My carving tool kit.
My current carving tools
As I was working on the carving for my tool chest lid, I was struck by how few chisels I actually use and how much I get from them. Â I’ve seen photos of carvers who have vast amounts of chisels in their arsenal, and I am always a little jealous of those people. Â However, at $35 – $50 a pop for mid range chisels, it’s hard to justify that kind of expenditure for my hobby.
I originally started with six chisels, and have added a few here and there. Â My initial purchase decisions were based on Peter Follansbee’s recommendations, and this gave me a very solid and flexible starting set. Â To this initial set, Â I’ve added a couple of straight chisels that I got in a lot of tools I picked up somewhere. Â They were straight sided and with decent steel so I reground them to be flat carving chisels. Â I usually only use them for outlining the outside of a pattern, so these aren’t must haves. In fact, I could probably get the same out of my bench chisels.
I also added a small flattish gouge for relieving the background, the 5/8 does a great job of getting into tighter spaces than the 12’s do for some of the patterns. Â I also added couple of different curved gouges to fill in some of the gaps, but they are not used as much as my core set.
I’ve also upgraded my V tool from the Pfeil to a Auriou version from the Chris Pye set that Lie Nielsen is selling now.  The V tool is very important, and the Auriou is very comfortable to hold and use.  If you want to get into it you can read a lot of good stuff from Chris Pye and Mary May on the V tool, it’s worth spending the time to understand this tool.  It’s also worth the time to practice A LOT with this tool to build the muscle memory and comfort level, something I’m still working on.
In the style of carving I do, you can get a lot of mileage out of a few curved gouges and it’s really hard to go wrong with Peter’s original suggestion and build from there. Â My next purchases will probably something in the 7/12 range to give me a smaller gouge for outlining.
Badger
What is the difference between a bench chisel and the “carving chisels” you mention in this post?
The “bench” chisels are your standard bevel edges chisels you can buy for most woodworking (but not carving) uses. A carving chisel has a very thin cross section typically. A bench chisel usually has a lot of metal in the blade. For carving they would be only good setting in a straight line really. Most of your carving tools have some form of a curve on them.
I see. So, they are thinner … more like a pairing chisel I guess.
Thanks for the reply.
No problem. They are a bit thinner, but they have a “bolster”? where the metal goes into the handle to prevent it from driving into the handle when you tap it with a mallet. I use a round applewood mallet I turned, and a small brass one i bought to apply force.