Carving gouges

[Jamie Bacon]

With Woodcraft having a 10% off sale this weekend, I'm thinking that it may be a good time to buy the Pfeil Swiss Made 6 pc. professional carving set I've had my eye on. Good set? Also, slip stones for sharpening these? Thanks for the input.

Jamie Bacon

[mike holden]

Jamie,
First you may want to ask this question in the carving forum as well.

Second, sets are not often recommended for carvers as what they want to carve determines the shapes they need. Sets rarely get this right, or even close.

On the other hand, the 10% discount is tempting, but I think picking four or five that fit *your* needs would be better - especially since the 10% applies to individual tools as well.

Mike

[Frank Drew]

Jamie,

I've never used these tools, but I've also never heard that they weren't good tools. But if you end up getting into carving in any way, your first six tools will be the least of it; professionals often have many multiples of that number in their kits.

[Ryan Baker]

I have Pfeil tools and they are quite nice. If the set contains tools that suit your needs, go ahead ... otherwise just buy the individual tools you need. Many of the carving sets ARE good selections for starting from scratch.

[Jon van der Linden]

There was a discussion about this not long ago on the carving forum. If you have specific projects in mind, there's a good chance you can do better than a set by buying the tools most suited to those shapes and sizes. If you're just getting it because you want to start carving, then a set won't take you too far wrong.

Once you're actually carving it will become more apparent what you need.

[Tom McMahon]

Cut 2 x 5mm - flat gouge
Cut 2 x 12mm
Cut 2 x 20mm
Cut 7 x 6mm - medium gouge
Cut 7 x 14mm
Cut 7 x 20mm
Cut 9 x 5mm - deep gouge
Cut 9 x 13mm
Cut 9 x 20mm
Cut 1S x 8mm - skew chisel
Cut 12 x 8mm - 60° V tool

This is what Chris Pye considers a basic set of tools. If the set contains some of these tools it is probably a good start. If the tools in the set are not on the list I would just get some of the tools on the list to start.

[Mike Henderson]

Pfeil are good carving tools, but others make very good tools also. Most of my carving tools are Pfeil.

Mike

[Kari Hultman]

Jamie, to sharpen gouges, I use slip stones, sandpaper wrapped around dowels, and leather charged with rouge wrapped around dowels. You can hone the outside on a flat strop by rolling the edge as you pull the tool toward you.

I agree with the above commenters that it's preferable to buy tools as you work on projects so you know exactly what you need. Also, by doing it that way, you can figure out which shapes of handles you prefer (short, long, faceted, round). That doesn't mean that buying a set is a bad idea. Only that you might find that some tools are more useful than others.

[Jamie Bacon]

Thanks for all the advice guys and gals. I went to Woodcraft this morning and was debating on the way there whether to go with the set or individual tools. I started out picking individual gouges out of the case, but the more I thought about it, the more I leaned toward the set of 6. There were 4 gouges in the set I wanted anyway and the other 2 seemed like they would be pretty useful as well. Haven't had time to put them to wood yet but am looking forward to trying them out. The next thing I carve will be the first thing I've carved. :)
I did however make a tool roll for them this evening. I'm no seamstress, but it turned out pretty well considering I was using my daughters I'm a Big Girl Now sewing machine. :) There's 19 slots in the roll, so I have room for some future expansion.

Jamie Bacon

[Harlan Barnhart]

Sounds nice. Pictures?

[Jamie Bacon]

Sounds nice. Pictures?

Hey Harlan. Couldn't figure out how to post the pictures here but I posted some on my blog. http://www.planeshavings.blogspot.com

Jamie Bacon

[Steve Schoene]

I'v taken several carving classes--Al Breed and Phil Lowe, plus another at the local Woodcraft. Interestingly enough, while each instructor had a suggested list of about 10 -12 tools, there were only a couple of exact overlaps. Of course, if you were designing your own carvings you would adjust the pattern for the gouges you had and not "need" 40 gouges. If you were doing reproduction work that had to be really right you might well need 100.

[george wilson]

My favorite carving tools are the Pfeils,and over the years I have accumulated many other bands,even going back to 18th.C. ones. The Pfeils are still my favorite.

I aways did small work, and for most of my younger life I had the set of 12 smaller size Pfeils. I used them to carve the lion's head violin necks(plus a few special miniature hook knives I made to get inside their mouths.

[Harlan Barnhart]

Thank you. Nice tools. I like your blog as well.