get your work right, but must be independent, think quickly, look sharply, and rely on your own faculties. A knife is so easy to sharpen that there is not much excuse for using a dull one. See Sharpening.

In cutting, always keep your left hand behind the blade, and as a general rule cut from you, for the tool may slip and cut you instead of the wood. There are cases where you have to cut towards you, but there is never any need of getting your left hand in front of the cutting-edge.