Woodwork Ireland

Woodcarving Tools

My wife, Nina (who has her own food and culture site, Rocking Grass), is thinking of taking up woodcarving. I showed her the most recent Rutlands catalogue, in which there are sets of carving tools ranging in price from about £15 (€22) to £200 (€290) - most of them being boxes of eight to twelve chisels in the £40 (€58) range. Rather than buy straight from Rutlands by mail, I figured I’d have a go at supporting local businesses, and went to a hardware shop near where I work. There, I was shown the one “carving” chisel they had in the place, an oversized gouge with an ugly plastic handle, and told it would set me back €37.

I’ll give the specialist tool shops in Capel Street a try, and if they don’t have something a touch more reasonable in price, size and utility, I’m definitely going to be ordering from Rutlands.