Making detail carving tools: miniature and micro chisels. Part 1
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- Опубліковано 21 вер 2024
- Learn how easy it is to make your own custom detail carving tools. You don’t need special tools or metal working experience, and the process is remarkably fast for these very small blades. I demonstrate simple methods for shaping the blades, hardening and tempering, and making professional-looking handles.
Very small tools suitable for highly detailed work are hard to find, and often expensive. You can create top quality tools that are exactly suited to your work for very little money.
This is a step-by-step tutorial that will show exactly how to complete beautiful tools that you will be proud to own.
Thank you for this tutorial. This helps me as a ceramic artist, since I enjoy making my own tools.
This is as close to the perfect "How To" video I've watched on YT and I've watched A LOT.
TY and now for Part 2.
Patrick, the production values together with your ego-free presentation style make these some of the most engaging, and valuable, videos that i have watched on UA-cam. Thank you very much.
Patrick, these videos are _amazing_ - clarity, brevity, precision.
The detail you provide in this video is _amazing_ !!
Dr. Sullivan, I have been learning through UA-cam for a couple of years now. I am blown away with your knowledge and the production value of your videography. I have been binging on your videos during the Christmas break. I am so glad to have found your content. I am starting the mini workbench today. Then on to tool making. Thank you!
This video was exactly what i needed to make the tools i needed but were way too expensive. Thank you so very much for sharing your knowledge.
Mr Sullivan you are the man, so much information.
Thanks, Patrick. This is by far the best tutorial series of its kind that I have been able to locate. Very helpful. Much appreciated.
Dr. Sullivan, I've watched all of your videos more than four or five times, and I must say, the content and delivery is top notch. Please continue to make your tutorials. I will never buy a new carving tool again. Best, Kenn
Wow, this is great! I saw you using the micro chisels in the video where you carved the Celtic dragon for your grandson and thought, it would be nice to have such a beautiful set of chisels. I then discovered this video. Now I have a weekend project. Thanks!
FWIW, the aluminum oxide (tan to brown) sandpaper you used in great for wood and probably does OK on very small metal parts like this, but silicon carbide (blue or black) is tougher, will last longer and clogs less on metal. It can even be used wet for a finer finish.
I have carved all my life, and i can say i like a basic handle, but the tools look amazing, almost exactly like the brand i prefer .amaizing work great video
Excelent video!
amazing !
I'm going build carving knives and just recently had my 01 steel delivered and so many little knives can be made from my 36-inch X 1.5-inch steel it's not expensive and highly recommended by many builders
❤ explains everything and great video
Thanks 👍
I'm subscribed and expecting expecting expecting more
Cool! Thank you!
Patrick loved your video! I'm a woodcarver and have made about a half dozen of the micro tools. They work better than Dockyards at about 1/10th price. Thank you for the inspiration!
Mr. Sullivan,
Thank you for all of your helpful videos......After making several micro carving tools I found a very useful way to sand them before heat treating.......multi surface foam emory boards from any fingernail supply can be used to take soft steel all the way to polished.
Another way to make tiny deep-fluted gouges is to drill a hole in the end of the rod to make the flute, then file away half of the cross section. But you might need a cobalt drill bit to cut the HC steel. A stubby bit is useful for starting the hole, it doesn’t flex as much. If your steel isn’t fully annealed, heat to vivid red color and stick in a metal coffee can filled with sawdust, let cool for a few hours. Another thing to remember about heating steel is that if you get a black oxidation layer building up to a certain thickness, that can present as harder than the actual metal (because it is), and trick you, and removing this scale, again, if it is thick enough, will quickly ruin files. Use old ones or coarse sandpaper or a steel brush. And the dust from steel is also more harmful than wood dust.
This steel is annealed so it drills fine and does not require pricey bit to drill. This steel is harden after shaping
My dear.
This is spectacular, for Luthier, but we don't have it here in Brazil. We have to care about them.
Thank you for showing.
Patrick, I came across your video by "happenstance" while being sucked into the UA-cam vortex. I very much enjoyed your presentation, and found the content of great value. Thank you very much for taking the time to produce a high-quality video. You sold me, and I've just become a subscriber. Thanks again!
Great video pn how to make these fantastic tools. I say great because you've have shown that you don't need all the power tools people use. Thank you for sharing your knowledge. Best video in making tools/
Awesome tutorials. Your lighting, illustrations and overall production are top notch.
I just want to thank you for these GREAT vids!! Never knew this could be done so relatively easily! Can't wait to try this out.
Hope you put up more vids & soon. I love learning new & useful things and your vids are just..... GREAT!
Thanks for sharing Patrick. New subscriber thanks to this video, and I'll be spending some time following your tool making process to make my own. There's just something appealing about custom tools, and yours are a great example.
I have been wanting some micro tools for a long time and looking on line, these puppies are $20 a pop. I would much rather make my own and will trying Patrick's method for myself. Thanks for posting.
Well i went down into my hobby room and found that when I was making a small scratch awl a while back I bought a 6ft piece of both 1/8 and 1/4 diameter 01 steel. Woot Now I need to get busy.
