Thanks, Dan, for your kind words. Yes, I am still around. I have moved my shop and have been working on some large projects, so time has now allowed me to make any videos for a while.
Joe - great work, I'm convinced! But I also feel like I can walk away with some new knowledge. Esp enjoyed one of you films I saw abt sharpening woodcarving tools with a 1000/400 diamond stone and aluminum oxide compound. The trick with the paper folding was a revelation 😁. My sculptor friend told me to be sure to cover my scalp when working stone: the dust and fine chips will get in and kill your hair follicles, so just wear a hat! ¡Yakuza HAI!
I love your videos joe, and i actually have a house close to you, i am in Bourbonnais. Mr. Dillet I bought the Schaaf 12 piece carving tools, because you endorsed them, I need some help ... 6 of those gouges arrived with really bad grinds on them, i emailled and sent pics to Schaaf, they immediately sent me out 6 replacements, I was very impressed UNTIL they arrived, and they are just as bad as the originals... except even one of them is 3/4" shorter than the original.... I am NOT skilled enought o regrind these ... I expected to sharpen and hone, thats why i am watching your sharpening series.... But honestly I would NEVER buy these Schaaf tools again... and they are useless to me until i can atleast find someone that knows how to grind them correctly.
Sorry about your experience with Schaaf tools and the bad grinding job. If you are willing to drive to Genoa Illinois, I would sharpen those tools . Let me know through my email address, jdillett@thecarvingshop,net .
Thanks for the video Joe. Traditional style woodcarving tools are notoriously expensive and considered "precious" by most woodworkers, to be treasured, protected, and reserved and maintained in peak condition for the purpose that they were originally designed. It never crossed my mind to regrind and adapt one for stone carving. Having them available for very reasonable prices really opens some possibilities. I knew the Shaaf tools were good but this video certainly makes me look at them differently. Any possibility that they could be adapted for pneumatic or electric reciprocal carving?
You can, with most materials, have tough or hard. Pneumatic tools need to be reasonably hard, but they swing a bit more toward the wear-resistant, or tough side. Hard tooling doesn't bend at or behind the contact point, it fractures. You can have a tough shank with a harder edge, but that may require variable hardening and tempering of a homogeneous material (a type of HSS), or compounding a mixed material like white & yellow steel, which might work on medium hardness workpieces. Another option is welding or brazing a hardenable tip, or a tougher grade of carbide (C2?, special alloy? matrix?) If you use a small pneumatic reciprocating tool to carve stone, there are already a selection of tips, but you could always try repurposing a used shank that fits the tool....
Hi Billy, The Schaaf tools are made in China, I have been using mine for a couple of years now and have been super pleased with mine. I can only think of one American manufacturers of traditional wood carving tools and own some of those along with English, Swiss,, German and Austrian made tools. The Schaaf tools are among the best and are very reasonably priced to boot.
