This month's topic is chisels & carving tools. I've broken them into three categories; flat or paring chisels, carving chisels and chip carving knives. There is crossover in the first two groups but for the most part there is a natural division by usage. At the end I'll discuss basic steel types and handle shapes & materials.

Paring Chisels
When most people think of chisels, these are the ones they think of. There are two main types, bevel edge and firmer, plus a specialty chisel for mortising. Sizes normally range from 1/8'' up to 2'', but there are larger chisels called slicks, which can be even wider and much longer.

Firmer chisels are where western chisels started out. They have thick solid bodies with corners at 90-degrees. These are general-purpose chisels and are meant for heavy material removal and are strong enough for any job. They are particularly good for cutting joints where you want to maintain sharp 90-degree corners. The heavier sides help prevent undercutting which means a looser, poorer fitting joint. Although these chisels are every bit as useful as they used to be, they are getting harder to find on store shelves. If you want a set you may end up having to special order or find used ones.

Bevel edged chisels used to be a specialized chisel but are now the most common, taking over from firmer chisels. Instead of the traditional 90-degree sides they have been beveled back to remove the high corners. This allows them to get into corners, dovetails and other work in cabinets and furniture where the older "firmer" chisels wouldn't work as well. However, this feature means care has to be taken when cutting joints so you don't inadvertently undercut the sides and create an unwanted dovetail effect and a loose joint.

Japanese chisels also fall into this category. They have the same bevel edged sides but the bodies are thinner, shorter and the backs are cupped. The shorter bodies seem to be more comfortable with two handed use, which helps with control and the cupped back reduces friction and sharpening time but it also means the useful life is shorter. The flat tip is less than ¼'' long before the cupping starts, so you can only sharpen them so many times. Traditionally, when the flat tip was used up, they would be reworked flat by a blacksmith. As beautiful as these chisels are to work with and sharpen, it would be hard to find someone who could rework them properly and not ruin them.

Mortise chisels are similar to firmer chisels, but only at a quick glance. They are actually thicker plus the sides are slightly tapered. The thicker body means they have the strength and stiffer angle to lever wood away and the tapered sides mean they will not jam when cutting a mortise. Because they are heavier and stronger they are also suitable for heavy rough work. There is also a sub type called goose-neck, which are used to clean up the bottom of a mortise after it has been cut.

Carving Chisels
Carving tools come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes. They can be flat, skewed, gouge, V-groove or veiner, plus the shaft can be either straight, bent, spoon or dovetail. Once you add in the different widths and sizes you can get an amazing array or tools to carve any shape. Sizes can range from the micro tools of 1/16'' through the standard sizes up to large sculpting tools of 2''.

The flat chisels tend to be thinner than paring chisels with much finer edges. They can be beveled and sharpened on both sides or just on one side. They also come in skew styles so you can get into very tight corners, backgrounds or recesses with the tip. Skews are normally ground to about 23-degrees.

Gouges have a curved blade and can be used to carve concave or convex shapes. Standard gouges have the bevel on the outside but they can be used for both concave and convex work. There are also specialized gouges which have the bevel on the inside designed specifically for convex work. Gouges are the workhorse of any carving set and are used in all carving, from furniture, relief work and sculpture. It pays to learn how to sharpen them and keep in practice. The curve can be very shallow, barely different from a flat chisel up to a full radius. The higher the number of the gouge the greater it's curvature.

V-groove or parting tools are, as the name implies, V shaped. The V can range from a tight 60-degrees to a looser 120-degrees with the most common being 90-degrees. They are often used for outlining, lettering, cleaning up corners or in sculpture to create the effect of hair or fabric folds.

A Veining gouge has a deep U shape, normally small, which is often used in lettering and fluting work in furniture. They can also be used in relief and sculpture.

The different shafts for these gouges allow you to do slightly different things. The bent shaft has a curve to most of the shaft length, while the spoon gouge has a tighter curve only at the last 1/3 to ½ of the shaft. Both are for use in rounded shapes like bowl carving or where you are trying to cut deeper hollows in relief or sculpture. Gouges with dovetail ends have narrow shaft with the blade edge fanning out. This lets you get into tighter areas especially when doing relief work because the narrower shaft does not interfere with your cut as much.

Chip Carving
This type of carving is much more geometric than free form sculpture. Because of this you need a different style of knives. The blades are shorter and wider and there are no gouges or V-grooves used. These blades are designed for plunge or draw cuts especially in soft woods, but can also be used in hardwoods. There are three main blade types with some variations of each with some sets having as many as 12 or 15 knives. The three basic knives are the general purpose, paring and stab.