Excellent video !
This is a great series. I really enjoyed the detail and your approach.
Thank you very much Mr Sullivan.
I want some skewed back bent shallow gouges and they are almost impossible to find, so I will be making some myself using this video as an inspiration. Do you have any hints on how to hammer a curve into a gouge, maybe hammering flat and then using something round to hammer on? What are the practical limits to trying to cold form this steel. And is forging it by hammering with the propane torch method practical or do the pieces of steel cool down too quickly?
Usually such a high carbon content steel as O1 isn’t worked cold. I would get it past red hot to make a bend, a nice orange color. Having it more plastic gives you better control. This is assuming a dimly lit atmosphere, which is good for accuracy in judging the heat by color. Then make the bend quickly by tapping over a curved metal object with a small hammer, working your way along in a linear fashion with your blows. But a better way to do it, if using light stock, is with sturdy needle nose pliers. You can modify them so they don’t mar the hot metal, or find some round nosed ones. One pair of pliers to hold the piece, another to make the bend.
Thank you for posting this and the other. very well made and informative.
I think I'll be try to make my own.
Truly exciting!
Hi Patrick, nice work man! If you use some chalk on your file, it will reduce the marks
W type tool steel is similar to O but is quenched in water. Although W is cheaper, the grain size is much larger so it won't sharpen as finely nor hold an edge as long.
THANKS! Great video. Liked and subscribed.
Awesome video!! Thanks for taking the time to share your knowledge!!
Well done sir.
Thank you
Nice work there. Just a question: Can I use the steel rods that come in a ordinary printer? Those are thougher but I believe it can be used.
Excellent video. Thank you.
Patrick, seria genial oír las explicaciones en español, en ingles no es fácil, pero el video es super, buscaba algo realmente técnico y sencillo y que se pudiera realizar, hay paises donde no hay la misma capacidad monetaria, y lo normal para ud, para nosotros es muy caro, pero vale la pena el esfuerzo y tener herramientas de calidad y a la vez que sean realmente utilizables. Muchas gracias.
Thanks for shareing your Skills.
fantastic!! thank you so much. 💗💗💗
I'd like to see how you made that tool case. looks like a good idea.
Olá cheguei adorei seu video parabéns deixei meu joinha adorei seu video
You more than earned my subscription! To u sir I say, Thank you...!
very use full info thank you . i subscribed i might have to try this out as i i really cant afford to chance buying off line at high prices to find out there not what i need or ever will need . this way i could make just what i need again thanks you for this info
Bravo!
great video I would like to see you do one on a v tool as well
Archie Trott me too. 👍🏼😊
Great! Thanks~
You start off with flat stock w/ brand and even UPC codes but then move to rods. I'm looking at Precision Brand "Water Hardening Drill Rod" that appears to fit your recommended specs. Comment?
Hi! I'm a Printmaker and I've been looking into buying microtools for carving woodblocks, but now that I've seen this I'd love to make my own! Do you have any tips for making a v-groove blade? I really love and appreciate these videos! Thank you!
Try rectangular rod and file it like the u carving knife you see here
👍👍👍
Ya but files are already hardened. However That may make the fileing and sanding take five to ten times longer. So it's a trade off.
Thank you kind sir.
This is a really great video (and series)... thanks! PS - Just subscribed!
Can these tools (as you made them) be used for woodturning on a lathe?
Yeah if they are stubby enough to not vibrate in use. And don’t let the edge get too hot or it will start to lose its hardness (temper). Back in the old days all lathe tools were plain carbon steel, now they’re almost all high speed steel
Ouch! At minute 3 tool pointing at free hand. Good vid though.I guess that you can make a vee chisel in much the same way.
excellent video, great stuff , gained a sub.
did you ever make the video of flat blades that cut on their side?
01 ans A2 is used by Veritas chisels.. and now they come with the steel PM-v11 .. have you ever tried them ?
Excellent! Is O-1 steel also adequate for large chisel and gouges?
Yep
Thank for videos. Do you have any idea what the HR is and how good do they keep an edge? How do they compare to Flexcut tools? This could save a lot of money.
O-1 steel should come out of the oil quench at about 63-65 on the Rockwell C scale for hardness (HRc). After the mild tempering I have shown, it should only lose about 1-2 points, so it should end up at about 61-63 HRc. This assumes that one follows the prescribed heat treating formula accurately. I have not tested mine, because the required test equipment is prohibitively expensive for a home shop. You can get a ballpark feeling for hardness by seeing whether the blade can be scratched or cut by files, and by seeing how slow or fast the metal can be removed by abrasives, compared to other hard steels. The steel on my chisels is abraded very slowly by any of the conventional abrasives, and they have held their edge very well, comparable to high quality plane blades that are HRc 62.
Is a knife or chisel made of O-1 tool steel soft enough to be filed after the temper is drawn or will the file just slide off?
