Woodcarvers blade

[Mark Singer]

What is the best blade for woodcarving using an angle grinder? There is Lancelot, Kandal, Foredom....Some are chain saw teeth some like carbide blades.
Help is appreciated.

[Doug Shepard]

I don't have any first hand experience with any (or carving either for that matter), but last year I happened upon a guy doing a wolf carving (almost full size) on a tall stump in a yard in the neighborhood. So I stopped and watched for a while and got talking to him on one of his breaks. He was using the Lancelot. The guy was a real artist. The wolf is so lifelike, I can't walk my dog past this yard without her barking her head off at the wolf.

[Jamie Buxton]

Mark --
For doing things like carving out chair seats, I start with an ArborTech blade in a 4 1/2" angle grinder. The thing is scary. It has three big carbide teeth, and it removes lots of wood in a big hurry. Surprisingly, it is quite controllable. After I do the basic shaping with the Arbortech, I go to sandpaper discs on the same angle grinder. 100 grit usually cleans up the Arbortech marks.
Jamie

[Rick Lizek]

I have the Arbortech with the three carbide circular cutter, the Lancelot and Karbide Kutzalls. All are available at Woodcraft and the carving suppliers. The Lancelot is the most aggresive and leaves a chainsawn surface. The Arbortech leaves a smoother surface. The Karbide Kutzall is the least aggresive and more like a power rasp. More controllable and less liable to dig in by mistake.

What's the Kandal? There's a couple of others I've seen but that name doesn't ring a bell. There's a hoof trimming blade similar to the cheaper Arbortech but it's over priced in my opinion.

[Mark Singer]

I have the Arbortech with the three carbide circular cutter, the Lancelot and Karbide Kutzalls. All are available at Woodcraft and the carving suppliers. The Lancelot is the most aggresive and leaves a chainsawn surface. The Arbortech leaves a smoother surface. The Karbide Kutzall is the least aggresive and more like a power rasp. More controllable and less liable to dig in by mistake.

What's the Kandal? There's a couple of others I've seen but that name doesn't ring a bell. There's a hoof trimming blade similar to the cheaper Arbortech but it's over priced in my opinion.



This is from David Marks site....

<TABLE><TBODY><TR><TD width=115>http://www.djmarks.com/photos/carvingblade-tn.jpg </TD><TD vAlign=center>Sculpting Blade
Kaindl Woodcarver Gold Blade. Read about it and purchase it from us here (http://www.djmarks.com/kaindl.asp). </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

[Rick Lizek]

The Kaindl looks to be comparable to the cheaper Arbortech blade. I think you will find the more expensive Arbortech to be of better quality. You can rotate the cutters as it dulls. The Lancelot is easily sharpend by your local sharpening service or with a chainsaw file and the Karbide Kutzalls will last a long time before needing replacing.

[Rick Lizek]

We had a machine shop fab a 6" version of the Carbide tipped Arbortech. We were doing some cove cuts on a custom timber frame and the circular carbide cutters leave the best finish of all the rotary carving wheels. We did the initial test with a cuple of circular saw blades on our 7" Makita angle grinder. The saw blade worked but the finish wasn't as nice and it was a lot slower than an Arbortech blade.

[Mark Singer]

Rick,

Is this the better Arbortech? This is Amazon...


http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B0002IXKOS.01-A1DJ6SUVUT2VWZ._SCMZZZZZZZ_.gif (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/images/B0002IXKOS/ref=dp_product-image-only_0/002-1442826-5195252?%5Fencoding=UTF8&n=228013&s=hi) Share your own customer images (http://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-images/add-image-to-asin.html/ref=cm_ciu_pdp_add/002-1442826-5195252?%5Fencoding=UTF8&s=hi&asin=B0002IXKOS)

<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=small vAlign=top noWrap align=right>Price:</TD><TD> </TD><TD class=small>$79.00 </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days from Treeline (http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/seller/shipping.html/002-1442826-5195252/?seller=A1DJ6SUVUT2VWZ)

[Mark Singer]

This one is from Lee Valley and is about $110 of the blade and kit



http://www.leevalley.com/images/item/woodworking/carving/99t3101s1.jpg

[Rick Lizek]

Both are the better Arbortech. The more expensive one has the kit. We don't use the kit in our application. You can rotate the cutter inserts as it dulls. You should look at the Kutzalls as well. http://www.lroliver.com/
Haven't tried these yet... http://www.rotoclipinc.com/prod_logshp2.htm

[Jamie Buxton]

Mark --
Yes, that is the Arbortech I use. The shield stuff in the expensive kit is pretty useless. I use the device with the disc almost parallel to the workpiece surface, and sweeping it along. The shield just gets in the way.
Jamie

[Mark Singer]

Jamie and Rick thanks....I will add it to my LV order...

[Rick Lizek]

LV only sells it as a kit. I'd buy the cutter head seperately from elsewhere as I haven't had any use for "their" guard. It wouldn't have worked in any of my applications. I did initially purchase it with the guard however. I'd put the money toward kevlar gloves if anything.