[Revlis]

Well, after reading and reading about weather or not Flexcut is worth a darn. After scrolling through pages of discussions about various tools and manufacturers I figured the only way to know was to sample em'... I was all set to buy the 21 piece Flexcut Starter set before I began reading posts here, and realized that I might be stepping on my poncho strings, might end up without the tools I want.

So, Like a kid in a candy store I hit Woodcraft, Little shavers, and Woodworkers source.

Now I am not completely new to carving wood, but I am by no means seasoned. I have some basic wood skills, but not a lot of technical carving experience. I do have a couple of Marples gouges, a Two Cherries Gouge bigger, and a few small palm tools, not sure who made them.

Anyhoo, being all revved up and ready to go here's the selection I ordered Today in an attempt to cover my bases and give me a feel for what I am after.

From Woodcraft:

• Flexcut #3 3/8 Palm Gouge
• Pfeil #9 5mil Palm
• Henry Taylor #51 6mm Fluteroni??? Gouge
• Henry Taylor #41 10mm V-parting
• An 8-piece rasp set
• Microplane Round Rasp I will be doing a lot of piercing, could be handy.

Then From Little Shavers, they are local after all, and come well recommended:

• Helvie Detail Knife 1 1/4"
• Denny 5/16 V-Gouge Sounds like a don't miss
• Diobsud Med-Deep Spoon bend Gouge
• A Strop
• And thumb guard.

Yesterday while nosing around for wood I ended up buying a couple board feet of 4/4 Bloodwood and 5 board feet of 8/4 Genuine Mohogany from WoodWorkers Source. I have plans.

I think I did pretty good though I know I lost my head, regardless I should be able to narrow down my wants and needs toolwise from the above selection. We'll see and I'll be certain to give my "rookie" opinion of em' as I use them.

Now I gotta go pour some water on the Mastercard, it looks a little overheated.

Anyone see anything I obvious I missed but should try out? I appreciate any input and advice.



Rev

[AlArchie]

Not exactly what I would have chosen, and I won't fault your choices......but......GET A GLOVE!

Al

[Thor]

I'm guessing the pheil and the mahogany in the dining room.
Thor

[Revlis]

Originally Posted by Thor

I'm guessing the pheil and the mahogany in the dining room.
Thor

Pretty much!

Was planning on gluing em' up, giving me one 6 X 6-8 X 12 block to work with with a thin piece of bloodwood in the middle-ish somewhere. I'm not going to be breaking any new ground for myself skill wise on this, but I will be using all the new tools to see what I like best, what feels good to me.

It's the FEEL of hand carving more than anything else I think, and the beauty of the wood of course, but the feel first and foremost. That's what lead to such a random selection of tools.

[Revlis]

Originally Posted by AlArchie

Not exactly what I would have chosen, and I won't fault your choices......but......GET A GLOVE!

Al

Actually I'd love to hear where I may have mistepped or if I am missing something obvious to those with more experiance.

Without input, advice, or suggestions I may likely go down a road that's less traveled because the freaking bridge is out.

[AlArchie]

Like I said, I won't fault your choices....they all seem reasonable but wouldn't have made my top choices....I'm not sure about the utility of the fluteroni....I bought a maccaroni tool and still haven't figured out the advantage over a 1/2" #3 sweep and 60 degree V tool. And I wouldn't have gone with the rasp selection until I was sure I needed them. But your choices may be right on the money. Hard to say.

And I sure don't want to sound like a commercial, but Rick's beginners kit has all the right ones to start with.

As far as for full sized tools, for starters I went with a #3 sweep 25mm (1 inch) gouge, a #3 sweep 12mm (1/2") gouge, a #5 sweep 25mm gouge, and a 60 degree V tool. These 4 work well for shallow relief and some general carving. If you are doing smaller work, one of those palm sets will work, or better yet get the same sized blades in full sized tools.

