Overview & First Impressions
A wooden wheel is four felloes, a dozen spokes and a hub, and every joint is a taper. Rebuilding one means fitting spokes into a hub that has dried and shrunk, then fitting felloes around the ends so the rim closes without gaps. It is joinery done under compression, and the tolerances are set by hand with a knife, a chisel and a great deal of trial fitting. Nothing about the job is fast, and everything about it rewards a sharp edge.
Materials & Construction
Ash for felloes and oak for the hub is the classic pairing, both hard, both abrasive, both prone to tearing if the edge is coarse. 14C28N takes a polished bevel that severs end grain cleanly, and its toughness means a cut across a knot does not turn into a chip that ruins the next twenty strokes. QSP knives run it thin behind the edge, which is what a tenon shoulder wants, and it sharpens fast enough to keep up with a bench that is constantly being touched up.
Design & Details
The Dolphin is a liner lock folder with a carbon fibre handle and a slim, almost elegant blade. The carbon fibre matters here because a wheel bench is often outdoors and often wet, and it does not swell or slick up the way wood does. The liner lock is easy to cycle with a thumb, and the blade shape gives a fine tip for cleaning a spoke mortise without gouging the wall of the hole.
Real-World Use
The work runs in a fixed order. Clean the hub mortises, fit each spoke dry, mark the shoulder, cut it, then repeat until the spoke seats with hand pressure and no wobble. Then fit the felloes, check the rim for a true circle, and peg the joints. The knife marks, trims and de-burrs at every stage, and its most valuable property is that it closes so both hands are free for a rim.
Ownership Notes
Wheelwrighting survives on small shops and patient customers, so tools are bought once and kept for decades. A folding knife protects its edge from the grit that lives on an outdoor bench, and a slim handle fits into a mortise without scraping knuckles. EdcMall lists the Dolphin in three handle finishes, which helps a shop pick a knife that is easy to spot among a bench full of chisels. Wheel benches are outdoor benches, and folding knives travel better than fixed blades; the EDC knives that last in a shop like this are the ones with a slim handle that fits a mortise.
Who Is This For?
Buy it if you fit wood joints by hand and need an edge that cuts end grain cleanly. It suits wheelwrights, cart restorers, furniture repairers and joiners. Skip it if you only cut sheet material or rope; a fine-bevel folder is a joinery detail tool, and a heavier working knife or a fixed blade serves better for anything that involves force.
Final Verdict
The Dolphin is a joinery knife in a lightweight frame. 14C28N gives the polished edge that clean end-grain cutting needs, the carbon fibre handle survives an outdoor bench, and the liner lock is quick enough to keep a fitting rhythm going. For wheel work, or any job that lives or dies on a tenon shoulder, it is a sound buy.
