Thread: Newbie to carving

Welcome.
1. First off, search for a carving club. Go. There are several different styles of carving and you will see that the carving tools
are somewhat different in each application. There's a fairly strict pattern selection.
My european-design wood carving tools are mostly Pfeil (the arrow logo on the shanks). Handles marked SWISS MADE.
Pfeil, Ashley Iles and several others are well made. I believe that you get what you pay for.
Buy tools from open stock, don't buy a set as you will never use at least one of them.

2. Pacific Northwest native carvers use tools of substantially different design.
They need just as much experience as the european designs.
One carving progresses into the next one.
I have built a selection of those. Makes some kinds of carving easy to do.
These guys make the entire selection:
http://kestreltool.com/index.html

3. For shere enjoyment, you are going to have to learn how to maintain carving sharp edges.
It's a concept that allows you to put a "good" edge on a brand new razor blade, if you ever needed to.

4. My wood isn't your wood. I read that Camphor Laurel is a quality carving wood.

Welcome to the forum! I can't help you with the wood, but Flexcut tools are good quality. I bought the FR310 set http://www.flexcut.com/fr310-beginners-palm-set/ many years ago and still use every tool in the set. I primarily carve caricatures in the round, but have used this set for relief carving. If you buy this, I recommend also getting this http://www.flexcut.com/pw12-flexcut-slipstrop/ to keep the tools sharp. The tools arrive carving sharp and the slipstrop will help keep them that way. I've used the Flexcut tools on basswood, cherry, maple, walnut, padauk, poplar, etc., and never had a problem. With the harder woods, it's necessary to take smaller thinner chips, though. For precise control, you can even use a mallet on these tools - not to whack off large chips, but to precisely control the depth of cut, a small tap with a mallet gives you great control.

I also own this set http://www.flexcut.com/sk108-21-pc-deluxe-starter-set/ and use it a lot. With this set, there are 2-3 tools that I have not used, which is often the case with larger sets. If having changeable blades doesn't worry you, this set http://www.flexcut.com/sk107-11-pc-craft-carver-set/ might be a good one to start with. It includes several very small gouges which can be quite handy.

I also have several of the Pfiel gouges that RV mentions, but use them primarily on larger carvings. Pfiel gouges are top quality, and also come in palm sets and intermediate sets, as well as the full-sized gouges I have.

If you decide later on that you don't like wood carving, Flexcut and Pfiel both, in my opinion, will continue to hold their value and should be able to be resold.

Definitely try to find a carving club nearby and go visit them. If not clubs exist, then try to find an experienced carver nearby who can show you tools, techniques, maybe even give you some patterns.

Claude

Claude's carving interests and thus his tool choices, are very different from mine.
I'm not sure that I could get much done with palm tools, he'd struggle with a Stubai 7/75 carving adze.
Even our wood choices are not the same.
Our mutual suggestion to find a club or an established carver speeds your exploration.

Thanks for the advice guys, I havn't been able to find any woodcarving clubs locally but there is a shop not too far away that has carving tools and has an experienced carver working there so im hoping to be able to get down there to see them in the next few days and get some advice. Aparently they also sell books, dvd's and timber suitable for carving so im hoping they will be able to point me in the right direction. If you have any other advice please let me know. The more i know the better

Woodwormer

Go there. Do that. You won't know the questions to ask without poking into this.
In my village, I am a carving club of one. Me. Fortunately, I had an extraordinary
talent to get me going.
He did and does expensive relief carvings. I decided to do that all around the block.

As I said before, being able to maintain your edges is terribly important.
They just pull/cut harder. Maybe 30-40 minutes, maybe longer.
That part, I can help you as much as you wish.

Robert Sorby woodturning tools are indeed amongst the best there is but their carving tools are I'm afraid are not nearly up to the same standard - you can do MUCH better & for the same money.
Carving gouges made in different countries come from different caving traditions,- Sorby only started making carving gouges 15 years ago & their tools are variable in both profile & hardness - may of their profiles are poor & reflect their lack of experience in the subtle art of carving tool making. I cannot recommend them.
Ashley Iles make thick walled gouge with quite a soft temper - so that the edges don't chip in the hard oak their design is ideally suited for. However they feel a bit clumsy & lacking in subtlety & finesse.

Pheil carving tools were developed in a tradition which uses mostly Lime wood (softish)but also maple (hard) - their tools are much thinner & have profiles which have evolved over many centuries. The steel is harder & holds an edge longer whilst being tough & resilient , I have never heard of anyone getting a "bad one", quality is consistant. In use they feel very subtle & tight - all of the most experienced carvers I've ever known end up with either antique gouges 100 or so years old OR Pfeil gouges.

Flexcut- the new revolutionary kid on the block! They are made from thin springy steel which takes & holds an edge well.
The fact that they are so thin means that it takes less force to push them through the wood ,they are therefore the ideal gouge for a carver using arm/hand force to work but they do not transmit the force of mallet blow effectively & are poor for bosting in (something a relief carver does a lot when establishing his outlines & general form)
Aside of that potentially fatal weakness , I use they feel very subtle & are a very capable tool when used in the hand.

Record make thick profiled gouges of very variable quality, even in their best examples the steel is too soft hold an edge for more than a few cuts. I couldn't recommend them.

When starting out it is best to avoid the temptation of buying a set , just buy half a dozen tools at most & then see what you need as you develop, it all depends on which way your interests take you. You can do a massive amount with very few tools.

Cheers Mike

Good summary, Mike.
I tuned up a dozen Sorby turning tools from an estate sale. The character of the steel was impressive.

