In response to my post tonight about my carved tool tote, I got a question about how to start carving similar stuff. The answer I thought might be of more general interest, so I thought I’d post my answer here.
“I was reading your blog post about carving your tool tote. I would like to get started doing some really small and simple carvings. Do you have a book/dvd that you recommend and what are a few needed tools to get started?”
The answer kind of depends on what kind of carving you want to do really, but since the question was about the stuff I have been doing I’ll answer in that regard.
DVD
- Peter Follansbee – 17th Century New England Carving
- Peter Follansbee – 17th Century New England Carving: Carving the S-Scroll
http://www.lie-nielsen.com/catalog.php?grp=1320
Scroll down a bit for the first one, it’s the best for starting out. Then follow up with the S-Scroll dvd. Absolutely top notch stuff, and very easy to understand and learn from.
Blog
Reading Peter’s blog: http://pfollansbee.wordpress.com/ from start to finish. 
That is if you are a geek about history and woodworking like me. Otherwise search on carving.
Books
Tools
I posted a while back about my starter set of tools, based on the recommendations of Peter Follansbee and his basic kit.
http://www.badgerwoodworks.com/2010/12/peters-carving-tools-interpreted/
this has the list of Tools I started with and how I got the list.
- Pfeil Gouge #9/10 mm
- Pfeil Gouge #6/20 mm
- Pfeil Gouge #8/13 mm
- Pfeil Gouge #8/20 mm
- Pfeil Gouge #5/12 mm
- Pfeil V-Parting Tool #12 8mm
I did about 4-5 fully carved pieces with that set before I started expanding. I’ve added about half dozen chisels so far, but only as I need them for specific projects. The set above is a decent starting place I figure for the kind of carving I do. It’s hard to say specifically what you’ll need since you might have a different design style in mind, but a good V tool and small variety of gouges will be a good as place as any to start.
Here is part of my current kit, which I used nearly off of these for the Tool Tote carving.
Some of my carving tools...
Hope that helps.
Badger
Getting to know... Alder and a new Chisel
A visit to the Coyote Woodshop
Attention NW Woodworkers!