First try

[Greg Fecher]

I'm starting to make miniature statues and figurines. Could someone tell me what chisels I should get as a starting point. I just have an exacto right now. Thank you

[John K Jordan]

I'm starting to make miniature statues and figurines. Could someone tell me what chisels I should get as a starting point. I just have an exacto right now. Thank you

Greg,

A lot depends on your budget. I have a number of Flexcut chisels, available at WoodCraft, Rockler, Amazon, and elsewhere. They have sets or you can get them individually. These are far better than any X-acto blades I've used. I can't help with which specific gouges and knives that might be most useful to you - I don't usually carve little figurines.

Be sure to get a sharpening/stropping block and compound to keep the edge like a razor - I think Flexcut calls theirs a Slip Strop.

Will you be carving mostly soft wood (basswood, etc)? I sometimes carve hard woods like Cocobolo and such and I find a power reciprocal carver very useful. I like rotary carvers too - I use a couple of Dremel tools for lots of things but use the Foredom rotary tools for more extensive things.

BTW, for tiny detail where I need a knife I also keep disposable scalpels - sharp, cheap, throw them away instead of sharpening.

JKJ

[Greg Fecher]

Thanks for the suggestion. I was looking at the flexcuts but wasn't sure about them. And yes, I'll be starting with softwoods.

[James Nugnes]

In one sense you are way ahead of the game. You know what you want to carve. Since you are going to concentrate on relatively small carvings you can likely avoid virtually all of the big, wide skews and the big, wide and deep gouges. So I am going to use Swiss chisel nomenclature to give you a little help. You will want things like 11/2, 11/3, 11/4, 9/4, 9/3, 9/2, maybe an 8/6, 7/4, 7/6 and maybe a 7/10. You want a 12/8 and maybe a 15/3....both are v-parting tools.

Now you are getting down into the shallower gouges....a 6/5, 5/3, 5/8, 3/3, 3/5, 3/8, maybe a 2/3 and then a couple skews like 1/8, 1/3. You need at least a couple of detail knives to start as well.

You can look at the profiles of these tools and cut down on even this list to start with and you can compare the Swiss nomenclature with Flexcut and get the Flexcut versions of these things. Point is, you need none of the big stuff and actually can avoid a good deal of the medium stuff. Probably starting with 60% of the list above will get you by for a start. Just don't forget a couple detail knives. If all you have are gouges, skews and v-parting tools you will pretty quickly run into a cut relative to grain that you can accomplish much more easily and better with a knife.

Hope that helps.

I like having more tools than that but that is because once you get experienced enough tool variety = time. You end up knowing what each tool does. You know when you want to use it for a particular task and it save you tons of time while maintaining a decent quality level. But you can build up your tool kit as you become more experienced.

[Greg Fecher]

Wow that helps allot. Thank you very much. If you could give me one more but of advise, I need to whittle that down to about five or so to start off with. Any help would be appreciated.

[James Nugnes]

I am going to assume that your first carvings will be from commercially available patterns. So at this point if I were you, I would look at the instructions for the carvings you want to do initially and the carving passes you are going to make over the wood to make them. Scale down the list I provided above accordingly.

Right away, I would guess you can eliminate the two skews in my list and one of the two detail knives. That is three tools gone there. I suspect you won't be able to cut the list down to something like 5 tools just looking at edge profiles at this stage of things. But that is OK. By the same token you can likely get it down to something like maybe 8 total tools including the one detail knife. Some commercial patterns tell you what tools you need for a particular project. If that is the case you might just get down to 4 or 5 gouges and 1 knife for your first efforts.

I build my own patterns now...but I started with commercially available patterns. Occasionally I still incorporate some of those original patterns into the patterns that I make for projects. I can always tell when buried in one of the patterns I am building is some commercially available pattern that I originally purchased somewhere and I chuckle when I see a line or a curve that I know came out of one of those patterns. Artists throw away nothing. At least none of them I know throw anything away.

If you had not been thinking about starting with a commercial pattern I would suggest it...not because they are great. Some of them are not even what I would consider good. But they will give a new carver a way to get his bearings. You don't know what you don't know at this point right. So a set of instructions and/or a pattern can help eliminate some early anxiety over whether you are barking up the right tree as you are working on the carving. IMO, initially you want to concentrate on learning how to use the tools.....learning how the tool and your hands interact with the wood. You don't want to spend much time worrying about whether you are just going the wrong way altogether with regard to the actual project itself and a commercial pattern will save you from the kind of anxiety you likely don't need at this point. Just enjoy the carving strokes for now....the sound the tool makes going through the wood....the feel of the tool in your hand and the edge in the wood.