You'll probably get a lot more on what is best to start with which is just indicative of the different styles and preferences of various carvers. Guaranteed, it won't be long before you're buying more, no matter what your initial purchases are.

hehehe...your last sentence reminded me of something. Years back I had a group of Scouts out at Philmont Scout Ranch in the rockies. It had been a really wet season and all the streams were swollen to torrents. At one spot in the trail we had to cross one of these and I had the scouts gathering large rocks to place in the current as stepping stones. One of the guys, a bit notorious for despising physical labor, dissappeared somewhere and when I noticed, became a bit worried. Shortly thereafter, he showed up on the opposite side of the stream. He had wandered downstream about 50 yards and found a bridge!

Sometimes the bridge ISN'T out!

Al

[Revlis]

AlArchie, that is classic... True Sometimes the bridge is not out, good stuff.

I appreciate the input, we'll see how it works out for me. I did some carving in college for about a year, fine art sculptural stuff so that is what I am planning on doing here, sort of re-aquaint myself by starting from where I left off, With a Medium Sized Mohogany Block.

I have no what a Fluteroni is, but it was on clearance at Woodcrafters and I remember Henry Taylor being good stuff, and I like good stuff. So we'll see. It's possible that I'll be backpeddling rapidly, selling what I just bought and buying Rick's Starter set.

I'm just excited, and startign to prowl around for a workbench.

Thanks again for the input.

Keith

[AlArchie]

Keith, a fluteroni is a shallow sweep gouge with the sides at a different radius. Unlike a standard veiner ( a deep sided U gouge) the sides are simply radiused differently than the sweep of the bottom of the gouge.

Henry Taylor makes excellent tools with a caveat. They even state it in their advertizing. They are delivered "factory sharp" and will need honing when you get them in order to get the best performance. When you get your
HT tool you will notice grind marks on the bevel. These are what you will want to hone out. I go over mine with a fine diamond pocket stone, then strop, either by hand or on a buffing wheel, untill I have a mirror finish on the bevel. Then I true up the inside of the sweep with a round ceramic slip stone, finished up again with either hand or power stropping.

There are many recommendations for the best stropping compound, but that will usually wind up as a matter of personal preference.....I happen to prefer simple jewelers rouge, but even at that, JR is the slowest cutting, but finest abrasive generally available. It does put the finest polish on the bevels. Other types (colors) cut more rapidly and leave a slighly less polished finish........not enough to make one iota of difference for all practical matters.

Al

[Revlis]

Well there ya go, Looks like I'll learn how to properly hone a tool sooner rather than later... Rick's is already sounding better.

Thanks for the info on the Fluteroni, I'll see what I think of it once I manage to get a decent edge on it.

I'm lucky in that Little shavers is just down the road, I suppose I can always mail em' my gouges that need honed, I'll pay of course, but it should be well worth it if I cannot manage.

Thanks again, I can tell that this board is going to be extremely helpful, I'll do what I can to contribute.

[Revlis]

Well my WoodCraft tool order showed up last night. Both of the Henry Taylor Gouges need some love though not too much. The Fluteroni is interesting, I'll leave it at that until I figure out what I would do with it. It definitely has a |___| shaped profile, interesting.

The Pfeil gouge is very nice and what I was expecting, sharp and ready to go. I am pretty sure that I like the Diobsud Forge Better from a feel standpoint but the Pfeil is very nice and cuts well.

The biggest surprise was the Flexcut gouge. I was getting pretty skeptical about Flexcut but I'll tell ya although it lacks the feel of the more expensive tools it certainly cuts with the best of them. I like the flex as well though I can see how this could turn folks off. I don't like the width of the steel near the handle though, would be nicer if it were a little thinner but then they wouldn't work right. They certainly aren't pretty though, and like I said they lack the feel that I enjoy so much from a high quality, well polished gouge. Still though they are inexpensive so I'll likely have a few on a bench.

So thus far the only tool I am not really over joyed with is the Denny's V-Gouge. It cuts just fine, but its not comfortable in the hand and the over all finish and build quality seem to be lacking.

The Helvie Knife gets a big thumbs up, works well holds a great edge though I did tweak the blade a little so it will be going back to Little Shavers for a touch up. Everything else is pretty much working well also, no complaints...