In first place, sorry for posting what is no doubt the more common type of question on any forum.
A clueless beginner asking what to buy
However, at least I have somewhat a clear idea of what I wish to make, which makes the question slightly less generic.
My experience is limited to woodturning and whittling with a set of flexcut knives.
What I already have:
- some turning tools, of course, but no carving chisels, neither I have ever used one.
- a grinder, some limited experience in shaping tools and keeping them reasonably sharp, and stones, sand paper and strops enough to sharpen carving chisels too, I guess
- A bunch of wood, hard, soft, wet and seasoned, after a few years of scouting for any occasion to get some, I have more than I can use
- No band saw, chop saw and similar. I do all my roughing with chainsaw, hatchet and a few hand saws.
- A dremel with some cheap bits suitable for carving. I did not like using it much though, way too noisy.
- A regrettable beginner tendency to buy stuff without really knowing I will need it, and to hope cool tools will magically up for lack of skills and practise. Tempered by the fact I am quite low on cash right now, probably that's a good thing.
I want to try and carve:
1) Decorated and figure head pipes and pipe stems.
2) Boxes carved from a single piece of wood, with relief decorations and scenes. Pretty small stuff, no more than 4 X 3 inches and two inches deep. They are not exactly boxes, but close enough, here are some examples I like.
3) Chopping boards, up to 16 inches by 12. Not square-shaped. Here some examples
I also like the idea of carving in the round. I particularly like gargoyles and organic, flowing shapes But that is irrelevant in that, even if I would ever develop the skills, it would be years from now, so I am not looking for tools to do that.
As a beginner, I see a problem in that decorating boxes and pipes would perhaps call for small chisels, while carving out boxes from a single piece of wood and shaping the chopping boards would probably be faster with larger tools.
Again, I am a little low on cash, so I was wondering if one could do with say four or five chisels?
In turning, with a bit of ingenuity and patience one could do a lot with just a skew, an irish grind gouge and a parting tool.
Is it the same with carving?
Are there tools which are particularly versatile, if not as convenient as having more specialized ones?
Thanks for reading, again I am pretty clueless, I hope my questions make sense