Carving Tools:
Types of Carving Tool:
There are a number of generic carving tool sets available as well as branded tool sets from companies such as Speedball and Staedtler. Carving tool sets offer the advantage of buying a selection of different cutting tools together which often represents a cost saving over buying the tools individually. Tools can be purchased independently which is a good way to buy a specific tool. Some cutting tools have interchangeable heads. This means that a single handle is purchased and different cutting blades are fitted depending on the project.
Types of Carving Tools
Types of carving tool blade that are useful for stamp carving or soft block carving include:
- V cut blades - these are known as gouges and they cut a 'v' into the surface of the carving block. These range in size from very fine 'v' shapes through to larger 'v's. Fine 'v's are excellent for carving fine detail into a hand carved stamp. If you were to pick just one cutting blade, then a thin 'v' blade would serve most purposes.
- U cut blades - these gouges carve a 'u' shape into the surface. This is useful for cutting away thicker lines.
- Square cut blades - these cut a square line in the surface of the carving block. Thick square cut blades are good for cutting away a lot of surface quickly.
- Flat blades - such as craft knives or scalpels. These are useful for cutting lines into a stamp or cutting a basic shape.
Carving Tools vs Craft Knife
It is possible to carve stamps in soft carving block (not lino) using a normal craft knife. Geometric shapes and solid images with a bold shape are particularly easy to carve this way. On more complex projects, however, a proper set of carving tools have a lot to offer. They make carving detail much more straight forward and are more like 'drawing' onto the carving block rather than cutting pieces away.
