Asley Iles is currently my intended brand for acquiring carving chisels with which to try relief carving (not in-the-round carving). They seem the best bang for buck in the UK, although Henry Taylor is another possibility.
However, I see some Schaaf (a US brand) carving chisels for sale at Amazon UK – although the range is very limited just now and may or may not increase in the future. There’s not much clue about whether Schaaf will be exporting more to the UK, especially if there’s to be some sort of tariff war over the next four years. However, the Schaaf tools are almost half the price of Ashley Iles.
Schaaf seem to be actually manufactured in the USA and get quite good reviews. There’s some question about individual items being not quite up to snuff (wonky tangs or badly ground bevels) but customer reviews say that Schaaf exchange with no issue for a better item. They also come needing commissioning – but even though Ashley Iles come ready-to-use, they all have a 25 degree single bevel, which is apparently not ideal for the likes of relief carving (which is better achieved with a 15 degree main bevel and a 5 – 10 degree inner bevel). I’d be regrinding them too.
If anyone is using Schaaf carving chisels I’d be very interested in reading of their impressions and experiences of their quality and worth.
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Schaarf tools are made in China
I have not used these tools. In addition to Pfeil (swiss made) Ashley Iles (only a handful of the larger gouges) and 2 cherries, I have a few Auriou tools that are great. Limited selection and definitely not half the price of the others (they are about the same here), but I wonder if they are cheaper in the UK? Like their rasps, I think they are made in France.
In the UK, of the four brands (Schaaf, Pfeil, Ashley Iles and Auriou) Schaaf are the least expensive - although the only Schaaf examples I can find are the supplementary set and the fishtail gouges set.
The price for a Schaaf gouge is around £17.50 (maybe $20) per tool but you must buy them in sets. Pfeil average per-tool price is a round £25 and Ashley Iles around £30. Auriou are significantly more at around £45. (All average price for a straight mid-sized gouge of 10 - 14mm wide).
The adverts for the Schaaf tool give a vague impression that they're made in the USA but it seems that they're Chinese and perhaps only repackaged by Schaaf in the US, with some sort of sharpening and after-sales service added. I doubt those features would be available in the UK. Given that their range is also very small, I'll not bother with them.
I'm not keen on the Pfeil handle shape (too small and I dislike the facets) so its probably still Ashley Iles for me. The Auriou look very fine but they cost one & a half to twice as much for the same thing as the Ashley Iles range. Since the Iles seem very good in all respects, with a lifetime guarantee and a marvellous after-sales service, I'll stick with them.
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I made a list of the potential carving tools I already have before making a list of a few more I'd like to complete a series of Chris Pye relief-carving exercises shown in his YouTube videos. I was surprised at what I've already got - some cabinet making chisels (such as a pair of Narex 12mm skew chisels and similar) that can become carving tools as well as several gouges of Flexcut and Hans Karlsson brands that I bought for spoon and bowl making, from greenwood.
Iles will nevertheless be getting a small order from me for four carving tools any day now.
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I'm thinking about taking those wee-bulb handles off the Flexcut gouges I have and replacing them with home made standard carving chisel handles (much longer and slimmer). But it may be best to keep them as-is (the bulb handles are good for spoon carving and I doubt a reconfigured handle would, anyway, make them suitable for malleting as well as hand-pushing) in favour of just buying identical sweeps/sizes in standard carving chisel config from Ashley Iles, over time as my carving progresses and demands them.
Stubai, made in Austria, carving tools are available from a couple of sources in the UK. The two I have are good tools. I sold a set of their violin gouges a few years back on the bay. Several people bid on them, they went for a good price.
As you say, Stubai are available in the UK. It's harder to find reviews or discussions about them but I'll make more effort to have a proper look.
It may be that there's a lot more info about them at European websites, some of which provide English versions as well as those in their native language. There's always Google-translate but it often says some reet queer things! :-)
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These days there's also a lot of tools from a variety of Ukrainian sources. Beavercraft is perhaps the best known (and distributed world-wide) but there are many others of seemingly much higher quality (and price). Few have importers/distributors in other countries outside Europe, though. This brings the nuisance of the buyer having to deal with the many added costs and bureaucracies of international buying.
If anyone would like to recommend, from their own use and experience, a Ukrainian manufacturer of carving tools, I'd be very interested in hearing their opinions.