Tuesday, April 24, 2012

My shop-made tool set

I made this little set of carving tools. I was needing some really tiny ones, so I decided to make them. I used allen wrenches for the chisels and needles for the gouges. I am hoping to use the tools for making a giveaway, having passed 100 followers. Stay tuned!

This is what the backs look like.

 I used two different sizes of allen wrenches. First I put the end in a vise and slowly, carefully pushed to "unbend" it  some. I covered it with my jacket because I was afraid it would snap, and I was much less afraid once I couldn't see it :) Then I ground the profiles.

The assortment is two sizes of straight chisels, one ground on top, one on the bottom. Then I made a skew.


This picture shows the different sweeps on the gouges. The needles I used have a little dip around the eye and I snipped the eye off with a wirecutter and then made the dip deeper and longer with a diamond cutter in my Dremel. Then I ground the edges.

I love the grip I have on these tools.


Here they are in action.

14 comments:

  1. I've been deliberating about making or buying my own. A friend (a mechanical engineer) swears by making his own tools to fit the job. I think I'll give it a go after seeing how succesfully you've made yours. Were the handles per-made or did you turn them?
    best wishes Pepper

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  2. These tools are gorgeous! I'm a bit envies of people who can make their own tools. There is still so much for me to learn...!

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  3. Excellent work, you gave these little carvers the perfect "fit" for you! I've had a go at grinding down very tiny needles to micro cutters too, after watching Karin explain. But the little dip you mentioned is sooooo short and shallow it drove me crazy :) Yours seems bigger but most importantly, successfully made! Chapeau!

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  4. Debora,
    Schmetz sewing machine needles are what I used. They are made in Germany. The dip is long as is the groove.

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  5. Beautiful handles! You are very good with that lathe!

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  6. Thank you all for the comments! I really appreciate it.
    Pepper-- I turned the handles from walnut and used brass tubing for the ferrules.
    Debora-- I too got the wonderful idea of needles from Karin (as I say so often, THANKS Karin) but at the time I only had these large regular sewing needles. When I saw the dip around the eye, I figured it's work. I've since gotten several sizes of the sewing machine needles with the long groove, but I couldn't get a good cutting edge on them. So I'm going to use them for 1:12 scale gouges in a tool box I am planning.

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    1. Well apparently you can't fix a typo aftyer you comment... I wanted to say "I figured it'd work" not "it's" I should have just written "it would"............

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  7. Wonderful job on the tools Linda! Even more exciting is what you are going to do with them. I can't wait.

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    1. Son unas herramientas estupendas, que maravilla.
      Un beso
      Gemma

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  8. amazing work! so glad i found my way to your blog :D

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  9. Nice work

    Helping to push you towards 200!

    From Tyla @
    http://obscurecreationsbytyla.blogspot.ca/

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