Wood carving tool. Knives for wood carving. What types of wood cutters are there? Hand-held power tool for wood carving

This type of decorative and applied art such as wood carving is finding more and more admirers these days. It is becoming a popular hobby not only among teenage children, but also attracts a fairly large number of adults. Like any work with wood, from making furniture to amateur builders and decorating residential premises, wood carving requires the use of special tools, which can be purchased in the form of ready-made kits, or you can make it yourself.

Considering the considerable cost of any original tool produced under the Tatyanka, Flexcut, Kogatana or Narex brands, the latter option is more preferable. It is unknown whether the hobby will be serious or whether it is a momentary whim, and a specialized cutting and engraving tool for wood carving is unlikely to find application in other branches of home creativity.

Required cutter kit

There is no universal tool that can be used to perform on a wooden surface. Its full range is quite extensive, but taking the first steps, the carver can limit himself to the following items:

one special blunt knife;
straight and semicircular chisels with blades of various widths.

Over time, this minimum will expand, but to start work and master the skills, one knife and two chisels are enough - one with a straight blade and the other with a semicircular blade. In addition to this specialized toolkit, you will need a regular, commonly used tool:

wood hacksaw with fine teeth;
bit;
set of files;
sandpaper of varying degrees of abrasiveness.

Considering that imagination, skillful hands and high-quality tools are the key to success in any type of decorative and applied art, the production of the latter must be taken with special responsibility when choosing the right material for it. At the same time, finishing individual cutting and engraving objects to the required conditions usually takes much more time than its direct production.

Making a knife

When taking your first steps in wood carving, you can limit yourself to a simple knife made of high-quality steel, sharpening it in a special way. The only condition is that the knife blade must be rigid enough so that when making individual cuts it does not deform or bend.

The quality of steel is checked with a regular needle file, which should not leave marks on the sharpened blade or they should be barely noticeable. However, it is better to initially make a special knife-jamb, whose blade shape resembles the well-known shoe knife, but has a smaller blade width.

Most often, for the independent production of knives for wood carving, which have different widths and blade shapes, a machine-made hacksaw blade for metal with a width of 25.0...50.0 millimeters is used. Preliminary markings are made on the blade along the contour of which the blade blank is cut out.

So, in machine-made hacksaw blades, tool steel is used (usually P6M5 or P9M3), then to create a knife blade blank you will have to use a grinder with a metal cutting disc. The workpiece should be cut with a small allowance. When cutting metal, the edges of the part burn (the structure and hardness of the metal changes), so the final finishing is done on an emery machine.

For the final production and preliminary sharpening of the knife, the same emery wheel is used, and the final finishing is carried out on sanding blocks of varying abrasiveness. The side surfaces of the knife blade must be polished; a felt wheel and GOI polishing paste are used for this.

Similarly, this type of tool is made from metal circular saws. The advantages of using a circular saw are a greater number of standard blade thicknesses. Knives can be made in a variety of sizes and thicknesses. If at the initial stages this factor does not play much importance, then over time, when a cutting tool with a semicircular or shaped blade is required, the thickness of the workpiece will be of no small importance.

Note!

Power knives are made from these blanks for making deep cuts, and a tool for cutting shallow recesses can be made from a straight razor blade.

Making chisels

When making wood carver's chisels yourself, a drill of a suitable diameter and length is usually used as a blank. The process involves shaping the blade and giving it the desired shape. Sharpening the cutting edge is done in the same way as a conventional tool. The spiral drill winding does not need to be ground off, but only the sharp edges of the spiral can be dulled using sandpaper. To make chisels with a semicircular blade, you can use punches or a drill shank.

Making handles

In order to prevent your hand from getting tired and overstrained during woodcarving, the size and shape of the handle are important. Knife handles are made from two halves of hard wood, joined together with glue. A recess is cut out in the boards for the shank of the knife, after which the latter is placed in this recess, horses are applied to the joined planes and the halves are clamped in a vice or tightened with clamps.

After the glue has completely hardened, the handle blank, clamped in a vice, in which the knife blade is already securely fastened, is pre-processed with a file, giving it the most convenient (ergonomic, anatomical) shape. Final finishing is carried out using sandpaper or a belt sander. Depending on the needs of the carver, the surface of the handle is opened with varnish or left untreated.

