Hey everyone! I'm a beginner wood carver and could really use some feedback. I've got a couple of questions after going through the FAQ. First, if I want to drill a 5mm hole through a 5cm thick piece of wood manually, what hand tool would you recommend? And if I need a 3mm hole instead, would I just need a smaller size of the same tool or a completely different one? Secondly, are there special tools for carving harder woods? I've been sharpening my Morakniv 120 constantly and recently broke some chips off my Kirschen v-gouge and regular gouge. Right now, I'm working with olive wood, which seems tougher than the other woods I've used. I'd love to hear if improving my technique would be enough, instead of needing to buy new tools!
2 Answers
For your drilling question, you should look into a hand drill. Something like a double-pinion hand drill works great and you can use normal bits with it, as long as the drill can fit the size you need.
As for carving harder woods, it sounds like a technique thing. I've seen people carve olive wood just fine, and tools like Morakniv and Kirschen are solid brands. Make sure to adjust your carving angle too; for harder woods, you might want to increase it to around 25-30 degrees to get smaller chips and better control.
Definitely check out pfeil gouges for harder woods—they're really durable. I've been using mine daily and they still perform like new! I carve hard woods in Australia and these tools never let me down.