This Halloween, you could carve pumpkins with your kitchen knife and a spoon, but you’d be in for a rough evening. Pumpkins have thick rinds best cut with serrated blades. Whether you plan to carve a basic jack-o’-lantern or prepare an elaborate display full of spooky Halloween decor, the proper tools make the process easier and the results better.
We tested pumpkin carving tools—including all-in-one carving kits, woodworking tools, linoleum cutters, and even a Thai fruit carving set. Our favorite was a 12-Piece Pumpkin Carving Kit, which has the essentials and much more at an affordable price. This guide will help you find everything you need to carve the pumpkin of your dreams (or nightmares).
Our Top Pumpkin Carving Kits
The pumpkin carving knives ever-present at Halloween parties throughout the 90s and 00s were flimsy blades more likely to cause injury than cut a pumpkin. Similar kits are still available today—and thankfully, much improved.
Just about anyone carving a pumpkin—whether their plans are a basic smiling face or a complex monster carving—will start by hollowing it out. Good pumpkin carving kits include the best tools for pumpkin gutting—a flexible (but not too thin) serrated blade and a serrated scooper.
Best All-Inclusive Kit
Elmchee 12-Piece Pumpkin Carving Kit
Our Experience
We found that the carving knives in this kit were excellent for sawing through a pumpkin rind. The knife tips are blunt, so they cannot pierce the rind, but the awl broke right through it. Once we got the knife through the pumpkin, the teeth easily carved the rest. These blades are somewhat flexible to allow for curving cuts but thick enough to saw through a pumpkin.
The scooper is large and works well for gutting. Its serrated teeth make the process quick. Using this tool, we could hollow out a typical carving pumpkin (about 20 pounds) in about 5 minutes.
If you plan to add fine detail to your pumpkin, the Elmchee kit also includes drills, picks, and scrapers. Our favorites from this kit are a wide peeler—similar to a woodworking chisel—and a small scraper good for fine etching. These detailing tools are not quite as effective as those recommended below, but they are far from useless.
Our Top Pumpkin Detailing Tools
Adding elements like shading, ornamentation, or fine detail to a jack-o’-lantern requires more than a serrated blade and wide spoon. Some of these tools are easier to use than others.
Compare Pumpkin Detailing Tools
| Product | Skill Level | Best For | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
Dremel Cordless Rotary Tool KitCheck Price | Easy | Fine detail and “drawing” onto a pumpkin | $30–$55 |
Speedball Linoleum CutterCheck Price | Easy | Edge detail | $14 |
Rvetol 12-Piece Wood Carving Tools SetCheck Price | Moderate | Quickly shaving down large sections of pumpkin | $14 |
X-ACTO Basic Knife SetCheck Price | Difficult | Extra-fine detail and texturing | $20 |
Best for Drawing Designs
Dremel Cordless Rotary Tool Kit
Our Experience
While most Dremel bits aren’t suited for pumpkin carving, engraving bits ($17) are perfect for etching onto a pumpkin. We found this tool quickly ate through the pumpkin, making it among the easiest to use—no wrist strength required.
A downside of the Dremel bits is their small size, making them only suitable for fine detail. This was also the messiest pumpkin carving tool we used, flinging pureed pumpkin as we worked. We recommend carving outside or laying out a large cover if you’re using a Dremel.
We tested a cordless model, which worked well for casual carving. However, the charge only lasted for about 20 minutes, so consider a corded Dremel ($55) if you’re worried about battery life.
Best for Edges
Speedball Linoleum Cutter
Our Experience
The Speedball Linoleum Cutter can carve clean edges and outlines. The hard metal tip easily scooped through our test pumpkins, even though it lacks sharp teeth or edges. This makes it a safer option for younger carvers, especially those who may lack the strength to saw through a pumpkin rind.
A linoleum cutter is good for detailing but too small to quickly whittle large sections of pumpkin. On its own, it’s not enough for most jack-o’-lantern designs, but it is a fundamental part of most advanced pumpkin carving toolkits.
Best for Shading
Rvetol 12-Piece Wood Carving Tools Set
Our Experience
Some jack-o’-lantern designs require thinning sections of pumpkin without cutting all the way through. At the most advanced level, this technique allows for “shading” on your design, as different levels of thickness allow more light to shine through once illuminated.
We found that woodworking chisels were best suited for thinning out larger sections of pumpkin rind.
