Thread: Indispensable woodcarving tools

Northwood tools have 2 sets - one out of stock but the other on special. ( http://www.northwoodtools.com.au/categories.asp?cID=65)

I don't know how good they are but they seem to be an affordable gamble.

Terry

They can't be good, but they might be enough to get you started. If you buy the set, I also suggest you buy one good chisel. It will also cost about $50. For the good one, choose a profile you find yourself using a lot. That will give you a feel for how much the tool can matter. The two brands I like are Two Cherries and Stubai. Learning to sharpen chisels is critical, whether they're cheap or expensive.

Originally Posted by Tiger

<TABLE id=HB_Mail_Container height="100%" cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0 UNSELECTABLE="on"><TBODY><TR height="100%" width="100%" UNSELECTABLE="on"><TD id=HB_Focus_Element vAlign=top width="100%" background="" height=250 UNSELECTABLE="off">Would really love to get into woodcarving and would like to know which tools have proved indispensable for carvers.


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It depends on the kind of carving you are about to do, mate- the set of tools you need for chipcarving( for example) is not the same as, say , for 3D works.Anyway,I wold suggest the 60º V tool like one of the first, together with a skew chisel, a flat gouge( Nº3 or 4 ) and some deeper- Nª 6-9 gouges.If you think about carving panels and other "flat" stuff, you'll need som bent gouges ahd chisels to clean the background.No need at all to spend the 500 (well, not at once), IMO it's better to start with some basic tools, and buy more when you need them-and when you know what you really need! And, if you cah aford it- buy few, but high quality tools, rather than spend mooney on cheap, useless stuff.Good luck!

The main problem with the cheapies is they don't hold a sharp edge very long.
So all you have to do is rub them on an oilstone more often.

But a set of cheapies can give you a wide variety of shapes and enable you to do a wide variety of carving. When you identify favourite chisel shapes you can get the odd high quality chisel for your kit.

<TABLE id=HB_Mail_Container height="100%" cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0 UNSELECTABLE="on"><TBODY><TR height="100%" UNSELECTABLE="on" width="100%"><TD id=HB_Focus_Element vAlign=top width="100%" background="" height=250 UNSELECTABLE="off">Thanks for the replies.

Terry, that is a good price if they are indeed HSS. Will look at it more closely over the next few days.

Artesano, good advice and appreciate you naming a few types of chisels.

Bob, good advice as usual and may well go down that path.

I had hoped that the 80/20 rule prevailed with carving ie you use 20% of the tools 80% of the time and hoped to get away with say 4 to 5 tools, but not sure that is possible.
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Originally Posted by Tiger

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Bob, good advice as usual and may well go down that path.

I had hoped that the 80/20 rule prevailed with carving ie you use 20% of the tools 80% of the time and hoped to get away with say 4 to 5 tools, but not sure that is possible.
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Isn't this basically what Bob said? Get a variety of cheap ones so you can identify the 20% you are going to use 80% of the time, so you can buy good ones? This seems a good way to do it.

Originally Posted by Frank&Earnest

Isn't this basically what Bob said? Get a variety of cheap ones so you can identify the 20% you are going to use 80% of the time, so you can buy good ones? This seems a good way to do it.

Yes, but there must be some tools that are predominantly used by all carvers and I would like to have bought at least a couple of good tools to make learning carving a bit easier.

Originally Posted by Tiger

Yes, but there must be some tools that are predominantly used by all carvers and I would like to have bought at least a couple of good tools to make learning carving a bit easier.

Those are what Artesano told you. If you want to go that way, buy what he suggested.