Tool selection for Beginner

[Reed]

Hello Everyone,
I am new to the board and wood carving and about to purchase my first tools. I am leaning towards the Pfeil brand from everything I have read. Is is better to buy a set or buy seperate tools and build a set with whats most needed?
Anyone know of and beginner carving courses in CT.?
Thanks,
Reed

[Claude]

If you're a beginner, I'd suggest the Beginner's Kit from Rick at Little Shaver Beginner's Carving Set at Little Shavers It has all the tools you'll need to get started, including a carving glove, and it's priced right. Even better, all the tools arrive sharp! After you've tried a few carvings and really decide you like carving, then is the time to buy some full-sized chisels, more knives, speciality tools, etc. There are some who will disagree with me, and that's ok, but I just want to mention that the cost of the beginner's kit from Rick is about equivalent to TWO PFIEL GOUGES. For things to carve, get a subscription to Wood Carving Illustrated - each issue has a carving for a beginner. Also you can look through the posts in this forum at Wood Carving Tutorials - Woodcarving Illustrated Message Board and at Wood Carving for Beginners - Woodcarving Illustrated Message Board

Welcome to the forums, and good luck with your carvings!
Claude

<edit> forgot to mention... look over on the left margin, under Carving Community, and click on Club Search. Put CT in the pulldown and a list of carving clubs in CT will apperar. Attend a meeting or two, ask questions, see what tools they are using, and ask why, etc. Well worth the time.

[Gulf Coast Handyman]

Claude gave you a great place to buy if you are going to buy a beginners set, or one tool at a time. If I was just starting out I would buy one tool at a time. Pfeil is a very good brand, I have several and use them often. Another brand that I think is worth taking a look at is Welcome to Drake Knives.com, in my opinion these are great tools. Drake makes knives, gouges and v- tools, they all come sharp and are easy to keep sharp. Good luck and welcome to the forum.

Dave

[Gulf Coast Handyman]

Some more great knives : Ralph Long, Allan Goodmen and Dave Lyons Knives at Little Shavers

Dave

[chuckt]

Reed -

You may not realize it but that is not always a simple question because it is somewhat dependent on what you're looking to carve.

As a brand - Pfeil tools are generally excellent - as are many other brands. I myself have a nice collection of Pfeil (aka Swiss Made) full sized gouges that I invested quite a pretty penny in through Woodcraft. There are other brands that are also very good like Ashley Isles, Two Cherries, Stubai, etc. In general it is NOT a good idea to buy sets - but rather purchase specific tools for your needs. The catch 22 here is - your needs. Most beginners don't know what they need - thus the question.

If you are looking to get into carving though, you need to think about a few things with the main one being:

WHAT are you interested in carving to begin?

If you are looking to carve caricatures or do bark carving, or just carve some small Santa ornaments, woodspirits in hiking sticks etc., then the advice to look at Rick's Little Shavers beginner set might be the least expensive most basic place to start.

However, if you are looking to carve relief carvings, sculptural "in the round" carvings, architectural or furniture decorative items (moldings, fireplace surrounds, furniture elements, etc.) then full sized gouges are what you want and you'll need to be prepared to invest in high quality tools and the means to sharpen them.

You should do a search on this site for "Beginner Tools" threads (there's a LOT out there). If you think that full sized gouges and those carving items are what you're interested in - I'd recommend reading an article by Mark Yundt on his blog here: Tools I Can’t Live Without Fiebig and Yundt Woodcarving

Again - there are pretty widely varying (and I might add contentious) views on this topic - but I think you owe it to yourself to be exposed to all these perspectives before you spend your hard earned dollars. The VAST majority of the folks here will be in the "whittling" (not meant to be a perjorative) - ie - hand held, carve with a knife and maybe some palm gouges camp. But some are interested in carving relief carvings, or sculptural carvings where the work is clamped down securely with two hands on the tool approach. (aka - classical european carving) And some (like I was) are interested in BOTH and have both types of tools. You should listen to all persectives on this (in my opinion).

Regards,
ChuckT

[markken5889]

Hi Reed,

I don't know where in CT you're in, but if you check Woodworking Plans & Tools | Fine Woodworking Project & Supplies at Woodcraft you can check on their store locator. There are 2 in CT and one in W.Springfield MA (that's the one I go to).

I like the Pfeil gauges alot myself, although I'd recommend you buy only the gauges you'll need rather than a set based on what someone else thinks you might need. Yup - it's a little more expensive to pick them up one at a time, but in the long run you'll be saving money as you won't be getting tools you don't use.

Welcome, and good luck!

Mark