Left handed

[Firebucket53]

I am new to to carving and looking for tools. Are carving tools made for right hand or will it make a difference?

Thanks for you help,

Bucket

[CarverFromNoWhere]

Welcome to the WCI Board Bucket, the majority of carving tools are either handed and it will not make any difference. The only place you might see left or right handed tools is with curved or bent knives. If ya have any more questions remember, the only dumb questions are the ones never asked.
Carl

[Jim-Iowa]

Most carving tools will work both ways. In fact I understand European woodcarvers are taught to switch hands and use them both ways.
I too am left handed, but living in a righthanded world we tend to adapt for the most part.Smile

[CarverFromNoWhere]

I have taught my left hand how to work and now I am ambi using either hand equally well and not just at carving.
Carl

[Irish]

I agree that new tools are not designed to be either left or right hands. But .... after time you might discover that your tools have taken on a bevel to the sharpened edge that is determined by your dominate hand.

As you sharpen you naturally use your dominate hand to guide the tools across the stones. I am assuming hand sharpening here. Without even realizing it your straight edges may becomes slightly off square.

When I inherited my father's carving tools I noticed there were a few that just 'weren't quite right' for me. It took awhile to realize his tools had a right hands bevel to the sharpened edge.

Over the years those tools now become lefties ...

My problem with tools has never been with left hand vs. right hand, it has always been with ergonomic grip handles. I do not know who's hand they use for the grip mold but whoever HE is he has a very big man sized hand!!!

I have a small to medium woman's size hand and I find that my pinkie and ring finger are streching to make the grib.

Personnally I avoid ergonomics with a passion.

Susan

[Ron T]

Hello and welcome, Bucket. The other hand tools with a left and right are the single bevel skews. Other than that, just jump in and remove some wood.

[TommyPhillips]

Forgive my ignorance, but I was assuming that bent knives came in two flavors because sometimes you just need the handle on the other end of the blade.

Although, now that it has been mentioned, I imagine that one variety might just feel more natural to left-handers than right-handers. And vice versa.

[againstthegrain]

I use my tools with both hands and it doesn't seem to matter. My hands get tired, so I switch up all the time.

[K Karver]

Welcome Bucket. Another lefty here. Not much difficulty finding enough tools to work with. Most folks end up having far more tools than the will use up in a life time, unless your some of the good folks on the forum - Lynn, Mark, ..... Enjoy the experimenting with new stuff to make the next project, whatever it it, work better, go faster, look cleaner, detail more easily. Again, welcome. John

[Mottles]

Hi Bucket, I'm left handed and haven't found a tool yet I couldn't work with...so I would say NO, it doesn't make a difference for me.
Kathy