[BobD]

Check out Chris Pye's website

http://www.chrispye-woodcarving.com/

He has some wonderful e-books on the subject. But in the Holiday issue, he condenses it into an article.

Basically, the inner bevel (a slight one, usually no more than 1/3 of the outer bevel) lets you flip the gouge over to shape curves without digging in too much and actually strengthens the bevel while allowing you to cut easily...

It lets me use the same gouge with basswood OR cherry...

Bob

[Paul_Guraedy]

I believe I would still start with the full size tool. It can be used in most of the circumstances where I might would use the palm tool and I am not sure that I would say the same thing in reverse. When I got mine, there was no choice, now they come in several varieties and I think I would like to have the convenience of different sizes.

There is tremendous temptation to pry with the curved skew; but, so far, I have not broken the point off mine. I sure would hate to not have this wonderful tool in my collection.

I am not concerned about the "wire edge" on the pfeil tools. Like I said, I will talk to them in advance and let them know that a tool not ready to carve would be unacceptable. The folks at KMS (where I have been buying mine) seem very nice and I don't anticipate a problem.

[Eleanor]

Just my 2 cents worth - I use a mix of Pfeil and Stubai, slightly prefer the Pfeils but they seem almost interchangeable. Had to return & swap one Pfeil big "u" cos the sides were uneven, so hand-seect them!

[Bartster]

i love my pfeils i use mainly palm tools, i just wish they had more sizes and sweeps in the palm tools.i would love to have some #11's in the palm tools made by pfeil.

bart

[mdallensr]

Part of the difference may be lower U.S. prices for Pfeil tools. Until Woodcraft lowered their prices last year, it was a lot cheaper to buy Pfeil in Canada. It's still cheaper, but the difference is a lot less.

Speaking of re-working carving tools, I just bought some Henry Taylor tools, and like most of what I see so far. I was disappointed in the bevel grind on a couple of tools. One #4 x 16mm fish tail was over 35 degrees and a #3 x 8mm had a double-grind facet on the bevel. All were "sharp" but needed final honing. Not a huge deal, but all of my Pfeil tools have come absolutely ready to use.

We were just commenting on sharpening systems in another thread, and this is when my Tormek comes in handy. I re-ground two of my new gouges, and honed all 8 of them in no time at all. Maybe Tormeks and some other sharpening systems are expensive overkill, but I'm still working and I'd rather carve than sharpen. I need to collect all of my carving toys before I retire......

[nadcarves]

Pfeil I don't pretend to know what is going on, but the early P chisels I had held an edge much better than a few purchased a couple of years ago..Doing a double bevel didn't work when carving cherry. I busted heck out of my tools....the Swiss made.. Stubai..I bought several.. Well , the first one, and said this is a bad tool..Bought several more and the first wasen't a fluke.. The ones I bought were too soft, hard to sharpen and didn't hold an edge....I finally gravitated to tools from the 1800's.. And, realize you all can't do the same, especially at the inflated prices.. I realize you all have your opinions..However, tools need to be thin, and hold a reasonable edge...May I suggest you consider the plain black, old ,ugly ,Henry Taylors..Place in Texas, larry ,big dog in davenport sells....First they are cheaper, second, double bevel, to get grind marks out of in cannel surface.. this will remove those nasty lines on your cut surface. Again a book,,,however you passing through Ohio's jungles and swamps, stop by..I'll be happy to look at your tools,maybe laugh, maybe feel sorry, but will do my damndest to get them to dance for you, Having said that, the pieces of crap that are coming for me to play with are HT's....Totally dumb.. Selling tools on e bay, went to check my e bay page, saw three chisels come up with less than a minute, cobbled in a bid, and , darn it got three more tools I don't need ..I don't even know if the seller ships to the US..