Painting knife vs palette knife – IMPORTANT!  

Did you know there was a difference between a painting knife and a palette knife?

I didn’t! I had to learn the hard way. 

Read on for the very important difference.

And here’s some BONUS content for you. Click here to download your QuickStart Guide to Oil Painting. It’s free. Easy to read. And designed to get you painting fast.

So, here’s the scoop: there are TWO kinds of knives for painting.

They look the same but there is a VERY important difference between them …

… the flexibility. 

If you want to PAINT with your knife, make sure to buy a PAINTING knife.

You do NOT want to buy a palette knife because it’s inflexible! The paint won’t come off the knife onto your canvas! Wood is even worse.

What is a palette knife?

A palette knife is not meant for painting — it’s meant for mixing paint on your palette. 

In the old days, painters used to mix their paints by themselves. This is before paint tubes were invented in the 1840s. They tried not to mix too much at a time because all they had to store the paint in was leaky pig bladders! 

A palette knife is also for pre-mixing your colors. It’s recommended* not to use a brush for mixing because the paint will go up into the ferrule of your brush. That’s the metal part that holds all the bristles, and you want to keep that clean or your brush will fall apart faster. Also, you just waste a lot of paint when you mix with a brush!

*I say recommended because I mix with my brush when I’m painting my minis. But try to use a knife when I’m painting big because the brush will hold a lot of paint and some paint colours are expensive.

But palette knives are terrible for painting. They are too STIFF!

What is a painting knife?

Instead, you want to buy a PAINTING knife because it’s flexible and perfect for applying paint to a canvas or board.

Who knew that flexibility made that big a difference? Not I. But it sure does. The paint just doesn’t come off an inflexible knife. I was hoping my cake frosting spatulas would be useful since I used them a whole total of twice. But no. Way too thick. Flexibility matters.

So be careful when shopping for knives and make sure you test the flexibility when you are in the stores. The painting knife bends easily. The palette knife does not. See the video on this page.

Also, don’t trust labels. I thought I was buying painting knives on Amazon — because that’s what the description said — but what arrived was a set of palette knives. These are completely inflexible even though the title said painting. Grrr. (Don’t buy those in the link unless you want stiff knives.)

Now I buy my painting knives in the store so I can test them.

Check out my video on this page to see the difference between the flexibility of the painting knife vs the palette knife.

What about plastic painting knives?

Oh, one more #dumadoarttip. Don’t even bother with the plastic palette knives. Absolute waste of money. Not worth a penny. Get the metal ones.

Painting knives come in all shapes and sizes, and some even have serrated edges or fancy shapes. Try them all! You won’t know what you like until you try it! 

But if you’re a beginner oil painter and just starting out, you don’t need top-of-the-line art tools or supplies (except for paint… get the best painting you can afford). Better tools are built to last longer and hold their shape. This will be useless if you try a painting knife and you HATE it! 

There will be plenty of time to upgrade your tools or try other brands as you go. This is part of the fun of painting! 

That’s it! That’s my #dumadoarttip for beginner painters. Follow my painting blog to avoid the mistakes I make. I make plenty so you don’t have to!

Are you ready to learn more? Then you’ll love my itty bitty Intro to Oil Painting Course. I have videos that explain all the oil painting supplies and tools in detail so you can walk into an art store with confidence. 

(PS … You can PIN this tip to for reference to your “Painting Tips” board on Pinterest)