Novice wood carving kit

[Paul_B]

Out of curiosity, what would you tell a newbie carver what to buy to give it a go? Since I started the thread I'll put in some guidelines.

Assume newbie doesn't own any tools they have no shed, garage or workshop other than kitchen and room in the house. They live with others / family so can't create a lot of mess, after every session space is put back at before they started.

I'm guessing knife, hand saw and some table with a protective cover. Would a table fixed vice be worth having?

Partly out of interest, partly because I might become that newbie when I have spare cash for what might be needed.

 

[Samon]

Do you want to carve stuff with a knife or with little specifically made carving tools?

For the specific tools you can buy sets with a few to loads of tools in them and as far as I know flex cut do the best ones you're gonna find easily. They aren't particularly cheap but they are good quality.

If it's a knife you want to carve with then look no further than the Mora 106. And any folding saw will do, even those £3 ones from lidl etc are good enough to get wood the right length.

Or get a swiss army knife with a saw on it and go old school. Plenty good enough shape and design to carve just about anything.

I wouldn't say you need a vice but they come in handy as you get more tools, specifically if you want to use something like a spoke shave or draw knife. They come in handy for other hands on little projects too so maybe get one if you can afford it. One like this is handy as it has a little anvil space for shaping soft metals.

The only other tool you might need is an axe or something like an axe to split a piece of wood you find in half. But if you want a small carving knife, a cheap folding saw, a cheap steel tube handle axe and a vice I can sort you out. I have all of those bits and the vice I have to offer is infact the one in the picture and the knife is a little swedish blade I put into a handle as a spair carving knife that never got used.

Hope this helps

 

[Mark Baigent]

Out of curiosity, what would you tell a newbie carver what to buy to give it a go? Since I started the thread I'll put in some guidelines.

Assume newbie doesn't own any tools they have no shed, garage or workshop other than kitchen and room in the house. They live with others / family so can't create a lot of mess, after every session space is put back at before they started.

I'm guessing knife, hand saw and some table with a protective cover. Would a table fixed vice be worth having?

Partly out of interest, partly because I might become that newbie when I have spare cash for what might be needed.

What will you be carving? Greenwood or seasoned, around a fire in the woods or indoors

 

[Paul_B]

No idea, not worked it out that far. I'm guessing whatever wood I can get. No idea where to get it other than picking bits up in woods. Need suggestions for that too.

Any good reference books you'd suggest? UK centric possibly better.

 

[Mark Baigent]

No idea, not worked it out that far. I'm guessing whatever wood I can get. No idea where to get it other than picking bits up in woods. Need suggestions for that too.

Any good reference books you'd suggest? UK centric possibly better.

The tool choice depends a fair amount on the wood, assuming greenwood for now, Mike Abbott's book "Green Woodwork" is the uk bible, Mike works and teaches in the UK.

Carving spoons is a great place to start, it can get addictive and there are spoon carving groups around the country, have a look at
https://www.bodgers.org.uk/ is great organisation for turners and carvers. Also for sourcing wood, groups and advice.

Books for spoon carving
Spon: A Guide to Spoon Carving and the New Wood Culture Hardcover – 25 May 2017
by Barn The Spoon (Author)

And the bible is
Swedish Carving Techniques (Fine Woodworking)
by Wille Sundqvist | 7 Feb 2014
Amazing book on Swedish spoon and bowl carving.

Budget spoon carving tools
Mora 120 and the new style Mora 164 and an axe from the first link below. The Mora 106 is often recommended but I find the blade a tad too long.

Staying with spoons, all you need is a sloyd knife, and axe and two crook knives , a good source for quality tools at a good price is
https://wood-tools.co.uk/shop/
or
https://benandloisorford.com/carving-tools/

On a medium budget go for Robins tools (first link).

My personal choice wood be a Gunsfors carving axe and Ben Orfords toolscarving tools fo a bit more money.

For wood, local councils Park dept, local tree surgeons (approach carefully ) or APT groups, The wildlife trusts can be useful as well.

Does that help

 

[Janne]

Just grab your existing knife and do it.
Check out Kepis’ thread from a few days ago!

Then if you discover you like it, buy more equipment.

 

[Robson Valley]

There's a far wider spectrum for wood carving than just spoons.
Probably 6 or more very distinctly different styles.
As you can expect, then, the kinds of carving tools wil be different.

Research the style that appeals to you the most and select basic tools for that.
You will need to learn "carving sharp" as seperate and apart from camping sharp or hair-shaving sharp.

