Some new carving tools

Rob Keeble

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Location
GTA Ontario Canada
So in one or other of my previous posts I mentioned wanting to cut fine detail like on faces of a caricature carving.
Well a bit of searching led me to find Ramelson USA website http://www.ramelson.com/
I already have a set of their palm handled small gouges I think I got from LV and upon finding their site I discovered they have way more carving tools.
The real beauty is u can order them individually and with your choice of three different handles.
They call themselves Ramelson USA and they imply these are made in USA but I am not so sure about that.
Anyhow for the price they are a no risk buy.

So here is a look at my tiny haul that just arrived.
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As you can see the straight handle. These are called "modified" handles by Ramelson.
Some of the shafts are bent slightly and others just straight. There is u and v shape in the bunch and I put the match in the pic (its not a full size match) to provide some sense of scale.
They need honing which I now will set about doing since I got those arky slip stone. (By the way those stones are really flat and sharp just what is needed to sharpen this kind of gouge.

Then I also found out something I did not know. Ron Hock makes a set of chip carving knives and I have always been a supporter of him and his small business. So I ordered one of his knives and a larger carving knife (ramelson make) that mimics the Moira knives. The larger knife came with a sheath included which I thought was really good value. Ron has 4 or 5 knives in his range and you can get them from him direct (same price) or you can also opt to just buy his blade and fashion your own handle.
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So now I am going to get down and dirty and hone up this bunch and make some chips fly.

And by the way for Ryan, I had a look at the Japanese set of 5 small shaft carving tools while at LV the other day and they about 4 mm wide size wise and maybe 1.25 length shafts. I passed on them. They do look well shaped but too many duplicates in edge profile compared to what I have.


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Looks like fun :thumb:

I think you'll like the little chip carving knife. I've been abusing what I think is the same one (or is remarkably like it anyway) for all sorts of things I'm pretty sure it wasn't meant for. It's real handy for cleaning up small inside corners. It is a wee bit fussy to sharpen because it's so small and has a bit of flex but we'll worth the effort.

Wasn't sure about the Japanese chisels, figured it would be worth comparing anyway.

Hope you've had some luck getting the older ones you have into shape as well.
 
WOW - that is a really HUGE match. It almost makes the gouges look small.

Looks like fun - something I want to try some day - to enhance the CNC work and do the stuff I cannot do with the available CNC.
 
Look like good little carvers alright. That Moira (style) will be nice for whittling. I used to make little dogs and critters when we went on vacation and were just sitting around the campfire. Fun and doable, even for a non-artist like me.
 
I like how small the carving tools are....They'd work great for the things I'm working on...I may have to check that out.
 
Very nice. I would like to order one of these . . .

Carved Horse Newel Post.JPG

. . . right away. Oh wait! I live in a one story house; you're off the hook.
 
Well Rob.

As I feel somehow responsible for hooking you on carving let me warn you about tiny gouges, they are difficult to sharpen, specially the "V" ones, normal "V" ones are tricky so on those tiny ones one must be on the right mood to sharpen them. Another thing to have into account is that not all woods are good to carve tiny details, basswood for instance is bad for them, so you should use fine grained woods that unfortunately tend to be harder to carve i.e. boxwood, but don't be afraid, it is by doing it that one learns a thing, so I encourage you to make trial pieces or even trial details before getting to carve them on a specific piece. I think that I will see you carving some Netsuke in the future.
 
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