[Woodcarver] Tool breakage..

[Mike & Patty Wilcox]

Yep it was my falt, 
& it is as hard as I want lol
------------

I didn't think too much about this topic until I saw IRONWOOD. I'm not 
sure it is the fault of the tool.. Swiss, German, Flexcut, 
etc. Ironwood is not only hard.. it's like a rock.. great for machine 
carving and a bit tough for gouge cutting based on my little experience 
with it.

Before carving a wood as hard as this.. or even some of our local 
hardwoods.. I would look at changing the angle of the gouge to make it 
a bit stronger. I'd guess one would have to experiment for the 
particular wood to obtain a good compromise between strength of the 
cutting edge and ease of entry into the wood.

This would be one huge drawback to the Flexcut tools, IMO. they only 
have a short area that they are heat treated back from the cutting 
edge. This is zonal heat treating rather than the entire tool being 
heat treated with the more conventional tools.

As Joe mentioned.. do not pry with your gouges or your knives.. a sure 
and easy to damage either edge or the whole tool.

Bill


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