Woodcarvers Tool Totes

I really like the look of these woodcarvers tool totes. I think I will have to put one on my wish list. I'm not yet sure which size I prefer.

Carvin' Jack

I was recently in the woods with my son. He handed me a stick he had been carrying while he went to play a game with some other kids. I happened to have my Flexcut Carvin' Jack with me, so I decided to pass the time by carving a face in his stick. This was my first real opportunity to use the Carvin' Jack and I thought I would share some thoughts about it.

The Carvin' Jack turned out to be quite a nice little tool for this kind of ad-hoc carving. It is fairly light and easy to carry with the included leather carrying case. There are three blades with different profiles on each side. All of blades lock securely in place when opened. Because of the design of the blades, the Carvin' Jack is sold in either right or left handed models.

I did find it a little difficult to open the blades since they tend to drag other blades open with them. When opening the knife blade, the V-tool and chisel blades would start to come out as well and I would have to push them closed before cutting with the knife. But this seems a small price to pay for having all these blades in such a small tool.

Even though this particular carving could have been completed with a simple knife, it went much faster with the addition of some of the special blades. The hair went very quickly with the help of the V-tool. Overall, I enjoyed carving with this tool. It's a bit expensive, but I received this one as a gift from my lovely wife. If you do a lot of whittling, you could probably justify the price with the added speed some of these blades could provide.

If you have any questions about the Carvin' Jack, let me know. Below are a few pictures of the tool.

Bill Judt's Carving Bench Design

Bill Judt has designed a carving bench with a top that tilts and rotates. It is quite impressive. He is offering the plans for a very reasonable price. Have a look.

Clamping Devices for Carving

Here are some of the devices that I use to secure wood while carving. First up is the end-mounted bench vise. A bench vise like this one is very useful for either directly clamping your work or for holding other clamping devices. Note the wooden jaw plates attached to this vise to prevent the metal jaws from marring the work.

This is a carving knee. This one is adjustable in the angle of the knee. Next to the carving knee is a long bolt with a tapered end that can be screwed into the bottom of a carving and the placed in the slot in the carving knee. A threaded handle is then used to tighten the carving to the knee.

Another device that can be used to attach carving to the knee is a piece of plywood with a carriage run through a counter sunk hole. the platform is then screwed to the carving.

This device is also clamped onto the knee using a threaded handle. This works particularly well with smaller carvings since you can use smaller screws and still get a good hold on the carving. Both of these devices used in conjunction with a carving knee give a tremendous range of angles to work with and are easy to adjust.

For relief carvings, I especially like an adjustable stand like the one above. It proves a good work surface with two handles to clamp the work and will tilt to any angle from horizontal to vertical. I came by this one around 20 years ago. I have not been able to find another like it. If you know of a good source for adjustable stands like this, please let me know.

Tool Cabinet and Adjustable Light

This is the tool cabinet that I built to go above my workbench. An
adjustable lamp is mounted just above it.

Leather Stamping Tools

A carver with leather working experience asked me if the background texturing tools used for leather can be used for wood. The answer is yes, but with a caveat.

I have used leather stamps on several carvings. It's hard to see in this picture, but the backgrounds in this carving are stamped with a leather working tool.

I use a teardrop shaped, cross-hatch stamp the most. Some stamps will not work very well - especially those with much detail. The stamps work by crushing and tearing the wood fibers. The torn wood fibers will remain torn, but the crushed ones will (to some degree) return to their original form. Therefore, stamps are best used for creating texture, but not for detail. Creating texture will also add color since it will reflect light and take finish differently.

Carving Tools

People often ask me which carving tools I recommend. Generally speaking, for a traditional style of carving, I recommend full sized (sometimes called "professional sized") carving tools. These are usually close to 10 inches in length and are meant to be held with two hands or driven with a mallet.

The brands that I have used and found to be of good quality are Pfeil "Swiss Made", Ashley Iles, Stubai and Dastra.

Flexcut also make a good line of tools. They have full sized tools that are usually a little less expensive than the other brands listed above. Due to their design, I'm not sure you will get quite as long a useful tool life out of the Flexcut as the others. Before you think I have anything against Flexcut, consider that I measure tool life in decades. You can get a lot of good use out of Flexcut tools.

Flexcut also makes some carving tool sets that have interchangeable handles. Changing handles can be a pain for extended carving sessions at your workbench, but they can be great for a compact travel kit.

Having said all that, I primarily use a variety of Pfeil, Ashley Iles and Dastra full size tools. I also have a set of Flexcut interchangeable tools for when I need to travel light.