Flexcut Chisels

[Bob Hallowell]

I want to get a starter set of carving chisels. Mainly to do that door I posted the other day but would like to have a set for future use also. I was wondering if anyone had tried the flexcut system. I have seen them at the woodworking show before. And the price is reasonable but I like to buy decent tools and not junk so I want others opinoins. If not what other sets do you reccomend under $100 or so.

Bob

[Brent Dowell]

I've got a nice little set of the flex cut carving tools that use one handle with a bunch of little carving knives, gouges, etc. in a little roll up.

I'm more of a wood butcher/whittler than a carver and take them out on camping trips to turn little chunks of wood into crude renderings of fish, turtles, birds, that i like to leave at the camp site. Kind of my joke for the next folks.

They really seem to stay sharp pretty well. I got one of the little strop setups they have, with leather on the back, and a bunch of different profiles routed in the wood and a stick of flexcut gold.

Consider that my uninformed and amateur review!

[Matt Gumaer]

Bob,

I really like the Flexcut palm tools but I don't like their full size tools as well. For the size carving your thinking about from looking at the door (and thinking about furniture type carving in general), I think you'd be better off with full size tools. For those, I've got some Pfeil, Auriou, Ashley Iles, Flexcut and Henry Taylors. Depending on the particular tool, I seem to like different brands better (although I'm generally not a fan of the Henry Taylors that I have).
For recommendations for starter tools, you might want to try Chris Pye's website or his book. Alternatively, you could trace up the carving you want to try and take it to the store and try to determine which sweeps you will need to accomplish that specific project. If you a small starter set, you might find that it is not very well suited to carve your door.
I'm far from an expert. Just my two cents.

Matt

[Ralph Dobbertin]

I like Pfeil the best but I do have 2 flexcuts. I actually like the straight edge flexcut as it has a bit of bouce that I find is helpful in certain cuts. I do recommend that you buy a few different brands already mentionned above. I always go for the full size.

all the best

[Jim Becker]

I also have a few of the small palm tools from Flexcut and they are fine for what they are designed to do. I have not tried or used their larger tools...nor anyone else's for that matter. Yet. ;)

[Robert LaPlaca]

I don't own any Flexcut tools, so can not comment on them. But the one thing that I would suggest is carving tools are a lot like router bits, in that you are much better off buying the correct tool(s) for the job, rather than purchasing a set which may contain tools (or bits) that you may never have a need for..

[Bob Hallowell]

Thanks for the help everyone. I just won this set of miller falls chisel on the bay. I figured I could use them to figure out the sizes I need to purchase in better chisels.


Bob