Set of 12 Chisels with Canvas Case | Wood Carving Chisels with Razor Sharp CR-V 60 Steel Blades

These gouges are very nicely constructed, at least mostly so. I have many premium gouges from Pfeil, Stubai, and Two Cherries that are all exceptionally well made and come razor sharp. However, the premium gouges come without a tool roll (that is worth half the purchase price of the Schaaf gouge set) and cost several times more than the Schaaf gouges. The wood on the premium brands is better, but the Schaaf handles are fairly nice hardwood. The blade materials are different on all the gouges, to some degree, but the Schaaf metal appears to be of good quality and so far has held an edge well enough. The metal may actually be as good as what is in the premium brands since the raw material cost of most high carbon steels is not terribly high. The biggest downsides of the Schaaf gouges are the profiles of the metal, the sharpness of the blades, the occasional defects in the wood, and the mounting of the blades in the handles. When I got my original set, some of the handles had cracks or some (mostly cosmetic) defects in the wood, some handles had oversized countersinking where smaller ferrules were inserted into handles that were designed to fit multiple sizes, some of the blades were mounted slightly askew to the handle, some of the blade profiles were asymmetric in the centering of the longitudinal grooves from the cutting edge to the ferrule, none of the edges were as sharp as required for woodworking, the blade bevel angles were all too steep, and some of the edges were dull and not square (of course, the skew chisel was not square by design). I fully expected from the description and the cost that I would need to re-profile and sharpen all the blades. I also expected the quality of the wood and steel to be lower than the premium brands. And I expected the way in which the metal was formed and profiled to be less accurate than the premium brands. Other than the cracks in the handles, the other problems were livable, if not always desirable. I contact Schaaf's owner, Eli, to discuss the problems. The company had sold out during the Christmas season, and more gouges were being made and shipped. Eli promised to make good on the problems, although we both knew that the basic design features (including the need for the buyer to regrind the bevels and square and sharpen the edges) would be the same. True to his word, Eli kept in touch and sent me replacements as soon as the new gouges arrived in his inventory. Now every one of my gouges is exactly as I hoped for -- even better in most instances. With some grinding of the bevels and squaring and sharpening of the blades, the gouges are all excellent. Schaaf gouges, after they are prepared by the buyer, are almost indistinguishable from their premium brand counterparts in use. Of course, I have gouges that are fishtails and other configurations that are not present in the set from Schaaf, but for a straight gouge compared to another straight gouge of the same sweep and width, they are very similar among the various brands. I am very pleased with the standard Schaaf gouges, but I also saw that Schaaf began offering the gouge set with professional sharpening at an increased price, so I ordered a set to see what they are like. The pre-sharpened gouges arrived today. As a practical matter, the pre-sharpened set is almost the equivalent of premium brand gouges, and the Schaafs arrived ready to use, just like the expensive brands. So, for the cost of 4 premium gouges and no tool roll, I got 12 Schaaf gouges and a nice tool roll. That's a bargain. Given the choice of premium gouges or Schaaf gouges for a similar price, I would always choose the premium brands, but at a fraction of the cost, a Schaaf gouge will do virtually the same job as its premium counterpart, with almost no downside. The Schaaf gouges, particularly the pre-sharpened set, are a GREAT buy. HIghly recommended. FYI - I paid regular customer prices for my two sets of Schaaf gouges. Same thing for my premium gouges. Wood carving is purely a hobby for me, so I have no financial interest whatsoever at any level other than trying to extend my buying dollars for good tools that do the job well and give me pleasure in my leisure activities. What I hate most is getting a "bargain" only to discover I bought junk that doesn't work well or last.

Many have said that these are good for the price and I say these are great at any price. First let me say that I own over two hundred of some of the best woodcarving tools on the planet and have spent time with both new and restored antique tools. While these are not quite ready to work straight out of the box (in my opinion) and do require a little minor work with very limited shaping and sharpening (nearly all new tools do) you will be rewarded with some of the best tools I have ever experienced for traditional wood carving. Sharpening is a fundamental part of woodworking and if you aren't willing to learn the skill you should take up another hobby. After initial sharpening they would normally only require occasional light honing to maintain the edge. Do take the time to remove the lacquer anti-corrosion coating from the metal before use and oil them lightly to keep the tools cleaner during sharpening and use, just as you would with any new tools. The metal takes and holds an edge as well as any I have seen and I have used them with just hand pressure and with mallets in both soft and hard woods. The handles are nice and the tools are very similar to the Pfeil brand. The tool roll they come in is first rate and much better than nearly all I have seen. I have not had any major issues with my tools but others have written that the company was quick to honor their guarantee and I have found them to be very responsive to answering questions I have had about their future plans for expansion to their tool line. It is my understanding that they are working hard to expand their offerings but are deeply concerned with making sure that any new tools meet the quality standards of their existing set before offering them to the public. They do offer a 10% discount for first time customers who sign up on their web page and in doing so they will keep you posted of future offerings. While some carvers warn against buying sets instead of individual tools, this set is well rounded for general work and there are no tools in the set that are "special" use with limited application, which is what you find in many "discount" sets. I have found that each tool included is a traditional style profile with wide application at the bench. Each is a profile normally used by most traditional style carvers and was obviously carefully selected to meet the needs of craftsmen. Considering the cost of many of the other "high-end" brands, you can own this set for what you would spend for three tools from the competition (and no tool roll) and I would call that a HUGE bargain. I have been so impressed with my set that have bought others, both for myself and for friends and family, each set as good as the last. If you want good traditional full sized wood carving tools then these should supply most of your needs and then some. They are a pleasure to use. . Spend the money on the better known brand names if you want but I like the thought of just getting really fine tools and the savings are an added bonus.

A little expensive but a very good set

Turned up super quick and lovely tools.

El acero parece buena calidad (veremos dentro de un par de meses). El afilado no es perfecto, tendré que mejorarlo (algunas piezas tienen un filo irregular, aunque a otras les ha bastado pasarlas por un cuero para poder realizar un trabajo aceptable sobre madera de pino de palet) Los mangos no están mal aunque esperaba mejores sensaciones (quizás soy muy exigente). Una de las gubias no tiene bien alineado el eje del metal con el eje del mango. En general me gustan estas gubias, aunque tendré que probarlas bien tras afilarlas adecuadamente. La bolsa, aunque no es cuero, da muy buena sensación al tacto y parece robusta (solo me parece poco adecuada la cinta de cierre).

The tools were well packaged and arrived on time. They work great.

These carving tools were comfortable to hold and once sharpen were beautiful to use.