Recommend wood working tools

[HardBall]

I'm trying to acquire the basic woodworking tools I'll need to build my first flintlock rifle, a Jim Chambers kit.

TOW has Solingen and there's also Mascot and Swiss Made brand tools.  Can anyone recommend one of these brands, and which specific tools I'll likely need for finishing the rifle, and doing some simple incise and relief carving?

If it matters I plan to practice carving on maple stock scraps first.

[Eric Smith]

Many people recommended Phiel chisels and gouges when I became interested in buying some woodworking tools, so I went with them. I have not regretted it.

[HardBall]

Thanks, E.  It looks like Phiel makes "Swiss Made" brand tools mentioned in my carving DVD.

[heinz]

Hardball, the first step is to learn how to sharpen the chisels and gouges id you are going to be working on maple or walnut.
I Have Pfeil gouge which E Smith noted is a very good product.  You can by them from Lie Nielsen who also has some sharpening equipment and some excellent tutorials on their You tube site on sharpening techniques.  Mr Lie Nielsen also has a book he wrote in how to sharpen almost anything, but I am presuming you need help in that area and you may not.
I have an older set of Millers Falls carving tools that are OK but you need to sharpen them often, or at least touch them up often.
I have a few antique gouges and chisels, Wade and Butcher is always very good, Buck Bros. are excellent.  Anything made before the second world war in the better hardware store brands like Eversharp, Pexto, or the hardware store grade Stanleys can be sharpened to give good service.
Do not overlook getting several good planes for smoothing work.  Lie Nielsen has great products and they are priced accordingly.  Old Stanleys in good shape in the smaller sizes can be found and tune d up a bit.  Veritas products are also good and you can see them reasonably priced on the Lee Valley Tools website.
Have fun, get a really good black Arkansas stone to keep things sharp as you use them, an a box of good bandaids

[HardBall]

I've got a DVD by Jack Brooks on incise and relief carving.  The DVD starts out with him showing how to sharpen his tools.  Upon my first viewing, I thought he was spending a lot of time on sharpening... I was expecting carving.  By the time he got to relief carving, however, I completely understand why he first showed the viewers how to sharpen their tools.

[Habu]

Offhand, I know I've got Pfeil, Dastra, Millers Falls, PS&W/Pexto, and Addis . . .  of the better modern stuff, Pfeil and Two Cherries are the easiest to source.  Dastra can be more difficult to find (but I like the handles).  Older stuff: Addis seems to have a collector following, but Millers Falls and PS&W (Peck Stowe and Wilcox I think, later "Pexto") are both good.  Buck Brothers varied over time--I have some later Buck Brothers chisels I re-ground into screwdrivers.  My trigger-inletting chisel is an 1/8" Wade and Butcher mortise chisel (of the type sometimes called a "pigsticker"). 

Whatever you get, start with a basic set (maybe 1/8", 1/4", 3/8", 1/2", 1" chisels and 1/4" and 3/8" gouges), then fill in as you need them.  And definitely learn to sharpen.  You can do more with a basic set of tools well-sharpened than you could with "one of everything" that are not sharp. 

[Eric Smith]

Sean, I have Jack Brooks DVD and it ia a good one. You might like Wallace Gusler's DVD in carving as well.

[HardBall]

I guess I'll end up getting Pfeil.  On Jack Brooks carving DVD he lists twelve tools for most carving needs.  I'm going to make a list of those and perhaps narrow it down a bit further.

There's several other carving engraving dvd's that I want to get.  I imagine each will have their own tool suggestions.

[Don Tripp]

I have Pfeil, Two Cherries and Henry Taylor brand tools and other cheaper stuf that does not compare. A Stanley Sureform is handy to have. The best $1.99 that you'll ever spend will be for an Xacto Knife.

[Acer Saccharum]

For carving, read this post for some simple tools: http://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?topic=12.0

[Acer Saccharum]

Start simple, and build on your tools only as you need them. One can easily talk oneself into to buying too many tools.

[Dr. Tim-Boone]

I have also foundf these micro chisels to be helpful.

http://www.woodcarverssupply.com/Micro-Tools/products/103/

[HardBall]

For carving, read this post for some simple tools: http://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?topic=12.0

Thanks for the link, Acer.  Creating the line that follows the bottom of the stock, tapering, from the toe to the rear of the trigger area is very important to me; I love the looks of it and if I can do no other "carving" on my first rifle I at least one to have that, along with a line following the forearm along the ramrod channel.

This is the Chambers kit I'll be doing and I'd like to recreate this one as close as I can to the pictures.  I love the spartan carving work on this rifle.  http://www.flintlocks.com/RK-13.htm

Only one of my DVD's describes how to do this line, a Jim Turpin DVD, and he really only touches the subject.  One of my books, Art of Building the Pennsylvania Longrifle also touches on how to do this line, but not in much detail.

I have another book coming Recreating the American Longrifle and a 3-dvd set from Ron Ehlert.  These may describe how to do this "line" a little better?

I spoke with a gentleman from Pecatonica Rifle Supply and he should have some more stock "scraps" in a few weeks.  I'm going to buy some of these leftover scraps in maple to practice carving on before I dig into my actual rifle stock.