What do I need???

[The new guy]

Hey folks, Im new to the forum and new to carving. Ive been framing houses for about ten yrs and I love woodwork. I want to carve a bowl without using a lathe but Im not sure what kind of chisels, gouges and knives I will need to do this. Can anyone steer me in the right direction. Also I have found a set of 6 Narex chisels for $50.00 is this a good deal and are these any good. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[The new guy]

hrrmmm??? Is this unheard of or something, carving a bowl strictly by hand? Surely somebody knows what types and size chisels and gouges this would require.

[Bellor]

I have carved a shallow bowl about 100mm diameter into a block as decoration. Match the curve of your gouge with the curve of your bowl. This will make the bowl even all around. When you take a tiny shaving off the inside it will cover the entire cutting face of the gouge. A #3 gouge will cut a radius 3 times the gouge width (true with Pheil Swiss Chisels, not sure about other countries) so a 12mm #3 gouge will cut a 36mm radius bowl. I have only done it once and am a begginer.

Cut with the grain, keep your chisels razor sharp, practice on some basswood (US timber).

hope it helps

Russ

[texx]

there was a post a while back on here with a link to a clip of a guy an islander i think making bowls by hand but i cant think what the post was under . i remember he was holding the bowl with his bare feet and using some very sharp tools .like an adz or some thing . not much help i know but there are posts in here on the subject.

[SHEETMETAL]

Welcome to the forum,
About 40 years ago when I was lear woodwork at Heathcote High School one of our projects was carve a fish shaped bowl from piece of Pacific Maple 10" x 20" x 1".
We held this in the vice and carved the hoolow with a 1" gouge (outside cannel) .
We then cut the outer fish shape on the bandsaw and then did a LOT of sanding.
Gerard

[Iggy]

While you can use gouges they can take a real long time, my preference for that "non lathe" turned look is to use an arbour-tech blade then sanding pads on an angle grinder.

[Whittling]

I'm afraid I agree with Iggy. I'd use an Arbortec Pro wheel for the shaping. Not very astheticly pleasing but a LOT less work! Otherwise have a go with the widest gouge you've got working toward the middle in successive layers until you've got the depth you want. Then its all sand paper! (Again, like Iggy suggests, I'd use power but if you have particularly strong fingers by all means try it by hand.)

[The new guy]

I do have a 4" grinder but I think I want to try it by hand and go to the grinder as a last resort. Im fairly young and you know how younger people like to do things the hard way, haha. I have got a few vintage S.J. ADDIS gouges, do you think I could sharpen these and use them or should these be tucked away and buy some new ones. Do people really collect these and just put them up and not use them. To me a tool is meant to be used if it is still functioning no matter how old it is. I think it would add to the "coolness" to hand carve something using vintage tools. What do you think. Thanks for all the input.

[underfoot]

I I have got a few vintage S.J. ADDIS gouges, do you think I could sharpen these and use them .

Yep, use them. but only if they're the right tool for the job.
Ive been collecting and using Addis for years and they're an excellent chisel,
and you can still pick them up cheaper than new Pfeils

[Frank&Earnest]

Carving a bowl is project 42 on my to do list. See #15 in https://www.woodworkforums.com/f8/see...u-help-116278/
Since that photo was taken I have roughed the outside with Arbortech (that day all members of my WW club had multiple chips on their shoulders ) and now I am considering using the mini arbortech or the reciprocating chisel for the hollowing. If I did it with chisels I think I would set the inside rim with a big V chisel an then lift the inside layers with a large flattish gouge (with the grain, so as not to rip into the rim).
Actually, now that I think of it, that might be the way I will end up doing it myself, manual V cuts and powered gouge for the hollowing.

Re the Narex chisels: that's about the right price if they are new, they are second rate compared to the Stubai and the Pfeil but will do their work, like the Marples for example.

[movay_2008]

I use this guy (pictured about half way down the webpage

Adze with straight blade and short handle

GRANSFORS BRUKS Axes, Adzes and Hatchets

[Frank&Earnest]

Yes, an adze looks good too. I do not have one, maybe later on...
The straight blade would be good for the convex outside of the bowl, but for the inside the curved blade would be needed, wouldn't it?

[movay_2008]

Sorry, it was the curved blade I got. Even a small hatchet is useful in hollowing out. Axes and adzes are under-rated in terms of quality to one's work-time - the quiet spaces between strokes are of great value to me, not to mention the low tones as compared to high pitch wizzings

I was gearing myself up to making a few heavy duty chisels after meeting someone who made his own out of old leaf springs. I never seemed to get around to it, even after finding a good anvil in the form of an old excavator tooth.

Yes, an adze looks good too. I do not have one, maybe later on...
The straight blade would be good for the convex outside of the bowl, but for the inside the curved blade would be needed, wouldn't it?

[Frank&Earnest]

Hope you get around to it, making one's own tools is very satisfying. You can't go more primordial than that, can you? Money is not the point: the reason I mentioned Marples to the new guy is that I just picked up a set of 5 for $25, more as a favour to a friend of a friend than anything else, and they are very solid, for big banging work: indestructible plastic handle and three times as thick as the Pfeils. The 30mm gouge would be roughly equivalent to the adze and the thock of the mallet (or the thud if the mallet is covered with neoprene) should be as soothing. If you can be bothered to grind them a lot and hone them properly, you can shave with them also, the steel is OK.

[movay_2008]

Things can be modified - I made me a blockbuster out of an old tapered sledge with a thin grinding disc last weekend. Works a treat and man does it boom through the hills!


Don't know what moth this is...?