Note!

For the carver's first chisels, you can use standard needle or file handles, which are available at home tool stores.

As you can see, the process of making knives and chisels yourself is no more complicated than wood carving itself. To make the initial set (a knife and two chisels), you will need a grinder with a cutting wheel, an electric sander and a sander. Without power tools, making your own cutter kit will be simply impossible.

After watching the video, you will learn how to make your own wood cutting knife.

Wood carving is carried out using special tools. High machinability, which is characteristic of wood, allows you to obtain products of various shapes and sizes. It is necessary to choose the right tool for carving, since the features of operation and the complexity of the work performed depend on their specific qualities.

Main types of tools

There are a wide variety of carving tools available on the market. All of them are divided into two main groups:

Manual ones are characterized by low cost and ease of use. However, we must not forget about the low productivity of manual labor.
Electric ones have recently become widespread, since their use can significantly speed up and simplify wood processing. As a rule, electric tools are purchased during serial production of products; they are characterized by a higher cost, but allow obtaining more accurate dimensions and high quality of the machined surface.

Despite the widespread use of electric tools, you still cannot do without hand tools. They are often used to treat hard-to-reach places.

When producing such instruments, a certain numbering is used, which is quite difficult to understand. Many experts recommend purchasing wood carving knives included in standard sets. They are produced by specialists in the field in question and can be used to perform work of varying complexity. Only after gaining experience will the master be able to expand his range of knives depending on genre preferences and needs. The most widely used types of the instrument in question are:

Bogorodsky is a design option that can be used to obtain a black outline. With a blade of 6-3 cm, the knife is suitable for obtaining thin work or semicircular shapes. The handle can be made using a variety of materials.
Tatyanka is a knife with a long handle, the bevel of the blade is located at a distance of 2 cm from the hand. This simplifies the wood processing process.
The jamb is a design option similar to a shoe knife; the blade is beveled at an angle of 45 degrees. Sharpening is one-sided, used when obtaining a wide variety of shapes.

Knife "Tatyanka"
Knife "Bogorodsky"

A wood carving gravel is also often purchased. To process large surfaces, a wood cutter can be used, which is also characterized by a certain shape of the cutting edge. The set often includes a knife and hatchet for wood carving. Its cutting part can have different sizes and shapes, it all depends on the specific task at hand when processing the surface.

Chisels

Let's call a chisel a fairly common tool. The best offer is considered to be the products of the Kirschen Studia company, but any modification costs no less than 1000 rubles. There are many different types of wood carving chisels. The classification is carried out as follows:

Direct.
Angular with V-shaped profile.
Reverse with a convex working part.
Curved.

A chisel for carving wood of low density can be made from inexpensive materials. If desired, you can purchase budget options from Japanese manufacturers. It is worth considering that models with a short working part are intended for manual work and are not easier to operate. Options with a longer working part are intended for impact work.

Saws

Saws can be used to work with solid wood. There are a variety of options for this instrument; when choosing, attention is paid to the following points:

Tooth size.
Length of the working part.
Handle type and comfort.
What metal is the working part made of?

When considering a similar tool for cutting wood, it is worth considering that most are designed to change the length of the workpiece.

Too large a tooth allows you to speed up the work process, but the quality of the cut is poor.

To improve the quality of the resulting end surface, you can use saws with a fine and frequent tooth arrangement.

Special tools

There are quite a large number of specialized tools on sale that are used only in the mass production of various wood products. An example would be:

Flexible shaft. This design option is suitable for producing threads of almost any complexity. Even a novice master can afford it.
Laser engraver. A household model of such a device costs 7 thousand rubles. Execution options that are capable of working on 3D projects cost at least 30 thousand rubles.

A laser engraver is a multifunctional piece of equipment that can be used for a variety of jobs. To do this, it is possible to change working attachments and change processing parameters. Similar thread cutting tools can be purchased at a specialty store.

How to choose a knife?

The most widespread are carving knives. They allow you to get almost any shape by hand processing. When choosing, pay attention to:

Comfortable handle.
The type of metal used in the manufacture of the working part.
Shape, thickness and length of the cutting edge.

