Help with carving / wood chipping tools.

Re: Help with carving / wood chipping tools.

CBT

>I recently starting carving. I did lots of reading before deciding to buy Pfeil tools. I have been very happy with their performace. They are not cheap but they will last my life time and still be worth a bundle.

I would recommend books by Chris Pye.

CBT

Re: Help with carving / wood chipping tools.

GolfSteve in Calgary

>Sorry I can't offer much help without more info on what you want to get into.

By "wood chipping tools", do you mean chip carving?

I have purchased several brands of carving tools - mostly for relief carving.

Henry Taylor - hit & miss; some tools hold an edge really well, others don't.

Pfiel/Swiss made - top quality, this is my favourite brand. Well ground and shipped almost sharp.

Hirsch/Two Cherries - top quality, if these were more accessible to me I would probably buy these instead of Pfiel. The handles have a steel bolster that may aid handle longevity if you do much mallet work (the Pfiel don't have this).

Warren - I really like their short Fishtail gouge (available at Lee Valley).

Flexcut - I only own the Flexcut roughing knife and it is excellent.

Japanese carving tool set from Lee Valley - excellent, especially for the price.

Brico - or some other "import" cheap carving tool set - minimally acceptable; it will take you forever to regrind and sharpen these, but once sharpened they actually work pretty good.

Microcarving tool set from Lee Valley - the 1.5 mm wide 5 piece set that sells for $50 CDN - horribly expensive for what you get (five toothpick sized chisels). I only find two of these chisels to be useful (the parting tool (V shaped) and the small round gouge). I use the small gouge for signing and dating all of my work.

Re: Help with carving / wood chipping tools.

Tony - Memphis

>I'm a big fan of the Pfeil tools. I'm no "carver" mind you, but I carved a bit and found those tools to be really nice. I did try some Henry Taylors and had issues with them not holding an edge. Also tried the cherries? from highland hardware - those were nice, but I liked the Pfeil better.

I would caution against buying a "set." There is no universal set that applies to everything. I would buy what I need to do a specific project and start from there. My opinion is that they are too expensive to have a lot of them not being used. I took a couple of classes and followed along a couple of articles and have accumulated a few chisels that way.

What you need really depends on what you want to carve too.

Tony