Major Trouble with tool selection

[argoodoleboy]

Hello everyone,

My name is Colby and I live in arkansas. I have been wanting to get started in relief carving for a few years now but every time I look into I seem to get overwhelmed by the options in tools, wood, and so on. My big delima is palm tools versus mallet tools. In my area it seems like my most abundant resources for wood will be poplar, whitewood, and some walnut and oak. I just dont know if I would be able to use the palm tools on these or if it would require mallet tools. Any suggestions and I mean any would be greatly appreciated. I know this has been talked and re-talked many times but I still dont have a clear understanding as to what might be best for me. Thank you in advance, Colby.

[Donsexton]

I don’t do that style of carving but I do have some small tools for detail. I would think that you could do anything with full size mallet tools that you could do with palm tools but the same thing can’t be said about palm tools.

[Just Carving]

Welcome Colby

You seem to have a good handle on tools and hardwood. Bottom line is this--if you are carving more in the hard hardwoods then the soft hardwoods, then you'll be better off using a mallet, and hence, mallet tools.

Here's a link to a website that has a listing of the hardness of the hardwoods.

Janka hardness test - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

If you go to the bottom, you'll see basswood. That is the mainstay of woodcarving for caricatures, whittling, etc. As you go higher on the list, the wood gets harder.

I would say for walnut and red oak, you'd want to be using a mallet. I've carved both with a knife, and it's pretty tough on the hands.

Poplar is easier, and whitewood--which I take to be spruce--I have carved both whit knife, and can be done easily with either mallet tools or palm tools.

Hope that helps.

Bob L