Thread: New guy needs help!

While most wood carvers agree that buying a set gives you a few tools you never use, there are exceptions. When I started buying some tools for carving small figurines, I bought this set: FR310 Beginners Palm Set - Flexcut Carving Tools I still, after 15-20 years, use every one of these tools on a daily basis. The sweeps (curvatures) of the gouges are quite useful, and the double-bevel skew tool is perfect to get into some of those tight spots to shave off a small chip.

As to knives, you can never have too many . I started with this knife KN13 Detail Knife - Flexcut Carving Tools and it's been a good tool. The blades is quite stiff, so it has enough backbone to put pressure on it. I would suggest NOT buying the flexcut cutting knife KN12 Cutting Knife - Flexcut Carving Tools as it's only good for roughing out a carving (getting rid of waste wood from a block) I have one of these and rarely use it. The detail knife is strong enough to rough out carvings the size you mention. My carvings run between a couple of inches tall and 12 inches tall, and it works fine for me. There are lots of other knives out there as well: Helvie, Denny, Pfiel, Bütz, etc. My best suggestion would be to find a carving club in your area, go to one of the meetings, and try some of the members' knives. Most knives have really good steel and will hold an edge well. Some have flexible blades (Helvie) which I like, some don't.

You will also need some hand protection. I recommend something similar to this: https://www.woodcraft.com/products/s...ove-medium-7-9 The kevlar will not stop a "poke" with a blade tip, but it will convert a slicing cut requiring a visit to the hospital emergency room into something you can fix with a bandaid. Some carvers use fishmongers gloves. Cotton and leather gloves will not even slow down a sharp carving knife blade... You also need a thumb guard for your knife-holding hand such as https://www.woodcraft.com/products/l...ard-adult-male. You can also use the thumb or finger off an old pair of leather work gloves. Just wrap it with a couple of wraps of Duct Tape. After you have cut through the duct tape, just replace the duct tape. I have to do this about every three weeks...

You also need a decent strop to keep your blades sharp. This is a good one for the gouges: http://www.flexcut.com/pw12-flexcut-slipstrop/ and it comes with a small bar of stropping compound that is enough to last you for 40-50 years. Any 0.5 micron, or smaller, grit compound is good for stropping. A simple strop can be easily made from a piece of scrap shelving that is flat. Simply glue a piece of cereal box cardboard, grey side up, to the wood using rubber cement or whatever. Rub the compound on the cardboard and you have a great strop. This is what I use. The key to a good strop is that it must be very thin so it doesn't compress as you draw the blade across it, and it needs to be able to hold the compound. Always pull the blade away from the cutting edge as you strop it. A carving club will have people who can show you all this, also. Lots of youtube videos available as well. Most of these tools will arrive carving-sharp. Stropping is all you need to keep them sharp, as long as you don't chip a blade. If you do get a chip, the least expensive and most effective is not a stone or diamonds, but sandpaper. At an automotive store that sells paint, they will also sell sandpaper in grits such as 600, 1000, 2000, etc. Glue a strip of this sandpaper along one edge of a piece of glass (because it's flat and cheap) using rubber cement, scrub away with the blade/gouge until you get rid of the chip. Then go to the next higher grit, and so forth. After the highest grit, use your strop...

Wood: Here in the US we recommend basswood (lime/linden). I understand it's quite expensive down in Oz, but you all have ready access to jelutong, which I hear is a good carving wood, particularly for beginners. Try to stay away from very hard woods, if you're using a knife and gouges... Here's a resource for you: The Wood Database | The Wood Database that shows what lots of woods look like and gives you their technical specifications, including hardness.

Hope this helps you...

Claude

Camphor Laurel often turns up as a carving wood of choice in Australia. I have to take their word for it, like jelutong.

I like(?) to think that the sharpening and honing process is about 1/2 the business of carving. Sad but true.
Just something which, when learned, applies to every edge in your house.
There's probably half a dozen methods from using jigs to freehand. They all produce the same result.
I use 2 of them, moving tools on one and moving abrasives on the other.
And no, I didn't get it right the first or second time! I still mess up, decades later.

