Narex vs flexcut carving tools for furniture?

[Matthew N. Masail]

I'd like to get a basic set of carving tools for basic furniture work as well as shaping and carving.

I can get the Narex locally and was looking at this set http://www.narextools.cz/en/set-of-c...fi-6pcs-869950

I laso have a few flexcut plam tools at work which I really like, but have not handled their mallet tools, are they suitable for general work or only carving?


Thank a lot.

[george wilson]

I'd certainly get the Narex. Flexcut tools are made of spring steel,which is only at best about 52 Rockwell C.,which is VERY soft. It is readily filed,being the type of steel that saws are made of. Too soft for carving tools. The Narex look pretty decent. While Flexcut might be o.k. for hand pushing ,I'd prefer harder type carving tools for driving with a mallet,and for carving hard woods.

[Matthew N. Masail]

Thanks George

[Stephen Clement]

I have te 6 piece flexcut full size kit and have used the palm ones as well. IMo they are junk. Better than the harbor freight ones, but they just don't stay sharp well and I find flexibility difficult to maneuver. That said, I don't do enough carving to merit replacing them, so I deal with it. For my palm gouges, I picked Robert Sorby gouges and they are much better.

[David Ragan]

I posted this on a huge Carver forum several years ago--Pfeil was the verdict. Never regretted it. (The brand, I mean.....do I have too many? Probably.)

[george wilson]

I have a large collection of carving tools,dating from the 18th. C. to the present. Lots of 19th. C. Addis's. My favorites are still my Pfiels. Beyond those,I like the ones I make myself,since I have full control of the tool steel,and the hardening and tempering.

Here are a few of my own make. They are made of W1 steel.

[george wilson]

I was having weird problems with attachments before. Here are a few things I carved with just the small set of 12 Pfiels I used for years before I got into flea marketing and collecting more carving tools. At the time,my carvings were small,just being parts of musical instruments.

There are 2 lion's head violins here. The varnished one was for a concert master on a Baroque violin I made for him. He wanted it fancy.

The strange green polychromed carving is the rear view of the peghead of a cittern made entirely of boxwood(I LOVE to carve box!) It is probably gaudy by today's standards,but this is an adaptation of an original made in the 1500's for Archduke Ferdinand(of the Hapsburgs),By Girolamo da Virchi. That has to be taken into account. The original now part of the Hapsburg treasures,but I believe in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Anything for royalty had to be made as richly decorated as possible. The good slides of other views got lost when we moved. I hope to find them. The peghead shows Lucretia the Roman getting swallowed by a dragon into Hell. She looks over the tuning pegs,which represent her subjects. Her hair is gilded with gold leaf.

The lute rose was carved from boxwood,too. Its elements are not 1/16" in width,which takes sharp tools. The extremely thin elements are so easy to break under the pressure of being cut. Nothing got broken here.

The rear view of a peghead from a bass viola da Gamba shows pierced and carved work in curly maple. This picture is not very good,or you could see the creatures stalking and devouring each other in the side panels.

If course,the lion's heads were carved in curly maple. Again,the Pfiels stood up well to the challenge of carving curly wood and maintaining very keen edges,which,again,were very necessary.

Click on the pictures to enlarge them.

[Derek Cohen]

Good God George - that is stunning work! Especially the rose. Stunning!

Regards from Perth

Derek

[george wilson]

All these things,except the cittern head have been posted before.glad you enjoyed it,Derek.

The point is, if Pfiels can do this for me,they can do it for anyone. They aren't particular who they work for!! And,best of all, I can't tell that their quality has slipped since the 1960's,when I bought my little set of 12 for $40.00.

As I mentioned,Flexcuts are tempered to a SOFT spring steel. It has to be soft or the steel would not flex. That is why they don't stay sharp. If I had a pocket knife so soft I could easily file it,I'd buy a better one.

[Bruce Mack]

Thanks George. Work of excellence.

[Mike Henderson]

I agree with George. I mostly have Pfeil carving tools and they're good. I have some other name brands and they're good also. But different maker's tools are slightly different, both in the handle and in the shape and weight (thickness) of the steel. What you like depends on how the tool fits in your hand and works for you.

I'm not a big fan of Flexcut carving tools, however.

Mike

[David Ragan]

My Goodness!!

That is some awesome work!

[Matthew N. Masail]

Wow.... George! that stuff is amazing, if I may say it AGAIN!

I looked up Pfeil, are we talking about the Chrome-Vanadium steel tools that woodcraft sell?

Any opinions about the Staubi brand at finetools.com

[Mike Henderson]

Wow.... George! that stuff is amazing, if I may say it AGAIN!

I looked up Pfeil, are we talking about the Chrome-Vanadium steel tools that woodcraft sell?

Any opinions about the Staubi brand at finetools.com

I have a couple of Stubai tools. They're certainly good tools but the steel is a bit heavier (thicker) than the Pfeil. Nothing wrong with that, but I prefer the Pfeil.

Mike

[Pfeil tools are also known as "Swiss Made".]

[Christopher Charles]

Wow! Thanks for sharing (again) George. Carving is an area that puts some people into a different class. I've tried a bit and it is not where my talents lay.

I too hope that your missing slides turn up.

C