Best Wood Carving Tools

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Best Wood Carving Tools

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In a hurry? