Basic carving tools

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treadlightly

Full Member
Jan 29, 2007
2,692
3
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Powys
I fancy having a go at wood carving, just rudimentary small scale stuff for my own amusement. My question is, what basic tools do I need to get me started? Thanks.
 

bushwacker bob

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Sep 22, 2003
3,824
17
STRANGEUS PLACEUS
A decent small knife will do most of it.(Mora 106 or 120) good chisels are a help but dont bother with the 'pound shop' sets of push carving tools, they are a hinderance.
 
Feb 17, 2012
1,061
77
Surbiton, Surrey
Depends on what you want to carve but I find a small axe, knife and spoon knife covers pretty much all my needs.

Axe is good for removing lots of wood at the beginning while roughing out then knife for the more detailed work. Spoon knives is good for, well spoons obviously, but for carving hollows etc...
 

Biker

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
If you're thinking of doing stuff like woodspirits and such then a set like this would be a good start. Something with angled heads, scoop (gouge) shaped heads and V cuts. However you can get away with most of the angled cuts using the tip of a knife and a simple set of bog standard 1/8th, 1/4", 1/2" wood chisels and a gouge.

As has been mentioned don't bother investing in a set of these. Most are $hit, but some sets have the handy V cut and scoop cut chisels but often the steel is a few grades harder than lead for keeping an edge.

Good luck and be sure to show the results
 

ozzy1977

Full Member
Jan 10, 2006
8,558
3
46
Henley
As already stared a good carving knife is a must (mora), I have both of the sets linked to by Bikers above, rough as guts when they arrived but with a little fettling they work really well on green/partly seasoned stuff, dont work too well on really hard seasoned stuff like oak or ash but for a starter set of a few quid they are good. S
Something like this might be a better
 

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