In my quest for a more enjoyable printmaking experience, I decided to look into upgrading my carving tools. Like with the wooden spoon I talked about here, I’ve been using the same student-grade carving tools I learned on. In particular, I’ve been using the Speedball linoleum cutters.

The Speedball cutter has a plastic handle with interchangeable blades in various shapes and sizes. The cutters do get dull eventually and you can either try and sharpen them a few times with a sharpening stone or just toss the blade and replace it with a new one. The replacement blades are fairly inexpensive and both the handle and the blades are relatively easy to find.

I don’t have any major issues with the Speedball cutters. They work well enough and the handle has a little storage compartment for the blades, which makes it compact and easy to store.  But, I thought, why not try something new?

For my first excursion into the realm of new carving tools, I got the Flexcut Lino and Relief printmaking set. It’s not hugely expensive, but still a bit of a shock compared to the Speedball cutter. The set comes with four interchangeable blades of various sizes and shapes, one handle, a tool roll to hold the pieces, and a wooden strop and polishing compound for sharpening the blades.

Well, I tried them out and… I hate them. Absolutely detest them. I was so disappointed; the reviews were decent and they looked like they’d work well. Now, you might have a very different opinion—they’re a popular choice so it’s clear that many people Do like them. But I’ll tell you why I dislike them so much.

First, while they start off nice and sharp and carve through the linoleum well, they don’t seem to hold an edge well at all. I found myself having to hone them every few strokes in order to keep them cutting easily. The Speedball cutters definitely seem to hold an edge better. But that may just be a difference in the sharpness of the tools. Perhaps a slight dulling of the Flexcut tools is more apparent than with the Speedball cutter, since the Flexcut ones are sharper to start with.

Second, the handle shape and size doesn’t work for me. At all. I had to hold my hand and wrist at an awkward angle that I quickly became excruciating (I injured my wrist way back when I was a teenager, and it still give me quite a bit of trouble, so the ergonomics of my tools is very important). The handle doesn’t look all that different in size compared to the Speedball cutter handle, but clearly, it’s different enough to be an issue for me. I found the least painful way of holding the tool was to put the blade in so that the handle was upside down—there’s a curve to it so that if fits in your palm better. I got a better angle with the ‘underside’ against my palm. It was still painful, but less so.

Another thing to take into consideration is that, while the blades are interchangeable, they fit Very tightly into the handle. While this means they’re not going to accidentally come loose, it does make it quite tricky to change the blade. Patience and a fair bit of hand strength is required. On a side note, it appears that you can purchase different styles of handle that fit the blades, so that’s an option I might look into in the future. The handles are fairly expensive though.

I don’t think I’ll be using these tools again since they simply don’t work for me. For now, it’s back to my trusty old Speedball cutters. But, I’ll definitely keep searching. There are so many different styles of carving tools; something has to work!

Now, don’t let my review scare you away from trying the Flexcut Lino and Relief printmaking set if you’re so inclined. Like I said, there are plenty of good reviews, so it works for a lot of people. And if you do try it, let me know what you think!

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