I want to acquire a somewhat limited, albeit adequate, set of carving tools. I really don't want to dive down the rabbit hole and end up spending a thousand bucks on Pfeil tools before I develop the necessary skills, and I certainly don't want to do it right off the bat and then realize I simply don't have the coordination to do this. I'm not 100% sure I have the right mind to think in three dimensions and actually carve in the first place, but I've been down the "I just can't do that" road before, and I'm going to give it a helluva try before I accept it's not for me.
So, with that in mind, I'm considering breaking my own golden rule and buying some cheap crap. There is plenty of cheap crap on eBay... like this:
Wood Carving Chisel Set- Professional Wood Carving Tools Deluxe 18 pieces wit... | eBay
So here's the question...
Let's say that I get those tools (or some similarly priced) and I regrind them and sharpen them (skills I have already and am confident with) and maybe I even replace the handles with something a bit nicer. How are these tools going to be significantly different from the pricey tools? Is the steel likely to just be awful and never hold an edge? For something like a mortise chisel or a plane iron I would see the reasoning, but these tools are likely to rarely see a mallet blow, or possibly never see one. If the steel is absolute junk, could it be possible to apply some heat treatments to it that would harden it properly?
Basically, is there any level of time or effort I can put into this cheap crap to make it just... cheap stuff.
What I DO NOT want to do is ruin the "getting into carving" experience by buying cheap tools that simply cannot be honed properly regardless of the time put into them.
It may be worth noting that my carving interests lie in furniture-related work only. Things like floral relief patterns, shells, mouldings, ball and claw feet, etc.
Thanks a lot for any advice.
Cheers,
Luke