With the intent to move from spoon & bowl carving to relief carving, I'm about to follow the Chris Pye video series recently released for free to YouTube. This needs a few basic carving chisels, including #1 and #2 flat chisels (straight and skew). I bought a couple of Henry Taylors, on sale at Toolnut. These seem well made and are reputedly of good steel but I'm puzzled by the bevels .... .
As carving chisels, they have a bevel each side rather then a flat back and one bevel, as with a bench chisel. The two bevels on the Henries are both 22.3 degrees from the long axis of the chisel, i.e. a total bevel of 45 degrees. This seems too big/steep, especially for carving. But what do I know (yet) about it, being a novice carver.
So, the question:
Should I reform these bevels to make something more like a 15 degree bevel each side (total 30 degrees) to allow easier penetration of the edge into the wood but to also have a low angle of 15 degrees at which to "operate" the chisel? Carving gouges all seem to have a 15 - 25 degree outer bevel with either no inside bevel or a very low angle inner bevel if the outer bevel is also low (to provide a more resilient cutting edge). Shouldn't the same principle apply to a double bevelled straight or skew chisel?
Any advice from practicing carvers will be gratefully received.
As carving chisels, they have a bevel each side rather then a flat back and one bevel, as with a bench chisel. The two bevels on the Henries are both 22.3 degrees from the long axis of the chisel, i.e. a total bevel of 45 degrees. This seems too big/steep, especially for carving. But what do I know (yet) about it, being a novice carver.
So, the question:
Should I reform these bevels to make something more like a 15 degree bevel each side (total 30 degrees) to allow easier penetration of the edge into the wood but to also have a low angle of 15 degrees at which to "operate" the chisel? Carving gouges all seem to have a 15 - 25 degree outer bevel with either no inside bevel or a very low angle inner bevel if the outer bevel is also low (to provide a more resilient cutting edge). Shouldn't the same principle apply to a double bevelled straight or skew chisel?
Any advice from practicing carvers will be gratefully received.
