Thread: Pfeil Carving Chisels - Where to buy?

While I really like my Pfeil chisels for balance, shape and holding an edge I have picked up a few others from
Lee Valley and a set of Chinese cheapies from McJings. They all do the job, the Chinese need a bit of sharpening and
smoothing when you first get them but they are ok for what they are and how often I use them. I have a few of the Henry Taylor
from LV and they seem pretty good. Lee Valley Tools - Important Announcement
Think I have a couple of Two Cherries somewhere too.
I got most of my Pfeils from Trend Timbers at the wood shows.

Hope that helps

Hi Cava,
The Hand Tool Preservation Accoc.of Aust,( HTPAA ), are having their 3rd.Tool Sale for the year, this coming Sun. 10th. Nov. 2013. at the Glenferrie Primary School Manningtree Rd. Hawthorn.
Whether they are Pfiel or not, there are always a great array of them for you to see & or buy.
You will most likely see Pfiel or Dastra, 2 Cherries, & best of all Addis. Being older means that they have had the hot & cold treatment for all those years, & wood be in top condition ready to go.
Most of the Carvers I know use a Box combination to keep their Tools in, as these Tools are Razor sharp & tend to go through & stick out of the Leather Roll. Seeing you are looking for Tools, I think it wood be in your best interest to go to this Sale.
Be Early, & I think it is a 9am opening, & parking is a bit hard as well.

A set, inspired by the company, is still not all things to all people.
The tool set that you need(?) is determined to a large extent by sizes,
the types and styles of carvings that you want to do.

"Carving sharp" edges, in hand work, last about 30 minutes. Better thing
about sharpening and honing gear. Not the same as "woodworking sharp."

For example, I can't do lettering as I don't have any interest and don't own
many of the important gouges needed.

I have a variety of Pfeil gouges as I like to do carving in the round.
Pfeil is available in open stock, you can pick and choose what you need.

Maybe it was confidence. For quite a while, each carving that I did was bigger
than the previous one. I guessed I'd be working on the monumental in less than 5 years.
But, it led to buying a couple of gouges which really speed up the rough-out to the basic form.

Then, there are the straight knives, the hook knives, the crooked knives and we get into shaping and finishing adzes.

If hindsight is useful (I've been burned a couple of times), I've been putzing around with wood carving for about 15 years. I'd be pleased to help you with tool lists, etc.

In the meantime, find and read "Star's Sharpening Journey" in the Woodcarving Forum.
A bit windy and long in the tooth now but the basics for all I do.

Big question is how are you going to learn carving? If you are going to be taught by someone (or a group of people ... carving club) then get what they recommend cause their instructions will include the use of all of them. In other words, they won't be advising you to buy tools that you won't use.

Same thing if you are going to be learning from a book... not as good in my opinion, but the same principle applies. Get what the book tells you that you need for the projects it talks about.

Master the use of these few chisels in your 'learning' projects and then (and only then) start evaluating what else you might need to achieve results you want to try/learn/experiment with etc.

This way you only buy the chisels as you realise a need for them. If you buy a 'kit' of them at the beginning, you will inevitably end up with a number of them that you never use.

As for the brand of chisel, get which ever one of the major (quality) brands is most easily available to you. Personally I reckon Pfeil are fine but there are others who prefer different brands. The point I'm trying to make here is that it will be years before your skill reaches the level where it makes a difference which brand you are using.... if ever. So don't worry about brand for now as long as you get reasonable quality.

Hi Cava, I couldn't agree more with what Whittling has said, I've been carving for about 2 years and find pfeil chisels good value for money. I've
been buying them one by one as I think I need them. I bought a set of fairly good chisels at the beginning but some I've never used.
Good luck in your carving journey, it's fun.

Hi All,

Thank you for the great advice, and it has made me look at things in a different light.

I was originally considering the Pfeil 8 piece starter set, but when I looked at the tutorials for what I wanted to do (flowers, fans), the sizes were dramatically different. Simple Flower carving Simple Fan Carving These are very simple projects, and for me akin to puting my toe in the water, if they work out then it will hopefully move onto other things. If not, then I will have not lost too much $wise.

Whilst I have no doubt that the sizes in the set are invaluable, and will be used, they would not be used in the flower and fan carvings. I figured that if I have the correct chisels for the project, it will encourage and spur me onto other projects.