Welcome. Some memories of Lorne come back to me, 4 years in Melbourne/LaTrobe Uni

Hi Jake,
Well you are in the right spot.
There is a quite famous Carver in your area.
So Google " Bryan Poynton " as he is in the Otways.
I'm sure he wood only be to pleased to show you a few things.
So wait until you see him before you buy anything.

Hi Jake, Don't buy the set, I made that mistake in the beginning, better to just build up a set of tools as you go. I use Pfeil chisels personally and they are great value for money. I live in WA but I've bought wood from Pop's shed in Vic before and they have all sorts there, Woodturning Tools, Woodturning Timber, Woodturner Accessories, Woodcarver Supplies, Woodturning Equipment - Pop's Shed Camphor laurel, Huon pine, white beech are my favourite woods.

Originally Posted by issatree

Hi Jake,
Well you are in the right spot.
There is a quite famous Carver in your area.
So Google " Bryan Poynton " as he is in the Otways.
I'm sure he wood only be to pleased to show you a few things.
So wait until you see him before you buy anything.

There's also another famous carver that perhaps you could ask advice of ,that's Neil Ellis ( Ubeaut ) the owner of this woodworking forum.He is notable with some of the work he has done .

Chess pieces are knife carvings, no mallet & gouges required.
No matter who carves what, you must buy the tools for that style.
Lots of good notes in ClaudeF's #2. He does a lot of knife carving, I own some of it.

Firstly, welcome to Oz 😀

I agree with others, to meet one or both of the carvers mentioned and get their opinions, or attend a local woodcarving group meeting, that would be very helpful and make some new friends by joining up 👍.

For the work you mentioned, I would suggest to get various small sized gouges to start off with, with widths of say between 4 and 10mm. I found that many newcomers to carving end up with tools that are too large for the work they want to do initially. In any case, you will use the smaller sized tools on just about every piece you make. Buy the larger tools piecemeal when you need them.

To carve spoons from green timber you only require an axe, a straight knife and a hook (spoon) knife

theres an English bodger in buninyong if you need lessons

Pfeil has a good beginners set of 5 for under 200 , didn't like the palm carvers as l like to clamp my piece down save on the cuts

Originally Posted by JakeHall

Hi everyone, first time poster here - be gentle!

I recently relocated from England to Australia (Lorne, VIC) and am looking into getting into woodworking, more specifically, carving. At this time my intention is to keep it fairly small scale (think chess pieces, wooden spoons etc) and would like some advice on which tools to buy.

I've looked into getting a 'starter kit', but in my experience with starter kits the quality usually is below average and I end up only using 2 or 3 of the 15 pieces.

so my question is this, should I get the cheap and cheerful ($70) 12pc starter kit and see how I go, or purchase one or two tools and expand from there - if so, which tools are the essentials?

Also advice with which is the best cheap wood to play with as a beginner would be greatly appreciated.

thanks in advance for you help!
jake

Hi Jake , to set off (or even finish learning carving ! ) you can just use a folding pocket knife alone . As long as you can sharpen a knife to a razor edge (literally) you are in business . Carbon steel blade is essential .
You really don't need to spend a lot of money , although it is very easy to do so !
Here are a few of mine which were done entirely with a pen knife .

Cane head 2.jpegNude & knife.jpgViking Lanyard Bead 1.jpghorse.jpeg

the mouse is a walking stick handle , the viking is 3/4" high & the lime wood horse about 8" high. All of these were done with a pen knife alone, I have found that a curved blade is essential for ease of carving & subtlety of work.
Another advantage of using a pen knife is you can set up workshop in 30 seconds & put it away as fast or transport it into the garden etc. !
If you want specific info on tool selection or sources I can help from the UK. side only I'm afraid. If you want to carve spoons let me know & I can go into that too.
Cheers Mike.