RAY ILES SPOON CARVING TOOL

[Rambo Rees]

Hi, looking for a spoon carving gouge and was wondering if anyone has experience with the Ray Iles tools?
If so, which would you recommend as I will mainly be carving shallow eating spoons - would the RAY ILES SHALLOW SPOON CARVING TOOL be best or one of the Iles knives with a deeper crook?
The other option is the Beaver Craft SK1 Hook Carving knife maybe?
Your thoughts greatly appreciated

 

[plastic-ninja]

Hi, looking for a spoon carving gouge and was wondering if anyone has experience with the Ray Iles tools?
If so, which would you recommend as I will mainly be carving shallow eating spoons - would the RAY ILES SHALLOW SPOON CARVING TOOL be best or one of the Iles knives with a deeper crook?
The other option is the Beaver Craft SK1 Hook Carving knife maybe?
Your thoughts greatly appreciated

I only have one Ray Iles sloyd/carving knife at the moment ( funnily enough about to be for sale on here.) and its a nice thing. Takes a great edge and holds it well. Not used his crook knives but I assume the quality will be similar. My favourites are Nic Westermann's but there seems to be a very long waiting list these days.
Don't know anything about Beavercraft.

 

[Kepis]

I can't comment on the Ray Iles Spoon knives as i have no experience with them, however saying that i dont think ive ever heard anything bad about them either.

Beavercraft i would steer clear of, the one spoon knife of theirs i did try was awful, the geometry was all wrong, the steel was soft and to be honest i think it would have struggled carving a lump of Cheddar.

I would recommend Ben Orford carving tools along with Nic Westerman, i would recommend getting the medium spoon knife from Ben, it's not as shallow as the Ray Illes, but will give you a greater number of options, should you in the future want to try carving something like a cup or ladle for instance.

Ben & Lois Orford

 

[plastic-ninja]

I can't comment on the Ray Iles Spoon knives as i have no experience with them, however saying that i dont think ive ever heard anything bad about them either.

Beavercraft i would steer clear of, the one spoon knife of theirs i did try was awful, the geometry was all wrong, the steel was soft and to be honest i think it would have struggled carving a lump of Cheddar.

I would recommend Ben Orford carving tools along with Nic Westerman, i would recommend getting the medium spoon knife from Ben, it's not as shallow as the Ray Illes, but will give you a greater number of options, should you in the future want to try carving something like a cup or ladle for instance.

Ben & Lois Orford

Anything from Ben is good. I have one of his too!

 

[Sean Hellman]

Mora tools are good as are Wood Tools, Ben Orford, I agree with the comments above. I once had a Ray small hook knife at one of my sharpening workshops, we had to grind a fair amount of metal from it before it would work.

 

[Rambo Rees]

Mora tools are good as are Wood Tools, Ben Orford, I agree with the comments above. I once had a Ray small hook knife at one of my sharpening workshops, we had to grind a fair amount of metal from it before it would work.

The Iles do look quite thick...I am thinking of chancing a Mora carving...a 162 double sided maybe? I already have the 106 sloyd and quite like it

 

[MartiniDave]

Unless you're quite experienced, I would advise you not to get a double sided hook knife. Yes, they do have some advantages in choices of cut, but I've found it awkward when working to avoid the second edge when pushing through some cuts. Mine is still double sided, but I've replaced the handle with one about twice as long as the standard one, which seems much better for me.

Dave.

 

[Rambo Rees]

Ok thanks

 

[Dougster]

I would heartily recommend getting yourself on the Nic Westermann waiting list. As I have developed my carving over the years I have found the tools have superb geometry and the now 26 month wait will see you know exactly what you want when you get to the top of the list.

As for now, if you can get Ben Orford I have not heard anything bad said about them, Wood tools are OK but the beavercraft bemuse me. I cannot see how something that wide could ever work on a convex surface. They are all you see on a search engine so we know where their priorities lie.

 

[Robson Valley]

Find your local farrier. Ask what they do with the worn down hoof trimming crooked knives. I pay $5 each ($50 new). Starting with a 7/16" Oregon chainsaw file, I revise the bevels to 12 degrees. Entirely adequate for carving for years to come. Bunch of different brands similar to the Mora Equus #171. Hall (Canada) have the toughest steel I've run across. Ukal Supervet (France) would be next.

Trying to carve something to sell, I carved 70 spoons in birch with a 9/15 Pfeil wood carving gouge. Used spoke shaves for rounding the handles and the undersides of the bowls.

 

[Murat_Cyp]

I have bought Ray Iles shallow spoon carving knife as my first spoon knife! Carved a couple of spoon from seasoned dry wood and it performed just very good! Then wanted something with a deeper curve to carve deeper bowls and spoons and bought a wood-tool carving knife for twice the money. I was not happy with it as the grind on it was uneven and wavy. Kindly, wood-tool refunded me. But Ray Iles is still staying with me. I have stopped it and sharpened it, it sharpens easily takes a good edge and withstand carving a dry wood. Therefore, I can recommend one!