Robbin Wood Spoon Carving Tools Kit............MORE???

[Ian Lerner]

Morning all, I have just ordered the Robbin Wood spoon carving tools kit and I'm very excited to receive it.

http://wood-tools.co.uk/tools/robin-woo ... arter-kit/

I live in Mexico where tools of pretty much any kind seem to be cheap low end stuff from China.....affordable for the masses. As I only get a chance to have items brought down from the USA or Canada once or twice a year by friends or family, I'm wondering if there are other accompanying items that I would be well served by that I could/should order to get me off to a flying start in spoon and possibly bowl carving? I've not carved spoons before and have currently no other "spoon carving" tools.

I have a few planes, spoke shave, draw knife, small pruning saw, Shopsmith 7 in 1 power tool but prefer the use of hand tools. What else if anything do I need or would find very usefull? Thanks

[Karl Andersson]

Hi Ian,
that kit would be good to get you started making spoons - as you start doing it, you'll probably find you would like one or two more straight-blade knives with shorter blades (1.5-2.5 inches) for doing decorative cuts and chips - Mora has some very inexpensive ones online through Amazon and others.

For bowls, you'll want something to rough out the inside of the bowl. A hatchet and curved knife can do it - but would take a long time and you'd have to be either very skilled with the hatchet or very patient taking curved shaving with the knife, SO: I'd recommend a large bent gouge or two or a curved adze when you want to start making bowls. Since you're just starting, I'd recommend the bent gouge first (requires less skill development than an adze and can be used for spoons as well). I use a Pfiel 20mm #7L full size long bent gouge and a 30mm #8 straight gouge (full size as well), but the #8 would be much more useful if it were "long bent" as well. There are other makers - just use the Pfiel designation to look them up and see roughly what they look like. Their spoon gouge is not really good for bowl work - they take too short a cut.

For bowls, you'll also need some creative work-holding benches/ vises, but those you will have to make (plenty of online discussions about that)

Have fun,
Karl

[Ian Lerner]

Thank you Karl, I'll do some shopping. grin