It is best to give preference to tools that are made from hardened tool steel. Such an alloy can withstand long-term use without sharpening.

How to choose a chisel?

A chisel for wood carving can be characterized by a different shape of the cutting edge. When choosing it, attention is paid to the following points:

Power tools are selected according to the thickness of the blade. Impactless modifications have a thickness of about 1.5 mm. It cannot withstand high impact loads.
The choice is made depending on what type of work will be carried out. There are several dozen varieties of chisels, each suitable for obtaining a specific carving.
On sale there are electric chisels with a battery or a wire for mains power.
Attention is also paid to the popularity of the brand. More well-known manufacturers produce high-quality products that can be used for a long period.

In specialized stores you can find sets of chisels. They may include several instruments of different types.

Instrument care

Hand tools can be serviced at home. As a rule, after long-term use it is necessary to sharpen the cutting edge. To do this, you can use special equipment or a regular sharpening stone.

If the working part is made using ordinary steel, then the surface must be cleaned of liquid and contaminants.

From time to time, the rust that forms is removed.

Most problems arise with electrical equipment. An example is a laser engraver, which has a complex design. If timely, high-quality maintenance is not carried out, the accuracy of processing will significantly decrease.

Wood carving is a complex and fascinating activity. It allows you to create unique crafts, decorate your home, and give gifts to friends and acquaintances.

Also, carving will be a constant source of positive emotions, and for some, even generate income. For children, this hobby will be a great way to occupy free time and develop artistic thinking.

Most often, wood carving tools are made. This happens for three reasons:

Firstly, you can rarely find a good cutter on sale.
Secondly, many people cannot afford it, especially teenagers and children who are interested in carving. Most often, cutters are sold in sets, have a high price, and half of them are unlikely to ever be needed.
Finally, the third reason is that experienced carvers prefer to make a tool “for themselves.”

DIY wood carving tools (drawings) can be divided into three types - knives, chisels and gravers.

A knife is a tool that works with a straight or curved cutting edge.

Wood is cut under a force directed primarily across the axis.

A carving chisel is a tool in which the force is directed along an axis, similar to a regular carpenter's chisel.

A shtikhel is a tool that is a type of chisel. First, it cuts into the wood, and then a small layer of wood is “torn off” with the skillful movement of the carver. Stichels include all kinds of cranberries - a special tool popular in Transcarpathian wood carving.

Let's start with something simple - a cutter for geometric carvings

Geometric carving is the simplest type of carving.

It would be the best choice if you just want to try your hand at carving.

Despite its apparent simplicity, it allows you to create drawings with a “three-dimensional” effect.

It is also a national artistic craft in Russia, Karelia and Finland.

Geometric carving does not require great “hardness” of the hands, like, for example, carving with a chisel. It consists of simple elements - chips and triangles.

Making a wood carving tool with your own hands is easier than any other. Objectively, this is the only tool that can be made at home without the use of forging.

A cutter for geometric carving is a knife. Outwardly, it looks a little like a shoe leather knife with an oblique blade, but that's where the similarities end. The main difference is the width of the blade and the cutting angle of the knife.

The width of the cutter for geometric carving should be about 2 cm, however, this will depend on the size of the chips that are intended to be cut.

The “bevel” angle of the cutter should be quite steep, almost straight - from 80 to 70 degrees. It is undesirable to work with a nose that is too “sharp” - the cutter during such work will cover the drawing and it will not be visible what you are doing. In addition, if the angles are too large, the tip of the cutter will constantly break during awkward movements.

Blade material

The best option is to make a forged cutter from a rod.

The part of the blade protruding from the handle must be forged from a round section into a flat knife.

It will cover the picture less when .

Unfortunately, most carvers do not have access to a forge and do not have forging skills.

It would be optimal for them to make a wood carving tool with their own hands from an old metal hacksaw blade.

The blade is made of steel R6M5, sometimes of carbon steel. It has a width of 25...50 mm and a thickness of 2 to 5 mm. If possible, take a blade 25 mm wide and 3 mm thick, it will be optimal for the cutter.

How to cut the canvas to the right size and at the right angle? After all, it is hardened! There is no need to cut anything. Clamp the blade tightly in a vice under the desired one.

