Kevin,
I do carving. Most of my posts you have seen were with regard to hand planes, but I can get serious about carving and carving tools. My preference is to do decorative carving in the 18th Century style with full-length tools. I have over 400 carving tools. The best of them for carving are the Pfeil “Swiss Made”, the 19th Century British Addis and the 19th Century American Buck Brothers. Much of the time I only use the Pfeil tools.
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The vast majority of professional carvers and members of the Society of American Period Furniture Makers (SAPFM) seem to use the full-size Pfeil Swiss Made tools. In the U.S. these are sold exclusively through the Woodcraft stores, but once you know which tools you want, you can get them for considerably less through a few reputable Canadian sellers.
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Not to be overly sarcastic, but the woodcarving teachers who suggest, stock and sell other brands of tools tend to do so because they want to make money and aren’t allowed to sell the Pfeil brand.
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As blade guru Ron Hock says, with steel edge tools there is always a tradeoff between hardness (sharpness), ease of sharpening and rust resistance. Usually a tool maker prioritizes one feature and sacrifices another. The Pfeil tools seem to be the best quality compromise all around.
For tools a half inch (12mm) wide and narrower, the Pfeil tools are lighter, thinner, more delicate feeling and a sheer joy to use. They come razor sharp, do not chip easily and don’t roll off your bench. Their V-tool, as it arrives, is not shaped the best, but this is a minor point.
I would suggest you NOT buy the intermediate length tools that are marked with the letter D and only get the full size tools. Since every set will contain a tool or two that you don’t need, if cash is tight you can spend the same amount of money on full-size tools and buy one less.
For general advice from an overview of tools and workbenches through detailed instruction on carving, the books by Chris Pye can’t be beat.
Later you will find that you don’t want to start carving until you have the tools you need, but you won’t know what tools you need until you start carving. Try to start with the carving tools that are most likely to be useful in the widest variety of situations.
A good set to begin with would be: #3 gouges (6mm, 12mm, and 18mm) #5 gouges (6mm, 12mm, and 18mm) and #9 gouges (6mm, 10mm), a 10mm straight chisel and a 10mm V-tool (Swiss #12/10mm). If you do only small work, perhaps skip the 18mm gouges at first. Or, if you do only medium to large work, skip the 6mm #3 and #5.
For practice, start carving in bass wood.
Gary
