Japanese Detail Carving Tools

[fleminggourds]

Has anyone ever purchases this set of chisels specifically? I will be using them on gourds and not necessarily on wood. In the past, I've found some such sets not up to even that light task. Finding thinner handles for small hands on gouges is a pain in the patootie.

http://www.leevalley.com/US/wood/page.aspx?p=44106&cat=1,130,43332

Thanks!

 

[Mike Davis]

My daughter brought back two small chisels from Japan, each one cost as much as that set. Maybe that will give you some idea of the quality of those.

 

[Bugle]

They look like the Power Grip set that I bought at the local Woodcraft store ($43.50 for the 5-piece set). They are certainly not top of the line, but work well for what I have done. They do not work well for very hard woods, but I have only used them on basswood and aspen.

I carved this using only the 5-piece set and a bench knife.

 

[Len]

My daughter has the set, and a couple of add on gouges. She uses them on basswood and poplar with no problems, so they should be fine for gourds.

Len