Carving tools

An assortment of stabing tools for carving and wire inlay.

A modified straight chisel reground for stabbing operations. The grind is tapered with the end sort of oval shaped. This geometry makes it easier to guide and turn curves. It is extremely important to have a polished and sharp edge. If the tool will shave hair off the back of your hand the amount of pressure required to cut the wood and penetrate is greatly reduces allowing greater control for following your line and disturbing unwanted wood fibers.. The larger stabbing tools will also work for removing stock up to the stabbing cut when doing background removal for carvings or medallion inlays.

This is my largest stabbing tool. From this size I have 5 or 6 smaller ones going down to the size of a large sewing needle.

Smaller size.

Side view of tool in the previous photo.

This stabbing tool has a flat surface on one half. The other side is shaped and sharpened like those already displayed. This style is used when stabbing in for a plate inlay or where you want to reduce the parting size of the stab.

View of the non flat side.

Very small size made from a square annealed needle file.

Side view of previous .

In the next three shots the tool is sharpened similar to a screwdriver blade with a really steep included angle of the flats.The tool tip thickness is sized the same as the wire thichness being inlayed. The width is sized to enable following the curves. This tool is used after the initial stabbing in for wire inlay is done. The tip of the tool should fit between the sides of the parted wood from the stab performed with the oval shaped stabbing tool. As this tool touches the bottom of the stabbed cavity it is pressed down to form a rectangle cavity that the wire will fit in.By using the two step stabbing process the wire mates into the wood with less resistance thus eleminating the amount of force to drive the wire into the wood. By using this tool for a second stabbing operation I have found the need to rough up the sides or the bottom of the wire is seldom required.

I apply majic marker and scratch it for a depth reference mark.

Knives and carving tools.

Has anyone noticed the wire porn inlay?

This tool is used where one would use a flat chisel in carving operations. However with the skewed geometry it allows you more control and flexibility with stubborn grain that a straight chisel has. In the previous group shot there is an exact o version of this tool for use in an exact o handle. I made this tool by forging a straight tool so it could be ground in the shown geometry. This has fast become one of my favorite go to chisels.

This curved knife was modified to convert the tool into a saw. This is an old watchmakers trick, they would put teeth on a double edge razor to convert the sharp blade edge into a saw. Once a wood handle was applied to the blade they would use it to saw a small kerf on a shaft for terminating the mainspring. This tool can be used for scoring or pre scoring the wood where it would traditionally be done with an exact o knife or layout knife. The advantage is you are now sawing the wood thus reducing the probability of the blade from following the wood grain. The control with this miniature veneer saw is so good you will seldom need a straight edge . To form the teeth in most any sharp knife edge blade you install the blade in a machine vise with the edge up. Next lay one flat of a three sided small triangle file on one edge and slightly tap the file. This will swedge teeth into the blade, rotate the file and retapp until you cover the required length. Last swipe both sides of the blade with a hard Arkansas stone to remove metal that was forced out of the saw gullies.

Assortment of scrapers.

I use spring stock,old saw blades,hair pins,carpet knife blades for stock. Bottom line if the stock produces mucho sparks it is a good candidate for a scraper blade. I will not attempt to cover the sharpening process I use today maybe in a follow on post.

These scrapers were made from spring stock and are used for cleaning chisel marks on flat areas where stock was removed to produce the raised carving. By selecting different width and thickness stock you can produce a blade with a range of feel and finess for better control. These are usually ground on a fine bench grinder leaving the burr formed for the scraping edge.

Assortment of small gouges,note test board that is referenced when selecting size required.

Two small French curves. The carbide drill is used to turn or refresh the burr around the French curve scraper. Place the drill in a Dremell tool backwards so the shaft is showing. With a light dab of fine oil on the carbide shaft and the tool rotating fast you can hold the blade and walk the shaft around the curve to turn a burr, hold the shaft at 5 to 10 degrees off the perpinduclar edge. When forming the burr apply strong pressure to keep the rotating carbide in contact.

Some patterns are printed on tracing paper and glued to stock with muslage glue. The pattern is stabbed in through the glued tracing paper.

I do own a pencil.

Tools for shaping and grinding most shapes or curves on steel blades. The center disk is a flexible disk with a male Velcro receiver attached, this provides quick exchange of various grit Velcro backed sandpaper. I cannot over emphasize the need to polish (mirror finish) the cutting or knife edge tools. That's what the felt wheel and green buffing compound are for.