Buying
carving tools
Anyone
starting out to buy tools for his shop can go one of two ways.
He can buy a lot of tools or he can restrain his impulses and
buy tools as he develops the need for them. I suggest that the
latter step is the wise one to take, for this reason: the carver's
chest can be filled with tools that are used once a year as
well as those he uses constantly.
Amazing
New Home Smart-Saw Does The Work of 10 Professional Woodworkers... Click
Here!
Most
companies that sell carver's tools have beginner's sets. Undoubtedly
they are the result of long experience on the part of the dealer
in selling this sort of equipment and therefore are worth consideration.
I have, as I write, the catalogue of "Sculpture Associates"
in front of me and in it they have a collection of tools in
a set of five. It looks reasonable. It's not expensive, and
I think that, to start with, it is adequate. At the end of this
chapter, Figures 3-4A and 3-4C show some of the wood carving
tools supplied by Sculpture Associates.
All
carving tools are sold according to their shape, length, and
size. They are classed by the form of the tool; such as "long
bend" (or "bent"), "straight," "short
bent," "firmer," and "skew." These
classifications are further broken down into the following categories:
gouges, chisels, skews, and parting tools. All of these are
sold, for the most part, by the actual shape of the cutting
edges, which are numbered. Each shape is given an identifying
number which is, so far as I know, a standard one.
To
clarify this confusion I suggest that you get one of the catalogues
from the dealers and study the illustrations. A picture tells
the story better than words.