Best for Extra-Fine Details
X-ACTO Basic Knife Set
Our Experience
We found that an X-ACTO knife was too small to cut through a pumpkin, but plenty sharp enough to shape its inner layers once the outer rind is shaved away. This technique is used by professionals to achieve textured designs. If you’ve seen a mind-bogglingly detailed jack-o’-lantern, the carver likely used X-ACTO knives.
We don’t recommend this tool for beginner carvers. X-ACTO knives are best for achieving fine detail but are unnecessary if you don’t plan to carve something extravagant.
Planning Your Pumpkin Design
The fastest way to prepare a jack-o’-lantern is to start carving—and there’s nothing wrong with this approach. If you’re trying to achieve a precise, specific, or technically challenging design, you’ll need to plot a design before carving.
For Free-Hand Designs
EXPO Dry Erase Markers
Best For Transferring a Pattern
Saral Transfer Tracing Paper
Transferring patterns to pumpkins via the poking method—that is, using a toothpick or an awl to dot an image onto the pumpkin’s surface—can be tedious. Cut transfer time in half by placing a piece of this Saral transfer paper. Transfer paper allows you to trace your design right onto the pumpkin. Each roll is 12 feet long and 12½ inches wide.
Digital Design Aids
If you want a truly original pumpkin, your best bet is to generate your own pattern. The Pumpkin Masters app generates a carving pattern using pictures from your phone. While designed specifically for selfies, you can load any image into the app. You’ll need a printer to print your design so you can put it on your pumpkin. If you don’t have a printer, the app can still be useful for creating a reference image.
Other Useful Pumpkin Carving Tools
These tools aren’t necessary for pumpkin carving but are useful—especially if you need to prepare a large number of pumpkins.
Best For Gutting Pumpkins Quickly
Pumpkin Masters Power Gutting Kit
Best For Keeping Your Blades Sharp
ACCUSHARP Diamond Pro 2-Step Knife Sharpener
Keeping blades sharp is the best way to avoid accidental slips while carving. This compact knife sharpener features two ceramic rods inside a plastic casing with grips to keep your digits out of harm’s way. The tool’s design ensures that your blade is at the proper angle while sharpening, making it easy for beginners to use.
Tools We Don’t Recommend
If you’re wondering about that Thai fruit carving set ($57), we don’t recommend it for pumpkin carving. The tools included are designed for carving more delicate fruits and aren’t very effective on a pumpkin’s thick, luscious rind.
How We Tested Pumpkin Carving Tools
To test pumpkin carving tools, our review team first researched the most popular kits and methods. We ordered standard carving kits and unique tools used by carving professionals, like X-ACTO blades and a linoleum cutter.
We used each dedicated pumpkin carving kit to gut our dozen test pumpkins, timing each process. Not all of our pumpkins were the same size, but we used each several times to get an idea of which were most effective at this task.
Other tools we tested are not useful for pumpkin gutting, but essential for detailing work. While we’re not expert pumpkin carvers, we were able to see how easily each tool peeled or cut through pumpkin rind. We also assessed the ease or difficulty of using each tool.
Several of the items we tested were unsuitable for pumpkin carving and are not included in this roundup. Each effective tool was tested again with teenage (14) and adult carvers. Feedback on these tools from children and parents alike was used to determine our recommendations and assessments.
Frequently Asked Questions About Pumpkin Carving Tools
What Do Professional Pumpkin Carvers Use?
Expert pumpkin carvers often use a serrated blade and serrated scooper spoon to core their pumpkins. They also use detailing tools such as linoleum carvers, X-ACTO knives, woodworking implements, and/or a Dremel. Perhaps more important than any specific tool is keeping your instruments in good condition.
Do I Really Need a Pumpkin Carving Kit?
Yes. It is much easier to carve a jack-o’-lantern using the tools included in most pumpkin carving kits—the semi-flexible serrated blade and scooper specifically. Pumpkins have very thick rinds, and a specialized scooper allows you to core a pumpkin with considerably less effort than a large spoon.
You can carve a pumpkin with a typical kitchen knife, but a decent carving kit only costs around $20. Additional detailing tools—such as a linoleum cutter ($14) or X-ACTO knife ($20)—are essential for advanced designs but not necessary for carving simple jack-o’-lanterns.
Is a Dremel Good for Carving Pumpkins?
Dremels are excellent tools for engraving fine detail onto a pumpkin and smoothing shaved-down areas. Not all Dremel bits are useful for pumpkin carving—only the engraving and sanding bits are.
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