I'm taking this course: http://www.e-mydeal.com/x-marcadams/xcart/customer/product.php?productid=16157&cat=250&page=1 in early May. The school sent me a list of required tools that included this 1) V Parting tool 2) 1/2" gouge 3) You may bring any number of tools but bring at least the two mentioned.
I've been thinking of adding carving to my projects more often so I'm leaning toward a set. I searched this forum and I found this site: http://www.chrispye-woodcarving.com/toolshop/ts_kts.htm . Sadly, their storefront is down.
So, if you had a budget of $250 and you wanted a starter set of carving tools which set would you buy? If you want to be *really* helpful, telling me where I can buy them would be great.
>Lee Grindinger posted a list of his "dirty dozen" first chisels that he would suggest getting. Many of the sets have tools in them that you will never use. I would suggest starting with the ones the school required and Lee's list, then buying them as you need them. Here is Lee's post:
I've been asked to post my "Deadly Dozen" carving chisels. These chisels do 95% of my work and the work I do is traditional furniture ornamentation.
Carving chisels are sized in two different systems, the Swiss system and the Sheffield system. English chisels fall into the Sheffield system and German and Swiss chisels use the Swiss System.
Chisels sizes are described with two values. The first number is the sweep or radius of the cutting edge and the second number is the width from corner to corner of the cutting edge.
a 60 degree straight parting and a 60 degree long bent parting tool, and a 1/4" undercutting tool.
Here is closest the Swiss system comes to the above set;
#1-12mm, #3-6mm, #3-10mm, #5-12mm, #5-14mm, #7-4mm, #7-6mm long bent, #8-13mm, #9-10mm, #12-6mm long bent, #17-6mm, and a 4mm undercutting tool.
You'll notice that numerically some of these chisels seem awfully close but the sweeps change a lot when the width changes. Also, I favor long bent chisels as opposed to short bents because you can use a mallet with the long bents. In addition to chisels you'll need a set of slips, a nice flat fine stone and a mallet. I know almost nothing of the Japanese sets so I'll reserve comment except to say that I've heard good things about them. Also, I use a router for most of my grounding but before the router I used a #9-1/2" for hogging out waste.
>Lee's list has been perfect for me, doing mainly small carving of drawer pulls and and the like. Also agree that you may need one or two special tools for certain projects. For example, in a recent project which involved carving small inlay pieces, I needed some real smalls: a 2mm #3, a 1mm veiner, and a 1/2mm veiner (yes, Pfeil makes this one). But Lee's figure of 95% has been right for me.
>I've spent 4 or 5 hours now researching and shopping for chisels. I have a shoping cart over at highland hardware that looks like this:
Hirsch #3 Straight Gouge, 6mm
$25.99
Hirsch #5 Straight Gouge, 14mm
$27.99
Hirsch #7 Straight Gouge, 14mm
$28.99
Hirsch Skewed Carving Tool, 10mm
$22.99
Hirsch #41 V Gouge, 6mm
$34.99
Hirsch #9 Straight Gouge, 14mm
$32.99
Hirsch #4 Bent Gouge, 6mm
$27.99
Hirsch #9 Straight Gouge, 6mm
$28.99
Hirsch #3 Straight Gouge, 14mm
$27.99
Hirsch #3 Straight Gouge, 10mm
$25.99
Subtotal:
$284.90
I did my best to copy this list: http://www.furniturecarver.com/images/chisels+.jpg but a lot of the sizes were not a perfect match. When he asked for 12mm I went to 14mm. When he asked for a #4's I went to #3's. I didn't find a 6mm undercutting chisel at all, maybe there is another name for it?
Does that shopping cart look pretty good to you? Is there another brand with comparable price/performance of Hirsch that I should consider? Perhaps another brand would match up with Lee Grindinger's list more closely?
>You might want to take a look at the Swiss Made (pfiel [sp?]). They are in the same price range and are good tools. Most of my tools are the Swiss. You might also look at the Henry Taylors, except that they require a lot of work before they are useable. (a lot of honing). Take a look at the Woodcraft site for both brands. Also, talk to Joel at Tools for Working wood (he is a sponsor of WC). He carries carving tools and might be able to help you put together a set that meets what you are looking for. (tell him I sent you;-))
>Wow, that ought to be a great class! I took my first carving class there with Mack Headley jr. It was pretty good.
My advice is to buy tools as needed. Having bought tools for a couple of classes, I have some I don't really need! I suggest you pick a project or two, then buy the tools for that particular project. I have done a couple of things from woodcarving magazines and books and just bought what was needed to follow along. There is a book by Mike Davies that is pretty good and its amazing what he does with just a few tools. I have no idea what kind of carving you are interested in, but Ron Clarkson has a couple of books with real good step by step carving in them (one is a pie crust table and the other is on chairs - his stool book is pretty good too). There have also been some good articles by Mack Headley in FWW - you can buy them in some of their compilation books or in old issues on Ebay. There have been lots of good carving articles in FWW that are easy to follow along actually. Anyway, sorry to babble, but as expensive as the tools are, I suggest buying what you know you need. One last thing...if there are other classes at Marc's that look appealing, ask him for the tool lists for those classes. That will give you some idea of what tools are needed for a particular task. I just took a chair class with Lonnie Bird and I only had to buy one or two new tools I think. Funny...I planned way ahead an ordered a spoon gouge last summer (class was in OCt.) - I just got it last week! I like the Pfeil tools. Check with the Canadian dealers for prices.
I just emailed you a photo and listing of the 12 gouges. The 'undercutting' one looks like a back bent gouge--maybe you can make it out from the photo.
>I want to thank everybody for their help. My original idea was to buy a set so that I would save a few dollars and have what I need on hand. As I got deeper into it I realized that nobody seemed to sell the perfect set.
That led me to assembling my own set by trying to replicate the starter set recommended by the experts. As I did that the price started to blow through my $250 budget and my level of uncertainty just kept rising. Also, starting with a complete set wasn't saving me money at all because it was really a collection of individual tools with no quanity discount.
I've picked up the two carving tools that the class told me to bring. I went with a pfiel 12/6 V tool and a 5/12 gouge from my local woodcraft. I'll add more to my collection as I learn more about my needs. The advise and links in this thread have been great. Thanks again.