A German carver told me that Pfeil had some quality control issues, back in about 2005. Got them sorted out.
A Pfeil vendor in my region got a box of 5/35 at that time, some had bent corners! There were 5 that needed repair so I did them all,
got my "pick of the litter" for $20. Ever so slightly softer steel, too. On the other hand, I have a Pfeil 9/15 that I cannot hit hard enough
with a 30oz lead-core mallet to do any harm at all.

I still think the key thing for woodwormer is to look at carving styles and pick the one with the most appeal.
The tool selection should come out of that.
I can't suggest a site. Wood Carving Illustrated went over to a totally different software forum package.
The text went over but all the pictures, pre-March/15, got left behind. The old software got hacked
very badly, the new format is a struggle to get through some keyholes.

Hi woodwormer, Welcome to the forum, I'm in Perth and find it quite hard to buy the better carving woods here but for Melbourne I don't know but my favourite woods are Huon pine, white beech, Camphor Laurel, Western red cedar and Jelutong. Your right not to touch your Huon pine just yet, maybe try and get some Jelutong to try first as it is soft and fairly easy to work. If your doing small box tops mostly, I would probably go for a flexcut palm set, I use Pfeil chisels mostly, they are very good value for money although I have a set of Flexcut knives that are very good,also a Dremel and Dremel carving set is good for small stuff. Carbatec is a good place to go for tools, I'm sure you'll have one in Melbourne somewhere. Good luck and look forward to seeing some pictures of your work when you start.

Good I'm pleased that you were able to offer some sound advice about Aussie woods Rob.
Also your points well made about what scale you are working at, is vital when considering what tools & at what size.

Call me old fashioned but I'm not sure that a beginner ( or any hobbyist for that matter) should buy a rotary tool, surely little can be learned about grain direction & the different way various types of wood feel & behave ?
Plus FOR ME at least , the whole joy of carving is removed , the meditative quietude, the sound of a sharp edge zipping through the wood , the burnished finish of a well chosen cut , the relaxed contemplation of were the next cut should be etc , rather than being wrapped up in safety goggles, dust mask & ear defenders as if you worked in heavy industry.
Cheers Mike

Might depend on what floats his boat. I know a couple of power carvers (Fordom/Dremel/etc) who never did
hand work with gouges. Stone, bone/antler and wood. So be it.

I'll use whatever is at hand for the rough-out, chainsaw included. I want to move quickly to the
edge carving part in peace and quiet. I do that for winters. The next time I look out, it's Spring!

Hi Mike, I only use my Demel with a flexi shaft for some detailing sometimes, I find the very fine burs very handy for getting into nooks and cranies I can't get a chisel or knife into and I also find their little sanding attachment handy. I'm like RV with the roughing out though, I don't have a bandsaw so I use hand saws and an arbortech disc on an angle grinder, I always want to get passed that part quickly and on to the chisel work. Anyway, I'm going back to the shed now

Originally Posted by Robthechisel

Hi Mike, I only use my Demel with a flexi shaft for some detailing sometimes, I find the very fine burs very handy for getting into nooks and cranies I can't get a chisel or knife into and I also find their little sanding attachment handy. I'm like RV with the roughing out though, I don't have a bandsaw so I use hand saws and an arbortech disc on an angle grinder, I always want to get passed that part quickly and on to the chisel work. Anyway, I'm going back to the shed now

Yes of course, rotary burrs can do things that are hard or impossible to do with edge tools & undoubtedly speed the job up - get you quickly to the nice part .
I still think though that a rotary tool should at least, not be on the initial shopping list of a person brand new to carving as the original poster is.

Although I knowingly take a fundamentalist stance on my own tool selection ! I don't apply that ethos to others , I do however feel that if your just starting out , you don't learn anything much about wood by grinding it away as opposed to cutting it.
Many potential woodcarvers may not have a suitable place to use band saws or rotary tools or be able to afford them, I wouldn't like any newcomers to woodcarving to think such things essential or even necessarily desirable.
You can do LOADS with a few gouges or even just a pocket knife! - That's the message I'd like to spread - otherwise many wont even start out on the craft at all.
Cheers Mike

I got wood carving lessons as a Christmas present, quite some years ago.
The instructor was a full time pro relief carver, people and pets portraits and more.
I had a good time, the instruction quality was as good as hoped for.
Here's the tool list:
12oz polyurethane mallet
leather on wood strop, CrOx/AlOx honing compound
canvas tool roll
a few Pfeil gouges:
D5/3
1/8
8/7
12/8
3F/8
5F/14
Put the tools away for a couple of years.
For some unknown reason, got interested again but with three differences.
a) I wanted to carve in the round, not just relief.
b) I wanted to use local western red cedar.
c) I needed to develop a far better competence with freehand sharpening.

a+b led me eventually into an exploration of the carving tools common in the Pacific Northwest.
c was a trial and error accomplishment, particularly for crooked knives and carving adzes.

Don't recall buying more than 1 or 2 new gouges per year, as I really believed that I needed them.
Now that I'm accustomed to the PacNW tools, they get used the most. . . . but that could change tomorrow.

Hi Newbie. I would suggest that you join a Carvers' Group which has its own chisels so you become more aware of what type of chisels you would like to work with. Working on the tops of small boxes would lend to palm chisels. The favorites ones are the Swiss ones Pfeil available from Carbatec and can be ordered online. Carving chisels are expensive so no matter what brand you buy, expect to outlay a bit. The soft woods are best for carving like Red Cedar, fruit tree woods or Camphor Laurel.