Then, using a hammer, simply break off the blade as needed - in the vast majority of cases, the break will occur along the clamping line of the vice jaws.

Then straighten the cut line on an electric sharpener and pre-sharpen the cutter. The blade is fixed in the handle using teeth that used to cut metal. The best way to do this is by drilling holes and hammering in rivets, but the hardness of the material will make drilling extremely awkward.

Perhaps you will find another, more suitable one. The main thing is that it must be made of high-quality steel. Some people make cutters by sharpening them from files or from surgical instruments, from the blades of knives for stripping wires. Excellent cutters are obtained from broken metal disk cutters made of P18 steel. All these methods are good.

About homemade wood tools - in the video:

Tools for wood carving must be carefully selected. Wood carving as a type of decorative and applied art has a long history and has provided humanity with real masterpieces. At home, you can also create works of art, and simply diversify the interior. Although some modern models with electric drive have appeared (for example, a wood carving drill), in general the tool preserves traditions and is intended mainly for painstaking manual labor.

Different types of chisels for wood carving

Wood carving is the processing of wood to give it a special shape or create a relief on it. The following main types of such operations can be distinguished:

How to use the tool

When performing wood carving, the following work is carried out: drilling, sawing, cutting and gouging. To create a quality product, it is impossible to do without measuring tools.

During the work process, the need arises for auxiliary tools or devices that help fix the workpiece and limit the degree of impact.

The nature of the work determines the choice of the necessary tool. Historically, the best examples were made using hand tools, but the modern trend towards mechanization and automation of labor has not bypassed this area of activity.

Set of various cutters for wood carving

There is a whole range of machines, mini-drills (drills), jigsaws, grinders, etc. on sale. Certain products can be made in automatic mode using copy-milling devices (pantograph).

What types of knives are used?

One of the primary cutting tools used for wood carving is knives for wood carving of various designs and purposes. The following types of knives are distinguished:

What kind of chisels are needed when working?

Of course, the main handmade tools are wood carving chisels. The most common types of chisels include the following tool:

What other tool can you use?

In addition to the main devices discussed, additional tools are used when carrying out work to carry out specific work.

The following additional tool is usually used for wood carving:

Spoon knives or spoon knives: usually a sharpened ring welded to a steel bar that is inserted into the handle - are used for removing accumulated sawdust in recesses, as well as for grinding the inside walls of large recesses, for example, when cutting utensils.
Embosses and punches: durable metal rods with a specific pattern on the end. Most common when creating the main background.

When carving wood over large areas, various auxiliary tools are also used:

For drilling work: gimlets, rotators, hand drills.
When sawing: hacksaw, hacksaw, jigsaw, two-handed saw.
Auxiliary equipment: mallet, staple, miter box, clamps, vice, various clamps, hammer.

To carry out measurements and markings, the following tools are used: ruler, square, protractor, leveler, measuring rod, plumb line, leveler, level, calipers, vernier calipers, bore gauge, thickness gauge, compass, tape measure.

All photos from the article

Wood carving is a very interesting and fascinating process, and anyone can master this skill. The only thing is that for this you need to prepare a certain set of tools. Next, we will take a closer look at what tools are needed for wood carving and for what purposes they are used.

Tool set

Cutters

Cutters are one of the basic tools for wood carving. Moreover, there should be several of them - with different blade angles and sizes, which will provide convenience when performing various operations.

As a rule, a cutter kit contains six cutters, with one of them being the main one, which is most convenient to work with. The choice of such a knife is a purely individual matter.

However, there are some basic requirements that all cutters must meet:

The handle should fit comfortably in the hand;
The blade must be sharp and made of high quality steel.

When choosing a tool, you should take it in your hands to make sure that the handle is ergonomic enough.

In the photo - a set of chisels

Chisels

Chisels come in different types and are characterized by the following parameters:

Width - the choice depends on the size and type of thread.
Curvature – the greater the curvature, the larger the number with which the tool is marked.

For example, a chisel, which is designated number 3, has an almost flat profile, and a tool numbered 11 is U-shaped. As you might guess, chisel 11 can cut wood deeper than chisel number 3. At the same time, the latter is more convenient to work with when finishing the product.

