Veiners, Guages, V-tools, about them and how to sharpen?

[bcarvings]

Hi,
I want to buy a few veiner's and guages because my book "Carving the Civil War" requires of few of this.
My question is what is the difference between a veiner, and a v-tool? Also my book says I need a small gauge, and a small veiner, and some kind of v-tool. Is there some kind of box set that has a set of basic v-tools, veiners, and guages? I bought a Harmen gauge for $7 and it looks exactly like those palm tools at littleshavers.com
And sharpening them, I have a book on sharpening but I'll check and see if it tells how to sharpen a guage/v-tool.
Oh and I learned how to sharpen my knife! Still having a few glitches but I'm almost there. I owe it all to you people, and especillay Plain-ol-ed. Thanks again!

[mdallensr]

Veiners are semi-circular in cross-section. The "right" kind of veiners can be inserted in the wood and rotated to make a circular hole, for an eye, for example. The come in widths from 1/16" up to 1/2" (or more?). A couple of smaller veiners are standard issue for wood carvers. V-tools are "V" shaped in cross-section. The come in different angles and widths. A small v-tool, say 1/16" of 1/8" and a larger one, about 1/4", are really useful. Veiners and v-tools are not interchageable; you need both.

[big_Wayne_P]

I never heard of the brand tool that you mentioned
Buy some good quality tools to begin with
The inexpensive tools that Rick sells at Little Shavers are a good quality tool
They also come pre-sharpened

Thge cheap stuff at Hobby Lobby, Michaels. Wal Mart
are just that
cheap
they are not pre sharpened

I have never seen any of the cheap carving tools selling on E Bay
but my guess are just that Cheap Un-Sharpened and probably will not hold up

You do not have to buy the most expensive tools but do buy a good quality
The good inexpensive tools like Ramelson Flexcut will do most carvers a lifetime

[big_Wayne_P]

b carvings
email me
want to discuss with you about some of the wood you were trying to sell on EBay

I will not bid or try to buy off of EBay any more

bigwaynep51@aoil.com

Sharpening Vieners V tools and gouges take a lot of practice with V tools being the hardest to sharpen. Think of a V tool as two staight edges sharpen them first then sharpen the end of the V it will take considerable practice to get it so that the two straight edges are even. I have been carving for about six years now and still have problems sharpening V tools. A good magnifier is a must when sharpening any tool so that you can inspect the edge to make sure it is even.
Colin

bcarvings - Harmen made a good tool, they are now Ramelson I believe. Could explain the resemblance.

BCarving,
I've used Harmen tools since I started carving and had pretty good luck with them holding an edge. (Harold Enlow was the first professional carving instructor that I carved under and he sells Harmen tools. When our club has carving lessons, we put a package together that includes a knife, a Harmen v-tool, and a Harmen gouge.) As I've carved longer, I've knocked off the knobby little handles and replaced them with longer rounder ones to make them more user friendly AND it lets me extend their reach. They specialize in "PALM TOOLS" but you can get all sorts of sizes and shapes. Some have straight shafts and some have bent shafts and I'm partial to the bent ones. They let me get in hard-to-reach spots of a carving better.

For carving hair, I like the veiners better than gouges because the sides come up higher and I can go deeper without tearing the adjoining wood.

Harmens are fairly inexpensive and yet the steel is good enough to sharpen well. They make good first tools as you experiment with shapes and sizes.

Donna T

[mikeg]

Pete LeClaire recommended Harmen/Ramelson to me when I started carving. I've been happy with them so far(Not that I've had much experience!). Their website is at http://www.ramelson.net/index.htm And as Donna mentioned, they aren't expensive. They come from the factory fairly sharp but not like tools come from Little Shavers.

mikeg

[big_Wayne_P]

Donna
who sells Harmen tools
I have heard the name but not seen them
I am famillar with Ramelson and know of a couple of places that sells the Ramelson

I'm a little rusty on trying to explain this but here's a shot:

Veiners are "deep" gouges. Usually the top of the "U" is taller than the apex of the curve - just like it looks when typed out. They are often referred to as number 11 gouges. You can purchase them in standard measurements (1/2, 1/4", etc) or in metric. The measurement is the distance across the top of the tools cross-section. Gouges are numbered with the lower number having less depth. A #9 is very close to a semi-circle. A #7 is less deep with a #5 next and then a #3 which is almost flat.

I don't remember Tom using a v tool in his book. He does not use many - preferring the veiner. V tools are measured similar to a gouge. Sometimes you will get a degree reference. This refers to the angle inside the v. Therefore a 25 degree tool will be very narrow compared to a 45 degree tool.

Look at the picture in the link for cross sectional details on gouges and v tools.
http://www.littleshavers.com/CatalogPage32.html


A good starter kit (IMO) would be a 5mm #7 (or approx 1/4"), 3mm #9 (1/8"), and 1 or 2mm #11. You can buy a set (I think I already provided possible sources on another thread) but they usually have flat chisels that you really don't need just yet.

Harmen makes a good tool, but I ususally have to tune them up a little. I don't want to "plug", but contact Rick at Little Shavers. He will get you what you NEED based on what you want to carve.