[John K Jordan]

Greg, this made me think more about the hand carving tools I use the most, these for the things I generally carve, not usually figures. I bought a number of gouges but some, like the larger gouges, I only use rarely

For a straight detail knife, I like this one from Hock, good handle, great steel.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003DPX2MM

I also have a good knife from a local carving shop, but I can't remember the brand. Besides handled tools, they also sell just the blades for those who want to make their own handles - I bought some of those, a lot cheaper.

Most of the time I reach for three or four tools besides the detail knife (and the scalpels mentioned earlier.) Sorry, I don't know the names or any numbers without going to the shop for a look. I use a straight chisel, perhaps 3/8" wide, a narrower skewed chisel, a couple of small shallow curved gouges, a small U-shaped gouge, and a little V-gouge. I don't know how these would work with figure carving since most of my carving is to enhance wood turnings, plus a few special spoons and things.

I'v never used a pattern - I just imagine, stare at the wood, sketch, cut outlines with the bandsaw or coping saw if possible, then carve. I made a little coping saw to use the spiral scroll saw blades to get into tight places. And, as mentioned, I use rotary carving tools too - if I didn't I would probably make more use of some of the other gouges.

BTW, my carving on woodturnings includes some chip carving, best done with a special chip carving knife. If you enjoy carving you might try chip carving at some point - all that really needs is one tool!

Note that I don't consider myself a real "woodcarver", whatever that means - just an occasional carver. If you are interested I can post a few pictures of some carved and chip-carved turnings I've done. I've posted these before but just in the Turning forum, I think.

JKJ

[Mason Truelove]

flexcut brand is the most durable one, morakniv is the most reasonable one it depends on the budget and your needs too:)

[Greg Fecher]

Wow! Thank you all. And yes I would love to see pics

[John K Jordan]

Wow! Thank you all. And yes I would love to see pics

Here are a few things where my carving blades have touched wood. (As mentioned, some of these were posted earlier.)

Bradford Pear, turned as in the second photo then carved.
355487 355489

Holly, carved with small gouge, "magic" wands and a rider's crop.
355494 355495 355492

Some coffee scoops. Used a blob of silly putty to get the volume right.
Cocobolo and rare Pink Flamewood from Peru.
355496 355497

JKJ

[John K Jordan]

Here are a few things where my carving blades have touched wood.

My first try chip carving on a turned object, finished and in progress.
Cherry, Walnut, Basswood.
So far I've stuck to a simple chip design.
It probably takes as long to lay out the design as it does to carve it.
355498 355499


Some ornaments, finished and in progress.
Basswood, Redheart, Walnut.
355500 355502


My first try at chip carving letters. A sign for my shop.
Basswood.
355504


A "Beads of Courage" lidded bowl/box.
Cherry, Basswood.
355505


My first (and only, so far) practice boards. This also shows the two knives I use the most.
Chip carving on flat wood is MUCH easier than on turned things!
355507


I have some other things too (chess pieces, free-form, sculpture, jewelry) but don't have pictures.

I get great satisfaction from carving wood. I enjoy turning and some flat work but there is something special about carving that makes me feel closer to the wood. I did my first carving in the '60s and still have the scars on my left hand. :-)

BTW, if you need basswood, I found it quite reasonable to order from Heinecke in Wisconson.
http://www.heineckewood.com/
I ordered four 4' long planks from 2" to 4" in thickness and very good prices, especially compared what was for sale in the carving shops. They shipped UPS at a surprisingly reasonable cost. They sell the high quality fine-grained Northern Basswood.

JKJ

JKJ

[Greg Fecher]

Excellent work James!

[James Nugnes]

I think that is John you want to congratulate there. JAMES would not know a lathe if it hit him over the head. Well I do know what a lathe looks like. But I do not use one in my work at all. You are right though...those are really nice pieces.

[Greg Fecher]

Shoot, you are right. Sorry. Great work JOHN lol.

[John K Jordan]

Shoot, you are right. Sorry. Great work JOHN lol.

Thanks, no problem, I knew what you meant! Good clean fun.

I hope to see some carvings of some Greg figurines soon. I would like to carve some birds some day - I've done plenty of drawings but never a carving. And I made sketches of a llama carving I want to start on, "any day now."

I meant to point out Bill Johnson's web site to you - he lives not far from here, carves aquatic things from basswood then enhances with chip carving. Incredible work. I especially like the compass rose on the turtle.
http://www.carolinamountainreefs.com/index.html

JKJ

[Greg Fecher]

Just ordered a set to get started so I'll keep you posted. Thanks again for all of the help.

[Greg Fecher]

got the tools, now lets try this!

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/picture.php?albumid=4660&pictureid=68978

[Jeff Zihlman]

As someone contemplating dipping a toe in to the world of carving, thanks to everyone for posting and the responses. I thoroughly enjoyed this thread!
Jeff