Thread: Starting carving - what do I need?

For carving I would go for Pfeil as they are one the best carving tools around as they hold their edge and come ready to use, IE, you dont have to finish off sharpening them before you can use them.

Al

Look at a GMC Spin Saw, these are good for carving. They are like a large Dremel, care is needed when using them though. Triton has a similar bversion called the Spiral Saw.

Originally Posted by ozwinner

For carving I would go for Pfeil as they are one the best carving tools around as they hold their edge and come ready to use, IE, you dont have to finish off sharpening them before you can use them.

Al

Well said

Finnish ply, aka Baltic ply can be obtained in smallish sheets from radio control model aircraft shops - its used for wing spars & fuselage sides. I've bought a couple of sheets of 300x1200x3mm.

If you need thinner stuff, Lee Valley sell it in sheets a bit over 600x600, down to 0.8mm. As you won't have a catalog the direct URL is
http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.a...at=1,250,43217

WARNING: I'm not responsable for any damage to your credit card/s

And I'm not related unfortunately, just a happy repeat customer

Quality is what any woodworker needs. Chisels are like gemstones find the one you need use buy it & practice with it, when you need another buy another. I have found that cheap chisel sets sorry to say are cheap, the bevels are wrong & just dont hold an edge.
I gave up on carving because of cheap chisels & high prices.
I'm going to start with 3 quality gouges wide medium & narrow. I have found gouges to be very easy to use & satisfying.
The sharpening system below will save you enough money to buy your better quality chisels
You will not wear a groove in the glass like soft sharpening stones.
You will need several grits of sandpaper.
Check your particle board with a straight edge make sure its flat. Next buy 1/4" tempered safety glass.
I use black/ wet sandpaper on tempered glass. Spray only the sandpaper with a temporary bond spray adhesive. The glass is bonded to particle board. I used spray high bond adhesive on the glass & on the particle board to bond the glass to particle board.