Do all your shaping while the steel is in its soft annealed state. After heat treating, O-1 steel will be harder than your files--they will be useless. However, all aluminum oxide or silicon carbide abrasives will cut hard O-1, including sandpaper and grinding wheels. Oil stones and water stones will also work, but small tools quickly create grooves in them if you are not careful. I usually use either black silicon carbide sandpaper in fine grades, or a diamond coated steel plate. Diamond "stones" have become readily available at moderate prices, and are quite convenient. If you use power tools, remember that if you raise the temperature of the tool above about 450 F., you will begin to soften the steel, and it is easy to raise the temp to as much as 1,000 F. by grinding on it for as little as 10 seconds. This will totally ruin the edge-holding capability of the tool.
Thanks you for the prompt reply. I enjoy your videos and quality of your work. I guess my real question was, just how hard is O-1 steel once the temper is drawn? It sounds like you're saying that a file should skate off the blade even after the temper is drawn...
The tempering will only reduce the hardness by about 1-2 numbers on the Rockwell C scale. They will end up well above 60, probably about 62. Files will not cut steel of this hardness.
Thanks, Patrick. Your videos are very inspirational. I'm going to have a go at making some of your carbide chisels & gouges as well.
Do you think these blades/gravers would be suitable for carving harder materials like antler and bone?
I have never carved in antler or bone, Emily, so I have no hard data. I have watched people carve in hard materials like this, and it appeared to me that the process involved shaving or scraping off very thin layers. These tools will be about as hard as any steel tools offered on the market today, and harder than either bone or antler, so they ought to cut. I would expect that they would become dull faster on these materials than in most woods. If that becomes a problem, consider making carbide tools instead. Here is a link to a video I made on this subject: ua-cam.com/video/dWUoKy8rCcQ/v-deo.html
Patrick Sullivan thank you very much!
Question: why not just use a screwdriver for it? Isn't the steel good for it?
Thanks.
Screwdrivers are not hard enough to hold an edge as is. You have to harden it. But he says specifically why not reuse old tools early in the video. You don't know the quality or type of metal so you dont know how to heat it properly.
A dollar, huh? R585 here in South Africa...
Patrick can i use nail pusher to make that?
You can but either you make it cold so you don't remove the tempering or you have to anneal it first so its soft enough to shape. But he said not to reuse old tools for this. There are other videos on how to do it from an old tool.
i had a hard time finding steel on amazon but i found a co called amtec that hase everything
Hi Patrick, What size file did you use for the gouge? Thank you!
I believe that was a 1/8" tapered file from one of the small file assortments that you can buy in sets of about five shapes. Obviously, the file size determines the "sweep" or curve of the gouge, and you can vary it to suit your needs. If you want a shallow gouge, my suggestion would be to do the preliminary cutting with a smaller file, and then follow with a much larger one to get the desired final cove. It may be hard to keep a large file centered on the small rod unless you have a well-developed groove for it to follow.
Patrick Sullivan Thank you sir! Love the vids and look forward to additional ones.
Nice
Como comprar essas ferramentas?
Great video, but please - METRIC as well!!! 🇸🇪 ...
Sorry about leaving out all you metric people. This was the first video I made, and I initially thought most of my audience would be in the USA, which proved to be false. However, I am still struggling to bridge between the metric and imperial worlds in an efficient way. Stay tuned to see if I can add in enough metric measurements to keep my non-USA friends from having to do constant calculations in their head.
I'm from indonesia sir. Love your channel 👍.
Most saw blades and drill bits are made from high quality tool steel. So why not recycle them.
Nice! Feel free to embed your videos on our homemade tools forum; looks like you're one of us - www.homemadetools.net/forum/
I would like to hear the translation into Russian
The shorter the piece of steel the stronger it is.
It's good to see Woodglut have new instructions to save my money and energy to build it.
That’s one of the smallest files I’ve ever seen
I did it too. This is what I used Woodprix designs for
Making handles for chisels, knives, etc., really requires a lathe. It just doesn't work to use a drill or other methods to make more than ☝️ one or two. I have a Grizzly "hobby lathe" which is a good way to turn wood handles, or even plastic and other materials. If you go to www.grizzly.com/products/Hobby-Lathe-Disc-Sander/H2669 , you will see this unsung hero of small, inexpensive woodworking tools. There are also a couple of drill press lathes, where provision is made to use a kit to be able to turn things vertically. I have not found that to work as well, but some others may like it. It is about the cheapest kit I've seen for this purpose.
Your videos are superb! Your speech is clear, your words well chosen, and your choices of what to suggest are very good. I hope you will continue to make videos of what you have done to make tools and results. There are so many videos on UA-cam in which a chap has made a good effort, but the video is not something inspiring! Yours are top notch.
Thank You for your efforts. Please rest assured, you are appreciated!
They made handles for centuries without lathes. No lathe is needed. A spokes shave or even carving knife is enough
A section of round, straight branch that is a dense wood works well, the tricky part is drilling the hole. I like to turn them and drill the hole first so it is centered. Don’t ask me how many nice handles I have ruined drilling the hole last