Thread: Absolute beginner needs tool help, and more...

Hi all.
firstly my idea. I want to carve some Tikis for the door knobs of my car, and have never really done any woodworking to speak of (except school) and I was wondering what the best wood and tools would be to use.

The tikis ideally would be about 4-5cm high, and round, maybe 1-2cm in diameter. I tried carving some out of dowl and it seemed way too hard with the crappy tools i had, using old vinyl/cork tools (??) and I couldn't get accurate sharp edges.
This was my first try, which I painted and re-sanded, its a bit rough
tiki door knob link

I would like some advice on what sort of tools I'd need, at a reasonable price, and where I could get some ($$$??), and then an idea on the best kind of wood for finer detail and accuracy that this obviously needs.

any help would be much appreciated, thanks in anticipation.
Simon