What should I order in addition to the Mastercarver Benchtop Ultra set?

[Jeremy L.]

I guess I'm about to bite the bullet and order this set. However, I'm not clear on a couple things. Do I need to order the standalone speed control? Foot pedal?

Since I have basically 0 carving experience, what do the 5 bits included allow me to do? What are the limitations? Is there a set I could order at the same time that would broaden my horizons considerably?

I want to sculpt boxes ( I have a photo of one in another thread I posted in the this same forum) carve small adornments for other boxes I made and possibly some figure work. Like butterflies with wings carved from burl. Maybe carved cypress knees. Eh, I guess I've just about listed everything under the sun at this point.

What is a good sanding solution? What is the best online vendor to order it from?

[Sharon of the Dell]

I bought the hanging unit with the foot control. The foot control is great with diamond burrs and carbide cutters and such.Especially if the burr gets away from you, you just take your foot off.
I ended up getting a dial control for the reciprocating hand piece I bought extra.It's easier for me to keep the RPM's down so the hand piece doesn't get hot. It also works better for me using the drum sanders for the same reason.
The 5 bits it comes with are diamond burrs. They're good for light carving on softer woods and finishing on harder woods. The Saburtooth burr that also comes with it, is great for taking off lots of wood in a hurry.
I would recommend getting a few shapes of them for hogging. Kutzalls are great burrs too and you can find some good deals on EBAY for them too.

Hope that helps.

[Inadv]

Jeremy,

Sharon has pretty much touched all the bases in her post. What and how you carve will essentially dictate what tooling you will need. There is wisdom in using both types of controllers for the different (reciprocating or rotating) hand-pieces. However with that said, it is not advisable to use both simultaneously (in series) as the electronic controls on the benchtop unit will be damaged. It is also worth mentioning that you are not limited to using the MasterCarver brands of controls. A router speed control will work with the motor, and there are also other brands of foot controls.
I would strongly advise that if you are going to be holding the carving in one hand as you work that a leather glove (NOT cloth) will help in keeping a bur from hurting you if it gets away, and likely it will at least once before you realize that it will do damage to either you or the flex-shaft.
Lastly the gouges that come with most reciprocating hand-pieces are garbage out of the box. They can be reground to a decent edge, but tend to dull rather quickly. The Flexcut RG series are excellent.

L.P.

[Dull Knife]

Originally Posted by Sharon of the Dell

I bought the hanging unit with the foot control. The foot control is great with diamond burrs and carbide cutters and such.Especially if the burr gets away from you, you just take your foot off.
I ended up getting a dial control for the reciprocating hand piece I bought extra.It's easier for me to keep the RPM's down so the hand piece doesn't get hot. It also works better for me using the drum sanders for the same reason.
The 5 bits it comes with are diamond burrs. They're good for light carving on softer woods and finishing on harder woods. The Saburtooth burr that also comes with it, is great for taking off lots of wood in a hurry.
I would recommend getting a few shapes of them for hogging. Kutzalls are great burrs too and you can find some good deals on EBAY for them too.

Hope that helps.

I totally agree that you should get the hanging unit with the foot control, soooo much handier.

As for the Kutzalls, they're good, but watch out, they will take your hide off if you aren't careful, that's why you'll need a pair of leather gloves.