Thread: Advice on carving chisels please

Googling around the net will find some info.
http://www.carvingpatterns.com/#ONLINE TUTORIALS

This site is very commercial and chocablock full of ads.
I dont know if the products are any good but the tutorials should help you pick up the fundamentals easily.
The tutorials start halfway down the page.

This is copied from the carving patterns website

Raymond Teicher Describes Various Australian Woods He Has Used
For Carving.

Thanks Ray!
Here in Australia, we are fortunate in having a fair range of woods available for carving, some of our woods that were once classed as common I have seen in some carving books referred to as exotic. How it works is the result of human nature wanting what we can't have or readily get. When I see you guys in all the American Woodworking mags building furniture out of Cherry, I go green with envy as the rich pinkish glow really gives it an exotic touch.

I have carved in mainly Hoop Pine (Araucaria cunninghamii), Red Cedar (Toona australis), White beech (Gmelina leichhardtii) & Padauk, Andaman (Pterocarpus dalbergioides) to name a few, the main ones that I use. It seems to me that the harder the wood, eg Lignum Vitae, whilst very heavy to carve because it is one of the densest woods known, compared to stone or rock, it is like butter, so we have the situation where it is really a matter of grain and colour (and availability) that determines what we use. We should not be put off by most species. I find with Hoop pine which is good to work with because it is very lightly patterned with grain, and can be bought in large slabs at a reasonable price. What is needed here is care in chiseling, a surgically sharp tool is needed at all times as any heavy handed use of the mallet will crush the fibres of the design and then it is an extra 1/16" to 1/8" at best, extra wood needs to be removed to get a sharp edge. And with a large background I find that the nice effect of varied gouge direction is sometimes difficult to attain as the grain can change direction and you have rip out just when you had the thing almost perfectly finished. A slip with a rotary device, likewise can mar an otherwise perfect finish and one needs to go very carefully to attain fine detail. c.f. padauk, you can really be a lot more careless and get away with it as it is a firmer wood. I find that with fine detail in Hoop pine, eg, the talons of my Owl chasing a rabbit into the briar patch (he he, we have 'em too, but we call them blackberries) can be soaked with Super Glue and it ends up tough as all get up and is somewhat like carving micarta or ivory. It does darken the wood though so if you are going to oil the finish it is OK. I tend to oil the subjects of the action and wax the background and it gives a somewhat interesting finish. If the whole piece is oil finished then the darkness of the talons is not noticed. I am at present experimenting with different types of glues to get one that is liquid enough to be soaked up by the softer woods but does not change the colour too much. If the carving is left for a year or so, or alternatively left in the sunlight but in a cooler situation so you get the ultra violet light without the heat, the wood darkens to a smoked yellowish colour, the time in the light determining the shade. It is easy to inspect progress by simply turning the work over and sanding an area on the back to get an idea of progress.

Hi Richard,
I haven't used either brand you mention, but regularly use Pfeil brand, from Switzerland, and like them a heck of a lot! The only thing that has gone wrong was I split a handle pounding a large gouge into hardwood The set (with a roll) available from Carba-tec are a great starting point, and only marginally dearer than buying each chisel seperately. The other carving tools I have are Kirschen, from Germany, and I would consider them even superior, but not as commonly available. The finish on these is superb, absolute mirror polish. I believe Hirsch brand are made in the same factory, but don't appear to be quite the same quality. I only have one of those.
Cheers,

Hi Bob and Andy

thanks for the replies. I have saved the link. Looks like there are some good tutorials. I just found this link too...
http://www.chrispye-woodcarving.com/index.html

I'll look into those chisels at Carbatec. The alternative is importing from the US I suppose. Do you really need an array of sharpening stones for the different shapes?

Richard,
I'm not a sharpening expert and as a self-taught carver, what follows is my method!
I use one of these conical types http://www.carbatec.com.au/store/ind...7500_7520_7560
which allows different profiles to be slipped on the one stone, although probably not suitable for really small gouges. For most gouges, which have the bevel ground on the convex (outer) side, I don't think its essential to have a shaped stone...expecting feedback on this statement!! ...as the sharpening action I use is a rolling one, side-to-side. The hard thing is to keep a consistent angle as the tool is rolled. Therefore it can be achieved on a flat stone even, but the stone will be spoiled for working flat chisels and plane blades due to uneven wear. I finish all sharpening with a quick buff on a cloth or felt wheel, which contours well enough whatever the profile, convex or concave.
Cheers,

I have been on Ebay this week because I have been under the weather.
I have noticed that there are a lot of very good carving tools on Ebay that are located in Australia and England. Stabui, 2 Cherries, Buck, Sorby, and dozens of great brands. Most of the older ones have very good steel. When I find them I will copy them and post them here. Or you can type in chisels on Ebay.

Originally Posted by sailingamerican

I have been on Ebay this week because I have been under the weather.
I have noticed that there are a lot of very good carving tools on Ebay that are located in Australia and England. Stabui, 2 Cherries, Buck, Sorby, and dozens of great brands. Most of the older ones have very good steel. When I find them I will copy them and post them here. Or you can type in chisels on Ebay.

Thanks - had a look on Ebay and a few looked very good. I'll keep an eye out on the prices they go for before lashing out on new ones. There is a nice Swiss set at the moment. Hope you have recovered from your bug.

Andy, thanks for the sharpening suggestion. A single stone for gouges sound great to me. I have a diamond stone for chisels as well as waterstones so flat blades are no problem, although I haven't got a grinder - always figured I'd stuff the temper if I started to grind. I gather a leather strop is also used quite often although I don't know where you get them.

I know that this is an old Thread but check out .....

www.mytoolstore.com.au

This Online Store has now become a major distributor for Two Cherries Chisels and he is listing more and more products all the time. He has listed a few of the extensive range of KIRSCHE (Two Cherries) carving sets and is listing more all the time. He will some be stocking / supplying the entire range of carving tools !

All at extremely Cheap pricing.

Cheers, Ed

Richard

I do furniture restoration/repair work. I also have a set of Pfeil carving chisels. I use them mainly when creating a replacement part that has carving on them. I'm not very good (self teaching) but so far they've done everything as well as I'm capable of.

I did have the chance to try several different brand of chisels at a woodworking show. Pfeil's felt best to me in the way they handled and cut.

Paul