Calm Carving | A Small Bowl With Three Affordable Carving Tools

Thank you for watching.

It was wonderful to carve as the snow melted. I hope that the dripping from the workshop gutter into the water collection buckets wasn't too annoying! Perhaps in contributed to the calming, ASMR experience.

One of the most frequent questions that I get asked is "which tools should I buy?" It's a great question, and one that I love to answer. The affordable tool world is becoming cluttered with tools that many carvers would deem to be of a bad quality and frankly, unsafe. They are made fast, with little thought into the complexities and qualities of good carving hand tools. In this video, I use my three recommended tools to carve a lovely little bowl for the home.

Good tools do not need to be expensive! A sharp, well maintained tool will be just as comparative to the next, regardless of price.
This whole kit can be sourced for under £120. That is less than the annual cost of your morning coffees, less than your TV subscription...
They will Gide you through a meditative carving experience and will last forever.

I want to be clear that I have not been paid or endorsed by these tool brands to create this video, I have done so, simply to gently nudge you into the path of a decent starting carver kit. There may be some alternatives out there but I have used and trusted these tools for many years for my own use and for teaching workshops.
The axe was ground and hung in Sheffield by Wood Tools. Wood Tools have really helped the carving community by providing affordable, sharp and good quality carving tools to the green wood working community. Robin and Jojo have contributed massively to the rise of the modern green wood worker and provide the world with carving festivals and community well-being carving clubs. They also make a great hook knife!
I purchased a batch of these axes a few years ago and they have helped me to teach many many folk how to carve a spoon, and other objects for the first time. I will be honest, I don't know of a better axe for this price point in the green wood tool market. I know some people to re-profile a cheap gardening axe from a homeware store and bring it to a bevel suitable for carving green wood, but that requires some skill, machinery and a lot of patience!

The straight knife and the hook knife are both from a company called Morakniv. Morakniv are a Swedish company that have been making high quality knives for an array of uses for over 400 years! They have become well known in the wood carving scene for providing most makers with their first ever knife. The 120 is a perfect intro knife and is a nice, safe length for learning all carving techniques. They also make a longer 106 model that I have used for many years and has become vert sentimental to me.
The 164 is a beautiful hook knife that is very intuitive to use (as far as hook knives go) and is also very east to maintain. I wouldn't recommend the use of a double edge small hook knife of this profile as I have had one in the past, and I think it cut me, more than the wood! The 164 is sold widely and comes ground with wither a right or left handed bevel and the angle is capable of excavating material from a spoon bowl with little effort when sharp.

Of course, you are only as good as the sharpness of your tools allows on to be! I really recommend that if you are ever buying a tool like these for the first time, to research and purchase a sharpening system or home set up. It docent need to be expensive, some wet and dry abrasive paper, taped to a flat surface and a leather strop (an old belt), smothered in compound will remove any burr that might occur. Like any skill, sharpening comes with time. See sharpening as flattening... You are re-flatening a bevel that has been rounded slightly by carving. Some makers label systems online as a 'scary sharp' set up... Sharp tools are not scary!! A blunt one will put you at higher risk of injury as it will require an uncontrollable amount of force to drive efficiently through wood fibres.

I loved making this bowl, the walnut wood smelt incredible and the mellow tones of the grain made for a really mindful and joyful experience. The hollow turned out really well and I loved the texture made by the spoon knife. The train flowed through the billet nice and straight and the natural curves of the bowl made for a great time.

Once again, thanks for watching and I look forward to your comments and questions. Take care all!

Chapters:
00:00 Intro
00:22 Sawing Wood And Intro To Tools
00:53 Splitting And Prepping Billet With The Axe
02:42 Tidying Top Surface With The Knife
03:37 Making A Rough Hollow With Axe And Hook Knife
05:41 Cleaning The Hollow And Knife Sharpening
07:11 Roughing The Blank With The Axe
10:00 Carving The Blank With The Knife
11:54 Forming The Foot
12:39 Shaping The Handles
13:43 Chamfering The Edges - Satisfying
15:24 Chip Carving Folk Pattern
17:21 The Finished Piece
17:44 Thank You And Goodbye