 

[Fraxinus]

As most are focusing on tools, with very valid points may I say, from my experience on having little space to work and ease of clean up two things helped me enormously.
1) a good quality dust sheet
2) a Black and Decker workmate

Both tidy away with little footprint, the sheet keeps all tidy and protects the floor from heavy use of the workmate.
The workmate aids clamping, can be screwed through to support/fix work-pieces and the holes in the top in conjunction with some whittled pegs can clamp odd shaped or round blanks.

 

[bobnewboy]

I haven’t seen any mention of them, but cut resistant gloves are pretty handy (excuse the unintended pun), an intelligent move and not expensive. I got mine for three or four quid from Screwfix (other suppliers are available), and not only do they provide some cut protection while gaining experience, but they improve your grip of small workpieces if a vice isn’t being used. Once you or the carver have the strength and experience I suppose they can be dispensed with, but I actually like to use mine now.

 

[woodspirits]

Out of curiosity, what would you tell a newbie carver what to buy to give it a go? Since I started the thread I'll put in some guidelines.

Assume newbie doesn't own any tools they have no shed, garage or workshop other than kitchen and room in the house. They live with others / family so can't create a lot of mess, after every session space is put back at before they started.

I'm guessing knife, hand saw and some table with a protective cover. Would a table fixed vice be worth having?

Partly out of interest, partly because I might become that newbie when I have spare cash for what might be needed.

Hi Paul. It really depends on what you want to carve, that will sort of dictate what you need. Once you have found a subject you like, my advise is to start small and buy cheap.
1. chip or mallet, different techniques different tools
2. wood, green or seasoned? and species available to you, each handles differently pick up anything discover it's potential
3. Finish, seasoned wood will be easier than green, again more tools required.

The criteria goes on, as a beginner you will outgrow your tools and aspirations quickly as you progress, it becomes addictive! .

 

[Muddypaws]

Another low space workholding solution is a Swedish lap vice. Basically a thick board with a couple of holes in it, and a loop of rope going through the holes.

Place the board on your lap, put the workpiece in the loop, and pull the other end of the loop with your feet to tighten the work against the board.

 

[bobnewboy]

Forgot to mention in my reply- a nice book on whittling I have is: Whittling Handbook by Peter Benson. ISBN 978-1-78494-075-1. It’s very good for total newbies like me.

cheers, Bob

 

[Robson Valley]

Here in North America, there's just one website with forums that encompasses most styles of wood carving.
Fox Chapel Publishing and their magazine: Wood Carving Illustrated, run the show.
While there's a great deal to be learned from the forum topics, Fox Chapel is a prolific publisher of
style-specific pattern books.

 

[sxmolloy]

Don’t forget you will need to keep your carving tools very sharp.
A sharpening stone/device and a strop with compound or paste are just as important as the tools you will be using.

 

[Robson Valley]

Don’t forget you will need to keep your carving tools very sharp.
A sharpening stone/device and a strop with compound or paste are just as important as the tools you will be using.

Exactly.
I can do free-hand "carving sharp" very easily. Took some coaching with practice. Hard to explain.
I'm convinced that it's 1/2 the process of wood carving.

 

[bobnewboy]

For sharpening I have been using a piece of 2500 grit self adhesive abrasive tape on the edge of my workbench, which itself is topped with a cutting mat. It works really well, better than I expected. The tape I use is:

https://www.axminster.co.uk/hermes-self-adhesive-abrasive-film-ax834464

I do use a strop as well, but it’s almost unnecessary after using the 2500 grit tape. The blade edge takes on a good shine and cuts well.

cheers, Bob

 

[stillc]

Hi everyone, I’m sorry for awakening such an old thread, but I’m just another novice and I have a question. Does anyone of you use this, Kernowa brand from Amazon?

Is it good to begin with? If it isn't, you are more than welcome to recommend any.
Thanks

 

[gra_farmer]

Hi everyone, I’m sorry for awakening such an old thread, but I’m just another novice and I have a question. Does anyone of you use this brand? Is it good to begin with? If it isn't, you are more than welcome to recommend any.
Thanks

Starting out I would always recommend going with mora brand.

if your going cheaper and just to try these, I must note that are on the lowest level, will be soft steel and not hold an edge very long. You are likely to struggle.

Go mora first

 

[C_Claycomb]

There was a similar thread here:

Help to make a budget spoon carving kit

Hi all, I was asked by a friend the other day whether I used my spoon carving kit or whether she could borrow it. Rather than lend my knives, I’d prefer to recommend her a couple of cheapish carvers and a crook knife. My kit consists of a Frost, a Brusletto Balder, a Mora crook knife (the...

bushcraftuk.com