carving tools

[A.Merrill]

    It's been a few years sense I have done any raised carving, so this maybe a good time to give full size tools a try. And I'm going to be using the scary sharp system .    Thanks again I really appreciate it...  AL

[Tim Crosby]

 Here is a link to the list of tools that Gary Brumfield asked students to bring. It may be of some use to you.

   Tim C.


  http://www.flintriflesmith.com/ToolsandTechniques/tools_carving_class.htm

[DaveP (UK)]

I'm going to be using the scary sharp system

I've been looking at the scary sharp system myself. Haven't done anything about it as yet, but I did come across suggestions that it might not be the best choice for gouges or for very narrow chisels because of the risk of corners "digging in" and ripping the sheets.
I had been considering gluing the sheets to shaped blocks of wood to get a perfectly fitted slip stone. Then I discovered what you can accomplish by using your gouge to cut a hollow in the face of a wood offcut and inverting it to round over a corner. When you apply chrome polish to the shaped wood and rub your gouge over it. It doesn't take long to get a respectably polished edge.
Its only for finishing an edge, not a full sharpen, but I thought you might find it of interest - if you haven't heard of it before!

[bama]

I have developed my set of carving chisels over the years to meet the needs of doing Rococo carving. Early on I bought Heinkel gouges and I went through them to try and get the ones that would make a complete scroll. I did a pretty fair job of picking them out as I am able to set in most of the scrolls and then relieve them. The ones I missed were the wider flatter gouges to make the long sweeps in some of the "C" scrolls. I try to cut these with a knife but one day I will get the chisels I need to do this with.

Along the way I picked up some the Pheil Chisels and these are really nice and they have the long shanks and handels. At first I did not know if I would like the long chisels but atfter using them awhile I found that I much prefer them to the shorter Hienkel's for actual carving. I still depend on the Hienkel's to set in most of the carving design.

The Hienkels have a heavier blade than the Pheil's so when you set in the design the bevel side of the gouge pushes the wood away from the straight side of the cut. This allows you to work up to the design without touching the straight part of the cut. This gives a much cleaner carving. Most carving that has what I call the fuzzies is due to the carver touching the straight side of the cut with the chisel as the wood is being removed to make the relief.

I agree with the others in that you can not cut a clean design if you do not have sharp chisels. I have stopped using arkansas stones and have went to the diamond stones. These are a little more expensive but cut so much quicker that they pay for theirselves in time saved. I also have a creamic stone and  leather strops that I use for the final polish.

I will post a picture of my carving tools later tonight in another thread.