A carving tool set from Ashley Iles is a serious starting point for wood carving - these are Sheffield-made tools with a reputation built over decades, and this selection has been chosen to cover the core techniques a carver will reach for from the very first project.
The York Set contains six tools that work together across the full range of basic carving tasks. A solid foundation that gives you a genuine feel for what carving requires and a clear sense of what to add next. Supplied with an Ashley Iles 6 pocket Tool Roll. From left to right on main picture:
- 1/4" No.9 Gouge - a steeply curved sweep for tight hollows, deep recesses, eye sockets on figures and anywhere a shallower gouge won't reach the bottom of the cut
- 3/8" No.3 Gouge - a gently curved sweep for broad cuts across larger surfaces, establishing main planes and smoothing backgrounds without heavy tool marks
- 5/8" No.1 Carving Chisel - a flat chisel for cleaning backgrounds, flattening surfaces and paring crisp edges where a curved blade would cut too deeply
- 5/8" No.5 Gouge - the workhorse of the set; a medium sweep for shaping, hollowing forms and moving material efficiently in the early stages of a carving
- 1/4" No.39 V-Tool - cuts a sharp V-shaped groove for outlining designs, defining crisp boundaries between elements, lettering and separating planes before other gouges
- 1/16" No.11 Gouge - a U-shaped gouge for cutting rounded channels - leaf veins, hair texture, feather detail and fine surface decoration where a clean, deep groove with no sharp edges is needed