I'd like to start carving, but I need some help on where to begin. For instance, where do I go to find the tools for carving? And what tools do I need to start off? My budget isn't high and I've not done a lot of carving, so any help would be appreciated.

Wyldnight

I'd give you some advice, but it would probably be wrong. Why don't you send an e-mail to rick@littleshavers.com with your questions, type of carving; in the round, relief, etc. What you budget constraints are and anything else you can think of. Bet you get good answers to all your questions.

The minimum a person needs to carve is a knife; everything else just makes it more enjoyable.
What you would like to carve will determine which tools you need.

Minimum tools required to make carving enjoyable in my opinion:

Chip carving: Two knives.

Whittling: Knife, gouge, and a V-parting tool.

Relief Carving: Bench knife, several gouges, chisels and V-parting tools.

Sculpture: Every tool you can find.

No matter which type carving you are interested in, you need some way to keep your tools sharp.
Safety should be a high priority however you carve.

Normally it will cost a beginner around fifty dollars to get started.
It can be much less if you know experienced carvers with tools they no longer use.

I started whittling/carving with a 3 blade pocketknife and a piece of pine board. I have since bought a bench knife, a chip knife, several chisels and gouges, and even made two of my own detail knives.

You can get a good bench knife for around $12 from a lot of the woodcarving suppliers on the net and decent gouges and chisels for $10-$20 apiece. Buy only the ones you need and beware of buying sets because you will end up paying more for the ones you use if you don't use them all. You will also need a way to sharpen and hone your blades.

[Ric]

.....and bandaids
Ric

I whittled along happily for years with only a pocket knife, two arkansas stones, and a strop. Then I found this site, asked for advice, and ignored most of it. Bought $200 worth of tools, turned into a tool junky. Here I am about 8 months later with over $1500 worth of tools and buying more .. . and loving it I might add. I always was a sucker for tools and books, and there's plenty of both in the carving world!!

[mdallensr]

I don't agree completely with avoiding sets of carving tools. You can buy a set of 12 Pfeil tools from KMS in Canada for about $200. You may end up with a tool or two you don't use much, but the average cost per tool is very low compared to buying them as needed. If you're going to do a variety of carvings, from relief to carving-in-the-round, you'll need a good variety of gouges and chisels so you can count on buying more than you find in a basic set of 6 or 12. It may be more important to determine 'how' you will carve, using palm tools or full size tools (or both). For caricatures, knives are at least as important as gouges, for example. This is another one of those 'it depends' questions and answers, but if you're going to be serious about carving, a good quality set of tools for the right price won't be money wasted.

First off, I would like to thank all of you for your help. I now have more of an idea of what to do. From reading all of the replies, I believe what I had in mind falls into the whittling category. I want to carve animals to start off with and, possibly, work my way up to the other types of carvings. I've seen pictures in WCI of relief carving and thought it looked very beautiful. But I know that being able to do that is a long way off for me. My real love is of animals and I hope to be able to learn how to make carvings of the big cats. Again, thank you all for the help you've given me.

I do have another question. I was told that I might be able to find the tools (like gouges and v-tools) at Lowe's. Does anyone know if this is correct? Or where I might go to find such tools?

Wyldnight

I really can't say about Lowe's. I have seen tools at Wal-mart and some hobby and craft stores.
Most are sold under the 'Walnut Hollow' brand; and are made with quality steel. Use caution in selecting the ones to purchase, some are not ground or assembled very well. Check the alignment of the blade to the handle; and look for equal thickness of V-tool sides. They may also need to be sharpened before using them.
They may seem expensive, but some stores offer 40-50 percent off on one regular priced item with a coupon. That is when I buy quality paint brushes!

The tools sold at Lowe's and Home Depot are the Buck brand. They have a set of five palm gouges for around $20. Although these could be fine tools, they are not ready for detail carving out of the package. They require regrinding and honning. A beginner could get very frustrated trying to carve with these tools if they don't know how to reshape them for service. I would recommend emailing Rick-in-Seattle from the previous post and talk to him about your beginner tools. He has a fine supply of great knives and carving supplies at a very good price. Plus, he will give you correct advice on what to buy and what not to buy as a beginning carver.

Ric