boought a pumpkin carving set from Tesco - what a bag o' sh***

[bigmouthstrikesagain]

scuse language but honestly!!! The carving knife is so flimsy it would have trouble slicing through butter and it was bent as soon as I attempted to cut through the top of the pumpkin!! The scoop is plastic and made no impresion on the flesh it was meant to cut into - the templates are overly complex and a bit naff!

Overall - the kit was not worth buying - more fool me I suppose. Anyway I feel a strongly worded letter coming on. I will get the proper knifes out and do it myself as I should have done from the start - I don't need a template.

ust had to vent my spleen - as you were folks.

a pumpkin carving set?

hee hee

what will they think of next, a pre-lit bonfire?

I have one of these, though can't remember where I got it from. It has a paper thin book of failry complex images and a set of orange plastic bits including a scoop and two saw like small knives and some pointed plastic bits for making the dot like impressions on the pumpkin front through the paper images.

We actually like it and have put it away each year for re-use. The images are far too complex for children to do (and this year my son just drew a simple image on the front before we cut it out), but I have used them before to great effect.

You can't use the saw like knives for cutting the top off your pumpkin. You have to use a proper knoife for that. They are for cutting out the image and I have to say work very well for this finer detail work. My 6 year old son was able to use them this year to cut out his simple shapes for the eyes and nose without my help.

I forgot to say, the scoop is fine for scooping out the main part of the pumpkin. Then I usually use a metal spoon to get the harder bits at the bottom.

I second Ilana - teh saw things are really great for cutting out teh face - my ds managed really well. Use a proper knife and a metal spoon to cut of the top and scoop out the inside! (I did 4 last night so have some experience here!!!)

You must have a decent set Ilana - I think there maybe some merit in 'specialised' tools for carving/ scooping - but they need to be fit for purpose - I would think that your kit was a bit more costly and therefore robust - believe me this so called kit - is not fit for purpose believe me....

Although I don't remember where I bought it, I doubt very much is was costly as I never pay more than a couple of quid for anything like this! I have seen them since and they all look much of a muchness really.

ours is the cheap tesco one and works really well. we use the dotter bit for punching out the patern and the serated one for cutting out the face-have NEVER used the patterns!

No probs and have now had it 3 years! have to say i haven;t ever used the scoop-usually a big spoon and always use a huuuuge kutchen knife to cut a lid off

Blimey - well I must have a reaaallly tough pumpkin then

Your Dh probably had everything you needed in the Garage