#1 & #2 carving chisel bevel angles?

[Eshmiel]

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.

 

[johnnyb]

Yes 25/30 degrees is correct.(wrong word really as these angles can be highly variable) I'm guessing whomever made it didn't bother to finish grind it, only approximating the sharp end angle. My very best chisels are super delicate with a thin section. Henry Taylor are a bit chunkier.

 

[Eshmiel]

Yes 25/30 degrees is correct.(wrong word really as these angles can be highly variable) I'm guessing whomever made it didn't bother to finish grind it, only approximating the sharp end angle. My very best chisels are super delicate with a thin section. Henry Taylor are a bit chunkier.

Thanks for that reassurance. I'll regrind to 2 X 15 degrees on those new Henries.

 

[pgrbff]

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.

Do you mind telling me where to look for the videos? Thanks

 

[Eshmiel]

Chris Pye YouTube channel "Woodcarving Workshop":

https://www.youtube.com/@woodcarvingworkshop/playlists

Duckduckgo is my normal browser but the Woodcarving Workshop vids have to be watched on YouTube - I presume because of some sort of deal to allow the inclusion of adverts, which duckduckgo excludes. The adverts all seem to be those that allow you to skip them after they've played a few seconds and there are very few to none per vid, so not very annoying.

 

[pgrbff]

Chris Pye YouTube channel "Woodcarving Workshop":

https://www.youtube.com/@woodcarvingworkshop/playlists

Duckduckgo is my normal browser but the Woodcarving Workshop vids have to be watched on YouTube - I presume because of some sort of deal to allow the inclusion of adverts, which duckduckgo excludes. The adverts all seem to be those that allow you to skip them after they've played a few seconds and there are very few to none per vid, so not very annoying.

thanks