NEWBE- Handcarving vs. power carving

[Steve Rost]

I have been a woodworker for over 30 years and I am ready to challenge myself again. I want to build an 18th century pie crust table complete with the carvings. I have done a little chip carving and whittling but nothing to the scale I am attempting. I have a dremel but no hand carving tools. I think I need to learn traditional hand carving techniques, but I have always loved power too. Don't think the dremel will do what I need and am looking at power carvers. Please push me in a direction, hand tools or power?

[randall rosenthal]

i find it easier and more satisfying to rough out with hand tools and do some of the finish work with power tools. dremel's and the like are fine for detail work but pretty impotent for any kind of scale. my advice is to practice with hand tools and see how close to the finished product you can get. you might be surprised.

[Stan Smith]

Quite some years ago, I bought what I call my "poor man's Foredom." I wanted to get into power carving but couldn't affore the more expensive tools. I also bought a couple of Dremel type units. I really enjoy hand carving the best. I just feel like I have more control. I also bought a lot of hand carving tools but seem to use my flexcut tools the most. I've always admired folks who can do chip carving, but I have absolutely no desire to do any of that. Good luck with your search.

[Darryl Hansen]

I'm really a turner but wanted to get into some carving on my turnings. I watched a demo by Dixie Biggs and was amazed at what she does with power tools. On her suggestion I bought a Power Carver that runs at about 30K RPM and that makes things much easier since it outperforms the Dremel and Fordom/Wecheer cable driven units. Runs less than $200 at Wood Carvers Supply. For me it was a super investment since I did not think I had the skill to learn hand carving. Of course the burs and tools that go with it do add to the cost but look at the prices of good quality hand gouges and the difference is minimal.

[Mike Henderson]

The grunt side of carving is the roughing out stage where you remove the majority of material to prepare the surface for the detail carving. Power tools can really help with the roughing out but you can't beat hand tools for the detail carving. Designs done with power tools for detail work generally lack fine detail and have rounded over edges. I'm not saying you can't do fine detail with power tools but all the work I've see that was done with power tools looks like someone took sandpaper and sanded all the fine detail out of the carving - everything is rounded off.

And, of course, it all depends on the look you want in your carving.

Mike

[For certain things, you can combine turning and carving. With a symmetrical design, you can rough out the surface on the lathe and finish (detail carve) with hand tools.]

[randall rosenthal]

mike.....i guess its what the subject matter is because for me its exactly the opposite. i do almost all the rouging out by hand and most (but hardly all) of the finish work with rotory tools. i've seen a lot of dixies' work and met her.....i have a similar approach to power tools. the bottom line is whatever works to get the job done. i'm not above gluing sandpaper to odd objects or the sides of hand saws.

[Steve Rost]

Thanks Guys. Waiting for the money. I am leaning for both power and hand tools. To have both seems the smart thing to do!