[bbeery]

Thanks Y'all, sounds like personal preference wins! I presently have several blues and red Typoon burs and was going to add several more to the collection. Guess I'll stick with Typoon. Looked at the mini monster, may need to try one of those.

[susieq]

Claude,
I am very interested in that mini monster you bought..... Does it remove as much wood as the kutzall? Do you like it well enough to purchase the tapered mini monster as well? I went to their website and looked up the bit and am very intrigued. I may just have to try one. Do you wish you had gotten a tapered one to get into tight spots? Also, if you accidently dig in while carving, do they chatter and jump like a kutzall? You are right about them being pricey..... but they probably wear forever so if they work well it would be worth it.
Thanks
susieq

[falconer]

I guess what it boils down to for me is what I want to do with the bit. For most of my lifesize eagles I use a 1/4 shaft course Typhoon bit in my die grinder(with a face shield). But, for my songbirds I use a 1/8 shaft ball Typhoon in my Brasseler. I normally use the Kutzal for clean up most of the time. Keep in mind that I use these bits on a daily basis and have never had problem one and saftey always comes first! .

[falconer]

One more thing. In my seminars I always insist that my students get used to those types of bits before use. They are givin scrap wood to get the feel of it before putting it to the cutout, and I talk saftey and show them the scares to backup what I'm saying. You should always,always,always think saftey!!!!

[Donna_T]

For roughing out carvings, I prefer silver Kutsall bits--the bigger the better if the carving is a bird or bigger. I do like the blue Typhoon to rough out, too. I've got a fairly large bullet shaped blue Typhoon burr that lets me remove wood and shape too. The gold Kutsall doesn't seem to leave the deep gouge grooves that the silver does, but when I'm carving totally with power, I just use a sanding drum to clean up the carving before getting down to details with finer burrs.

Like the others have said, it's really about what works for you and what you're carving. Try them both (it doesn't seem like the Typhoon gets clogged as quickly as the Kutsall.)

Donna T

PS I like to use a leather glove on my "holding" hand when I'm roughing out with these burrs. Have had some pretty deep gouges in fingers to support that life lesson.

[bbeery]

Ya Donna, I got a really good scrap yesterday across my thumb with a red Typhoon. The Typhoon always wins. Forgot to put on the glove which is really STUPID! I'll go along with that rule "saftey first"

[Alice in Wonderland]

I have discovered that Typhoon burs as well as those lovely sanding disks :-) are available in Ontario from
http://www.chippingaway.com/ a very reliable firm and if you check out their website there is large selection of just about everything a carvers heart desires, "Pop" is very glad to help if there are questions to be answered.
I hope this helps somebody??
Alice