The general-purpose knife uses a traditional blade shape from ¾'' to 2'' long and is sharpened on the rounded side with the back straight and unsharpened. These knives are mainly used for shaping and removing stock quickly. Variations of this knife are having the blade tipped forward at an angle, having a spear tip or having the back sharpened as well.

The paring knives have an unsharpened curved back and the cutting edge is straight. This shape allows you to cut precise grooves and edges as you make draw cuts. They are also excellent for cutting curves because of the control you have on the blade. Variations are similar to the general purpose, blade length, blade taper and blade angle.

Stab knives have a wide flat blade sharpened at a slight angle. As the name implies they are used to make plunge cuts with no drawing. The angled edge allows you to take out a triangular chip or by pushing it in straight you can remove a rectangular chip. Normally these blades are only sharpened on one side (single bevel), but they can be double beveled as well. Other variations are; blade angle, blade width and some have a slight curve.

Steel
The quality of steel used in carving affects you in three ways; how they hold an edge, how easy they are to sharpen and how much they cost. The softer the steel, the easier they are to sharpen but the faster they will get dull and vise versa. There are many steel alloys and mixtures trying to balance hardness against brittleness with ease of sharpening. The cheaper chisels & carving tools use the softer carbon steel and heat treat just the edge to improve the durability. The more expensive tools use the complex alloys to provide as hard an edge as possible but still make them not too brittle and sharpenable without diamond equipment. They will harden and heat-treat most of the blade and shaft. Some individual tools can cost much more than an entire set, which gives you an idea of the difference in quality. Most good chisels and carving tools will be between Rc58 to 62 on the Rockwell scale, with Japanese tools being at the top end starting at Rc60. The higher the number the harder it is and the easier it is to chip.

If you only will use a chisel or carving tool the odd time there is no reason to spend a fortune. If you will be using it often or perhaps carving exclusively, buy the best you can afford. Like all tool purchases, base it on how much you will use it and what you expect of it.

Handles
For the most part, chisels and carving tools come in either plastic or wood and shapes are as many as there are manufacturers. For basic chisels you want a handle, which can stand up to use with a hammer. The best are the split proof high tech plastic ones. These are the chisels the professionals use because they don't have time to grab a mallet and use a claw hammer instead. The handles get misshapen over time but they will last the life of the blade. The basic plastic ones and wooden handles without ferrules should only be used with a mallet or infrequently with a claw hammer. Repeated use with a hammer will eventually split the handle. The wooden ones with steel or brass ferrules are designed mainly for mallet use but will stand up for a time with a hammer. With chisel handles I prefer the ones, which are not quite round, either squared or octagon in profile. I like them not so much for comfort, but because they don't roll off my bench when I set them down. I do have some with round handles and seeing them drop to the cement floor blade first gives me a pain in the stomach.

Carving tool handles are almost always wood and normally two different shapes. There are long handled and palm handled. Long handles are traditional chisel handles approximately ¾'' to 1'' in diameter and 4'' to 6'' long. Palm handles are much shorter and have a larger diameter, usually about 1-1/4'' to 1-1/2'' in diameter and 2'' to 3'' long. The palm handle lets you get your fingers closer to the tip of the tool, increasing control, which helps in fine detailed work. My own preference is to have smaller, detail carving tools with palm handles and the larger carving tools with long handles so I can get a good grip. You tend to spend much more time carving than just using a chisel so choose handles, which feel comfortable to you. All palm handled and some long handled carving tools are not made for mallet use. If you are planning to use a mallet make sure your tool can withstand the impact.

Basic Starter Kit
For a basic starter set I recommend one of the smaller to medium profile 6pc sets on the market. They have enough variety for those who only want to have a set for the odd project or are the perfect middle range tools for those who want to do some serious carving. The set would have a couple of straight blades, a skew, two sizes of gouges and a v-groove. They should be no wider than 3/8''. This size lets you do most detail work plus some larger carvings. In addition I would add a paring knife for stock removal. There are also some carving sets, which come with one handle and replaceable blades. There is nothing wrong with these sets and they have the advantage of being compact enough to take with you. Just be aware that the cheaper versions do not have a strong jaw and clamping system. Final word is to keep them sharp. Not only will this save you frustration, give cleaner cuts but reduce the chance of stabbing yourself in the hand. You have to push harder with a dull tool, which increases the chance of it slipping. I know this from experience and have the scars to prove it.