Essential Wood Carving Tools Explained

Woodcarving has to be one of the most rewarding hobbies. Creating a piece of art from a stick of wood takes skill, creativity, knowledge and patience. It’s not for everyone, only a small percentage of the population have the right mix. That’s what makes wood carving so unique.

If you are going to get started in woodcarving, you will need to know a little about the tools of the trade.

Essential Wood Carving Tools

A basic wood carving toolkit includes chisels, gouges and V-Tools. Within the three groups, the tools are categorised by the shape of the blade, the width of the cutting edge and the curvature or sweep of the blade. The shape of each blade is given a name that roughly describes the shape, for example, straight or spoon. The width of the cutting edge is in millimetres while curvature is a number with the higher number being, the more significant curve. V-Tools have a number corresponding to their angle between 45 and 90 degrees.

While there are hundreds of woodcarving tools on the market, you will probably use just a few tools most of the time. The three main ones are the chisel with a straight edge, a gouge which has a curved blade and a knife.

Woodcarving Tools and Chisels

Chisels come in three kinds – straight edge, skewed and veiners. The flat cutting edge is the most common type of chisel, the skewed has a blade that is angled to the right or left for cleaning out corners and veiners are for creating deep, round cuts. For making grooves, V-Tools are best.

Below are the most popular gouges and tools:

Straight gouge – a curved cutting edge with a tip that is straight across

V-parting tool – a V-shaped blade that is ideal for outlining and detailed work

Dogleg chisel – the blade shaft drops down at an angle of 90 degrees for paring flat recesses

Macaroni tool – the shaft is in a U shape and is used a gouge or V-tool

Bent-back gouge – a convex cutting edge for undercutting and shaping

Carver’s knife – a small bladed knife for chip carving and relief work

Spoon gouge – a concave spoon-shaped blade for tight spaces

Straight chisel – a flat blade with a sharp bevel for rounding and removing background material

Skew chisel – a flat but angled blade for doing fine detail work

Fishtail gouge – more full at the tip than the base, it’s ideal for cleaning out corners and undercutting

Bent gouge – the slightly curved blade is used for clearing waste from concave surfaces

Fluteroni tool – a U shaped blade with rounded corners on the cutting edge

Look After your Wood Carving Tools for a Long Life

Wood carving requires your tools to be in excellent condition to get the best out of them however you can easily damage them if you aren’t careful. Follow these rules and your chisels will have a long life.

These tools are best stored in a leather or canvas roll. With individual pockets for the tools, the cutting edges won’t be damaged banging against each other. If you don’t have a roll, you can protect the tools’ ends with a thick material wrapped and secured around each tip.

When it comes time to choose the wood for your project, pick a softwood especially if you are new to woodcarving. Not only will it be easier and more enjoyable experience, but a softer wood also won’t risk damaging your tools as hardwoods can.

Try to strike the blade in the direction of the wood grain rather than against it and avoid wood that has defects on the outside.


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