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It depends on your interest and capability. If it is a one-time project, after which you will never touch the tools again, well maybe.
Generally, I’ve found any sort of “set” to have maybe one tool I can use and a bunch of others I’ll never touch. It’s best to determine which tools you actually need and buy them individually. Then, there’s quality….
As a carver with several years experience (but not mastery), I can tell you that the taste of poor quality carving tools lasts a long time. I found one opinion about this particular set of tools that bemoans how poorly they are ground. Of course, it’s only one person’s opinion, but enough to sound an alarm. If you’re really good at regrinding and sharpening … and want to spend your time that way, maybe.
Cheap tools are too often paid for many times with disappointment, lost labor, and finally by replacing them with better.
Paul offers a fine video as already mentioned.
Beyond that, the “bible” of saw sharpening is at the “Vintage Saw” site. Take a look at this primer.
Eye dominance comes up in a lot of activities. It’s one of the things learned about early in the shooting sports, specially trap and skeet. If one sights down the barrel with the non-dominant eye, it guarantees a miss about 99.8% of the time.
One of the many techniques that shooters use to overcome the problem is to obscure the non-dominant eye. Prevent it from taking control. Imagine a right handed shooter with a left dominant eye. A small round opaque dot on the left lens of the shooting glasses (everyone wears safety glasses) is enough to do the trick. Give it a try.
Good advice so far. Gouges are expensive and the best plan is to buy them as you understand the need for them. There are few “basic sets,” and any you might find will likely include sizes or shapes you might rarely use. Save your money and buy one or two at a time.
I’m relatively deep into wood carving and have a lot of gouges, but have bought them only as needed.
As far as brands, there is not a very broad span of quality. The distinctive dividing point is between mass manufactured and hand forged tools. Because they are such specialty tools most of the mass manufactured brands (for full size gouges) are good quality. Pfiel (“Swiss made”), Ashley Iles, Henry Taylor, Two Cherries, and several others are all good quality. The only cheap gouges are small sized tools with metal parts 3-4 inches long and handles not much longer. Avoid them; look for full size tools instead.
Hand forged tools, such as Dastra and Stubai are clearly more expensive, but not excessively so. They usually hold less than a 20% premium over the mass manufactured tools. The difference between mass manufactured and hand forged usually comes down to weight and feel. Do you want a really heavy Ashley Iles that you could probably never destroy, or a more svelte and deft Dastra? That choice comes after a lot of experience.
As with any hand tool purchase, buy the best you can afford and they’ll last a lifetime.
Hi Florian.
Coming to woodworking through the door marked “boat building,” I’ve used a lot of fasteners from “Jamestown Distributors” in Rhode Island. Most of my fasteners from them have been silicon bronze which is stronger and more durable than brass, and slightly more red in color. I just checked their screw fastener category and find #10 by 1″ silicon bronze screws at $22.50/100. Brass of similar size is about $21/100. Here’s a link to their screw fastener page.
Of course, I’m sure there are many other suppliers with similar prices in the U.S. I mention Jamestown only because of my very good experience with them. I have no other connection with them.
WD-40 is another of those great charades put over on us by modern manufacturers. WD-40 is ***NOT*** a lubricant, not matter how often you see it advertised as such. It is a Water Dispersal agent, designed precisely for driving moisture off of metal parts. The fact that it makes things temporarily slippery is a side-effect and a temporary one at that. As many of us know, it dries and gets sticky. Real lubricants don’t behave that way.
Sure, use WD-40 for cleaning. But after that, follow up with a real lubricant.
You would do very well, Lee, to swipe the bare metal of the vise with Paul’s little can/sponge of 3-in-1.
The “Woodwright’s Shop” is Roy Underhill’s television series that appears on (too few) PBS stations in the U.S. You can find videos of those episodes at: http://video.pbs.org/program/woodwrights-shop/
Dave,
Certain versions of the D-8 had back edge that was curved. It (slightly) reduced weight. I think that’s what you’re seeing.That’s a great looking D-8 Barrett!
Maybe Paul will come along with some very good advice? Until he does, I’ll offer two techniques that have worked well for me.
If the bend in your saw is really gentle, as you say a bow, and not a kink, look at the suggestion about 3/4 the way down the following “Norse Woodsmith” web page. He gently bends the saw to remove the bow. I’ve had success with that method. http://www.norsewoodsmith.com/content/diagnosing-common-issues-hand-saws
For tighter kinks, I’ve had good success with Bob Smalser’s hammer and anvil approach. Beware that you should use a very broad hammer if you try his technique. http://www.wkfinetools.com/contrib/bSmalser/art/strSawBlade/strSawBlade5.asp
You can have both in the same floor space. I started woodworking building boats, doing lots of planing type work on long boards. A long low (Schwarz height) bench serves that we.. However, for carving, a Bench On Bench, sits atop the low bench and puts work at the right height. When not in use, the B.O.B goes under the low bench.
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