Narex vs flexcut carving tools for furniture?

[george wilson]

My college sculpture teacher William Reimann(Google him) borrowed my best slides(I am a bad photographer,many are poorly focused or not exposed properly.) to use in his lectures. He was head of the Art Department at Harvard as his last job. He kept them for about 30 years,when I got them back finally. Now I can't find them since we moved. The movers stole my knife collection. My rare musical instrument books also vanished,though I'm sure they didn't steal those! Also,the slides.

It took me so long to build 450 feet of shelving and finish the interior of my 2 story shop that it was too late to report things missing to the moving co.. The moving crew would have lied about it anyway. I should not have labeled one box "knives". Should have moved that box myself,since there was about $2,000 worth of knives in it.

I have accumulated so much stuff it is possible the slides may turn up,unless they were just lost through carelessness by the movers. The move was only about 16 miles.

There is work,like the cittern above,in those slides,that I have not posted here. I don't have a decent frontal view of the peghead. Just have the 3/4 rear view.

Stubai? I have not owned any myself,though they are a well known brand. I don't like overly thick carving tools either,though. The steel is most likely fine,however. They were the brand sold by a well known gunsmith supply house,Frank Mittermeir(?) Possibly because Woodcraft Supply seems to have gotten the exclusive rights to sell Pfiel in the USA.

[Tom Vanzant]

I was in the Val Gardena region of Italy last fall, home to more than 300 woodcarvers. One I visited with was working on a 4' tall camel, a two month project. He had a table covered with Stubai carving gouges, several dozen of them, some obviously many years old. They are popular with carvers throughout the area.

[Brian Holcombe]

Gorgeous work George! I love that Lion head, just incredible.

[Bill McNiel]

George,
The quality and beauty of your work exceeds my ability to express my total amazement. I am stunned! Bless you Sir.

[Ryan Mooney]

I love that Lion head, just incredible.

The hair work on the lion is really just amazing; if you've ever tried anything even vaguely similar it doesn't take long to realize that the road from here to there is long and not for all of us (doesn't mean we should stop trying of course).

I love my set of Pfeils, I have some other small chisels and a handful of flexcut that I had before I got the Pfeil's for xmas a couple of years back. I can't say that my carving is any better with the Pfeil's, but I sure enjoy it more so that's worth something.

[george wilson]

Since my carving has been smaller in size,on instruments,I have really liked the small size set of 12. I added to it with the extra set of 6 some time ago. But in reality,the set of 12 served my purposes for these small carvings while Instrument Maker. I made a few special carving tools to get up inside the lion's mouth. For carving arched instrument tops and backs,of course I got larger tools . Eventually,more tools came along just because I love acquiring fine tools. They used to be so much cheaper in the Pennsylvania flea markets. $2.50-$4.00 each. Now,if you can find any,they want $30-$40 each. You might as well buy new larger size Pfiels. They are as good as any I have.

I think we are fortunate to still have a few makers of extra fine carving tools still producing in the World. I wonder if they will continue to survive. Probably the artists and sculptors keep the demand up,as well as woodworkers.