Consequently, unless Carba-Tec has a very special deal on the 8 piece set, I will be picking my own chisels and at this stage still leaning towards Pfeil.

Knowing what type of carving I want to do, is there any other comments?

Thanks Guys.

I've just looked at the carving tutorials that you posted links for.
At least he points out the gouge sizes
The first number is the sweep, the curve of the edge.
The second number is the width of the edge, from ear-to-ear.

Although "Swiss Made" is stamped into each handle, the real
company arrow logo stamped into the tool shank means 'pfeil' (German? Austrian?).

The standard shapes and sizes follow an old publication called the "London Pattern Book."
Sometimes known as the Sheffield System, you can read all the history and see it in
the history section of the Ashley Iles website.

Everybody thinks that they have a better way to do things.
In the LPB, #1 is a straight edge, #2 is a skewed edge but still flat.
Pfeil decided that, OK for #1, but the skews are #1S.
To them, a #2 has a slight sweep to it.
That's probably the "Swiss" system that's mentioned.
It jumps a step from the LPB.

Next, Pfeil makes a line of carving tools ( 'D' ) with shorter shanks and slightly smaller handles.
These mid size tools have exactly the same edges. The D8/7 is identical to the full-sized 8/7.

I have a few D series, they seem so dainty ( 'D' ??) compared with the standard sizes.
Hardly relevant, you wind up selecting the sweep and size to make the cuts that you need
and those tutorials are perfect examples.

I live in a humid area so use a well seeking bucket for my chisels. They slot into the base of an upside plastic flower pot. Cut to size. I have 4 or 5 inches of perlite and dry peat moss on the bottom that the basically chisels slot into. It has been completely dry for two years and solved totally the rusting I'd get in my semi-outdoor studio. I like pfeil, using mostly gouges. Love the low profile for cleaning, finishing.

image.jpg

Have recently added this to my collection -a jap hand machete. 6mm thick, so nice and heavy. One side sharpened. 90$. image.jpg

**NO AFFILIATION just though it may be of use.**Pfeil 25 Piece Chisel SET | eBay

Pfeil 25 piece chisel set. *This set is absolutely brand new and unused. *Bought in anticipation of a Tafe course that never eventuated. *All beautifully swiss made tools with traditional chisel roll. *A complete set of 25 tools that includes • one 80mm wooden mallet • two genuine Arkansas sharpening stones • honing oil • Brienz carving knife • 20 woodcarving tools Woodcarving tool profilesinclude the following sizes: • 1-16 • 1S-16 • 2-20 • 3-3 • 3-12 • 3-25 • 5-35 • 7-20 • 8-7 • 8-18 • 8-25 • 9-7 • 8A-18 • 9-15 • 7L-25 • 11-2 • 11-10 • 15-3 • 12-10 • 14-8

I looked at the eBay listing and noted that the chisels could not be picked up, but the other three (3) listings attributed to the seller, could be picked up. This I found more than a little strange.

To be honest, I got a feeling of disquiet in my gut when I read the listing. Not sure why, but it was and is still there!

Why can't anybody post the listing price without me fooling around to find it?

If that set was $15 - $20 per tool, it would be a good buy.
See for yourself, but the bigger gouges run $30+ here at 53N.
As a "jump-start" to a professional career as a carver, not so hot.
BUT, it appears to span much of the collection that I've made over the past 10 years.

Originally Posted by Robson Valley

Why can't anybody post the listing price without me fooling around to find it?

If that set was $15 - $20 per tool, it would be a good buy.
See for yourself, but the bigger gouges run $30+ here at 53N.
As a "jump-start" to a professional career as a carver, not so hot.
BUT, it appears to span much of the collection that I've made over the past 10 years.

Auction currently 9 bids to $217.50 with 21hrs to go.




*A complete set of 25 tools that includes

• one 80mm wooden mallet
• two genuine Arkansas sharpening stones
• honing oil
• Brienz carving knife
• 20 woodcarving tools


Ignoring the other items the chisels are about $11ea at this point. Those tool rolls are phenomenally expensive at carbatec on their own.
I'm not into carving myself, I'm looking for bevel edge chisels when I came across these.

Thanks for the numbers.
IMHO, fantastic bargain, even if you had to go $350-400.

Originally Posted by Robson Valley

Thanks for the numbers.
IMHO, fantastic bargain, even if you had to go $350-400.

It sold for A$465.