It should also be noted that there are number 12 chisels that have a V-shaped profile. They are characterized by a wide range of angles at which the edges are located - 24-90 degrees. However, the most common is the V-shaped chisel with an angle of 60-70 degrees.

Advice!
When choosing a chisel, you should pay attention to the handle of the tool.
It should not be round so that it does not roll off the table onto the floor.
Otherwise, you will have to recondition the blade frequently.

To do wood carving with your own hands, you should purchase chisels the size of your palm. For small carvings you will need even smaller tools. But for relief and sculptural carving, a tool of standard sizes with large handles is used.

Knives

To perform carving, you definitely need a good knife.

Based on the type of design, knives are divided into three types:

With folding blade;
With replaceable blades;
With fixed blade.

Advice!
In specialized stores there are special kits that include all the necessary tools for wood carving for beginners.

In addition, they differ in the following characteristics:

Type of steel - the best option is knives made of high-carbon steel 55 - 60 RC. This tool stays sharp longer than stainless steel or mild steel knives.
Blade dimensions - to create a finish and shape the workpiece, it is better to use a knife with a blade 4 to 5 cm long and about 4 mm thick.

It must be said that some carvers prefer knives with replaceable blades. Their advantage is that instead of sharpening, you can simply replace the blade. In addition, chisels can be used with the handle of such a knife.

Advice!
If you are a beginner, you can put a steel wire glove on your hand before working to avoid injury.

Abrasives

Abrasives include files and rasps. With their help, you can smoothly remove excess wood. The main differences between files are the following:

Abrasive tools also include:

Flexible sanding belt – used when processing curved surfaces.
Sanding cylinders (attachments for a hand drill) are an indispensable tool for the final finishing of a product.

Pay attention!
Sandpaper can only be used for final processing of a wooden product, otherwise the wood carving tool will quickly become dull due to abrasive particles stuck in the wood.

Power tools

Various power tools for wood carving can significantly simplify and at the same time speed up the process.

Below we consider its most common types:

Circular saws - thanks to a large selection of blades, they allow you to perform even those operations that cannot be performed with a bow saw.
– allow you to quickly finish products. In addition, they can be used to remove bark and perform some other operations.
Rotary tools with a large selection of heads (mills) - allow you to perform grooves, profiles and many other operations.

Pay attention!
On sale you can even find electric tools such as chisels, which perform a reciprocating motion.
They are intended primarily for people suffering from arthritis and other joint diseases.

Fixing devices

A vice is usually used as a fixing device, which is mounted on a workbench. To avoid leaving marks on the product, it is necessary to use spacers when clamping it in a vice. These can be pieces of thick leather or plywood.

Tool sharpening

Sooner or later, any cutting tool becomes dull. Of course, it makes no sense to purchase a new one because of this, since its price is quite high. If you sharpen a tool, it can last for quite a long time, and you can do this yourself.

The process of sharpening cutters and others is as follows:

The first step is to sharpen the cutting parts with a fine abrasive.. For example, sandpaper or diamond chips. First, one side is sharpened, and then the other.
You can also use a special power tool to perform this operation.

Next, you need to eliminate the unevenness that appeared as a result of the initial grinding..
After this, it is necessary to polish the blade using a special compound until a mirror shine is achieved.. This will reduce friction between the wood and the working part of the tool.

After performing all the above operations, you need to determine how sharp the tool is. The instructions are quite simple - you need to run the blade across the wood across the grain. If the mark is smooth, then the blade is sharp, but if the mark is rough and the fibers are fluffy, then the tool needs to be sharpened further.

Instrument care

In order for the tool to last as long as possible, it is necessary to provide proper care for it. To do this, you just need to periodically inspect it and wipe it with an oiled cloth to prevent corrosion.

All equipment should be stored wrapped in cloth or in separate compartments of the locker. This will significantly reduce the time it takes to sharpen blades. This is, perhaps, all the basic information you need to know about the tool for wood carving.

Conclusion

Wood carving involves the use of quite a large number of tools, but the main ones are cutters and chisels, while the rest of the devices can be classified as auxiliary. However, regardless of the type of tools, they should all be comfortable and in good technical condition. The quality of the thread, and even the safety of work, depends on this.

You can get some useful information on this topic from the video in this article.