I recently purchased a carving book entitled,”Manual of traditinal Carving” by Paul N. Hasluck. It was recommended on this forum. I have purchased all the suggested carving tools but have questions on a couple on his list.
Besides regular sweep chisels he recommends:
#21 bent 3mm,5mm, and 16mm.
Also #28 front bent spoon 6mm and 12mm
The Woodcraft catalog does not list these sweep numbers of #21 and #28. 1 to 11 are listed only.
Please help????
TIA,
Don
Replies
The carving tool numbering system is a mess, in my opinion. Each country and/or manufactor had its own numbering system. For some makes even the same sweep but different size have a different radius. My guess would be for you to find out the make of the chisels the author is using and find them on the web. Those seem pretty unusual shapes for a beginner.
Hope this helps, Dennis
Sacrysharp, there're really only two sizing systems in the Western Hemishpere, Sheffield and Swiss. Neither make much sense on the surface but I have a really strong theory about how they originated. It would take literally weeks for me to test my theory so it's been roosting on the distant back burner for several years. Someday, someday...Lee
Not all manufactures make all tool types an all sizes anymore. Not all retailers import the full lines of what manufacturers produce.You'll need to find the tools where you can and I can assure you that you'll end up with a variety of manufacturers in your drawer. Don't be stuck on one line, look around.
Lee
Don,
The #21 is a very shallow sweep spoon bit (front bent), also known as a "grounder." It is very useful for levelling the ground behind a raised carving. Wood Carvers Supply lists them in their catalog, but only for the Lamp brand, which I know nothing about. It looks as if they are based on the Swiss patterns, which means the bents are curved a little differently than the English patterns are; I think the English grounders work a little better. You can get Henry Taylor #24 grounders, but they have a deeper sweep and leave a more textured ground.
Wood Carvers Supply carries a great line of tools, but when I ordered it took weeks to get them - I gather they don't carry much in stock.
http://www.woodcarverssupply.com/store/
Enter "21 spoonbit" in the Search box.
The #28 is available in either Lamp or Henry Taylor brand. It is just a deeper sweep spoon bit, very useful for cleaning out backgrounds or cutting in tight spaces.
"Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler." A. Einstein
http://www.albionworks.net
It's nice to have lots of carving tools, but you should do some carving to see what you lack. No prescribed list will fit everyone.
Tom
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