Thread: Please help with chisel reccomendations

Hi Derek,
I really don't think you can go wrong buying either Pfeil or Dastra.
There are some on these Forums, think because you buy a well known Brand it is a herd buy.
95% of the Carvers I know, use either of those makes.
Reasonably expensive, but if your browse around, The Sunday Markets, you may pick anything up, & most likely different Brands again, & cheaper.
Regards,
issatree.
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Thanks Issatree,
I am interested to know exactly which blade shapes I will need for this style of carving - V-tool, gouges with which radius and so on..

Thanks again.

Derek

Hi , Derek . When I have to carve volutes (I have included a pic. with a bit more of detail) , I outline it first with a V-tool , and then make vertical cuts with gouges that are close in shape and size to the volute itself. Unfortinately , that means you need quite a few tools (6-8) , some of them big and wide.... Then I carve the "bottom" part (hope you understand this better than I explain it) -with N 6-8 sweep of the desired width , here you can get away with just one or two tools. Of course , you can carve all of the vertical part of the volute with just a V-tool and a straight chisel -( a bit more work ). If you want to invest in all the tools to do this , my list would be as follos:

1. A 60º V-tool , of decent size (bigger is better here)
2.Gouges of sweeps 4 ,5, 6 ,7 ,8 and 9. If you have a place close to where you live to buy them (or you know a carver who lives cose) , my advise would be to draw the volute you are going to carve - I believe the size won't differ too much from one chair to another? - and choose the tools placing them verticali directly over the drawing , so the blade follows the pencil line.
Hope this helps.

Thanks Ivan that's good advice, I hadn't thought of drawing to scale to get the radius of the chisel required.

Derek

Yes Derek, Ivan definitely has the know how.

Now that you have a good answer, please allow me to hijack a little: Ivan, how did you do that line of beads? Did you punch the outline first? Thanks.

Frank , you have to carve the form , but with no beads first - a long , semi-cylindrical (is that the word) shape , going thinner at one end....erm , like a carrot sliced in half . Than you make a series of vertical cuts with a strait chisel along that carrot , so the spaces between the chisel marks are appr. sqare - it should look like a piece of chocolate at this stage - one strip of chocolate , full length. Now you repeat the chisel cuts , but with a gouge Nº 8 or 9 - each sqare starts to look like a cylinder how , and using the same gouge you start to round them along the lenght , too - using the gouge as a back-bent one , that is , bevel up. All that's left now is to clean the triangular piece of waste between beads with a straight or skew chisel

.... Now , let me read this to see if I understand it...

Very clear Ivan, I wish I were that clear in explaining myself. Much appreciated.