Newbie Says Hallo - recommended tool sets?

[jesswylde]

Hi folks,
Nice to meet ya! I'm a new member to this site, and also new to carving. I've got a Masters of Science degree, and am a writer, illustrator and educator. Normally I work in sculpture using plasticine for childrens books illustration, but am branching out to carving found wood, after pondering it for far too long. As I said, I am a sculptor and fairly confident with relief work, but I could use some pointers getting started with this new medium. Could any of the veterans here recommend a good mid-level carving set company that I should look for, as far as tools are concerned? I'm not looking for the cheapest out there, but also can't afford the 'Aston Martin' of tools - something more like the Cadillac of tool sets would be great!
Any advice or pointers are greatly appreciated - thanks for your time, guys!
-jess

[pallin]

There have been many discussions on this site of tool recommendations. If you do a search from the Tools part of the forum, you'll find lots of ideas. Or, at the bottom of this page you'll find a list of similar threads.

Being familiar with sculpture, the choices may be easy for you. My personal preference in carving tools is Pfeil - Swiss Made, sold only by Woodcraft in the U.S. You may also want to explore the recommendations for wood and sharpening.

[breezly]

i myself like flexcut comes with a good edge and variety of shapes and sizes but there is so many that are affordable but really comes down to personal preference.

[Dan Wegiel]

Welcome aboard Jess! There will be as many different opinions as there are tools, my only suggestion is to try a few and see which you like best. I agree with the advice of Phil and like Breezly I have several Flexcut tools that I use regularly and they're reasonably priced and take a pretty good beating. Really depends on what type of carving you're planning on doing and also the type of wood.

Dan

[bigEd_H]

Hi Jess, welcome to the forum. There are several brands of tools, Flexcut has already been mentioned. Gil Drake also makes some very good tools Welcome to Drake Knives.com .

[Mark Dellinger]

Jess,
Welcome aboard and good to have you with us.

Safe carving and God Bless,

Mark

[Riverman]

Hi Jess, welcome to the group!
Bob

[Gulf Coast Handyman]

Welcome to the forum. I use Denny, Pfeil and my favorite is www.drakeknives.com, Drake also has gouges, V- tools etc. All on his website.

Dave

[Texas Turner]

Being new myself I bought a set of those Smith & Wesson tools to get started and see what it is all about. Well, I should have saved the money. I now acquired a Pfeil 12 full sized tool set from Woodworker Specialties in Canada and am extremely pleased. I think I might enjoy carving to supplement my other wood working. I'm not disappointed with that purchase.

[Dicky]

Jer, I wouldn't throw those Smith & Wessons away. I got the same set carrying another name and faced the same disappointment as you. I found that the problems with these Asian tools is that a) the steel is far too thick and b) the grind angles are far too steep. I took mine and ground the angle down to about 20 degrees and then sharpened them up. They take and hold a pretty good edge. I don't think they are as good as British or European or quality Japanese tools but they are certainly worth salvaging.