Recommended by our good friend Christopher Schwarz of Lost Art Press and covered in some detail on his American Peasant Substack (a very worthwhile subscription), the race knife/timber scribe is a very tight-sweep gouge attached to a knife-like handle. Many of the symbols cut into Eastern European vernacular pieces use tools that are similar to a race knife or are indeed a race knife. The tool is used against a scrap of wood to make a straight line, or it can be used against a curved pattern to make arcs. The timber scribe also goes by other names such as: scriber; race knife; scorer; scrieve or scrive hook; scriving knife; skiven iron; raze knife. These are made in Germany by the same folks that provide our pocket knives. They are fit with a sapele handle and sport a C75 carbon steel blade with a 7mm arc cutting edge.
