Carving Machine/Tool

[Irish Bird Dog]

The foredom type power carving tool is out of my price range. I do have a Dremel tool (variable speed, electric) with a flexable handheld head attachment. So, what do I look for in tools to use in that unit? I have a small sanding drum, a few different shaped "burr" type steel cutters & a tiny circular sawblade from the dremel kit. For example to reduce wood fast to get to the base lines what would be a good tool for this type of power tool? Sanding tools to speed up that phase of work.
Thanks for any input.

[Donsexton]

Go down to Harbor Freight they have the cheap side grinders $15.0 and buy yourself a pile of 30 grit sanding discs. You will need some disposable dust masks and safety glasses and ear plugs. All this should cost you around $30.0 give or take. Before yall start telling this member all the great and wonderful tools he should buy remember he has a limited budget. That 30 grit disc will cut nearly as fast as a $70.0 Saburrtooth disc. You should go ahead and get the one year no questions ask return on that grinder as well. Now you can use and abuse it another good tool for fast roughing out is a Sawzall or reciprocating saw. You can get a new cheap one at Harbor Freight or a good used one at a pawn shop. Another good tool for fast roughing is a small electric chainsaw $70.0.

[PerpetuallyNewCarver]

Listen to Don he know what he is talking about. I got to go out and visit him and see it for myself first hand. The tools he said work great.

[Irish Bird Dog]

Originally Posted by Donsexton

Go down to Harbor Freight they have the cheap side grinders $15.0 and buy yourself a pile of 30 grit sanding discs. You will need some disposable dust masks and safety glasses and ear plugs. All this should cost you around $30.0 give or take. Before yall start telling this member all the great and wonderful tools he should buy remember he has a limited budget. That 30 grit disc will cut nearly as fast as a $70.0 Saburrtooth disc. You should go ahead and get the one year no questions ask return on that grinder as well. Now you can use and abuse it another good tool for fast roughing out is a Sawzall or reciprocating saw. You can get a new cheap one at Harbor Freight or a good used one at a pawn shop. Another good tool for fast roughing is a small electric chainsaw $70.0.

Hello Donsexton,

I have drooled over the on line catalogs of all the neat tools for carvers.....pretty spendy for a beginner, gotta get my "feet wet" first to see if this will be a lasting hobby....then see if the $ can be found to upgrade equipment/tools for this specialty.I actually have an angle grinder if that is what you meant by a "side grinder". I can certainly find those 30grit discs someplace. No Harbor Freight with 100 miles but can order on line. Have sawzall too...never occurred to me to use either of those tools to hog out lots of unnecessary wood. Will check my stock of sawzall blades to see what would work. My band saw is too small for the 10"x10" basswood blocks I have, not 'nuff throat to fit 10" under.

Very new to this carving stuff, will need to improvise as learned from your post. I don't necessarily need specific dedicated tools to do a job it seems. I should mention I have only "carved" one lone, tiny, 5"lg duck that actually looks more like the "yellow rubber ducky" for the bathtub. Carving experience is virtually nill, non existent. Best I can come up with as "experience" is I have made 4 self-bows from staves. There we use a large bandsaw (school shop) to hog out the extra wood, then down to scraping, sanding etc to find the finished bow under all that wood.

Thank you for responding to my query. I appreciate your taking the time.

Irish Bird Dog

[Dileon]

I use my sawzall for cutting logs, cutting down trees, cutting out roots...it is the most used tool I own. I use good carbide bits in my rotary tool and the sanding bands.

[Rustic Rick]

I think what you are looking for is some different burs. Right? Then Kutzall has burs that will fit your hand piece. If you can remove your hand piece you may be able to upgrade to a foredom or weecher hand piece. The sizes you are looking for int the shaft is up to 1/8 inch. Woodcraft also sells a set of burs ranging in grits. Hope this helps.

[Inadv]

IBD: As a general rule most of teh Dremel accessories that come with the tool itself are borderline junk. With that said however you can still get some utility from them and see what sizes/shapes work best for your style of carving. No two people will will follow the exact methodology to produce the same or very similar results. That is the beauty of any art medium. Use the tools you have and try to envision a bur or bit that is more coarse, or has a different shank diameter or length. Make a list and then go shopping for what you think will get the job done. I usually buy 2 - 4 burrs at a time, and almost never in sets. It seems that when I do but a set a few of them will almost never get used.

Don is giving you great advice. Keep your mind open to whatever might get the work done quickest and easiest. I still surprise myself with a tool now and then which does a fantastic job at getting waste wood out of the way in a minimal amount of time! Nothing is sacred, and everything is on the table!!

L.P.

[Sharon of the Dell]

You can do a lot with the dremel high speed cutters, sanding drums and their high carbon cutters. if that's all you can afford, then go that route. I use them a lot and they work for getting your feet wet!
I have also ordered kutzall burrs from the kutzall ebay store. Just make sure you get 1/8" shaft or smaller so they fit in your dremel.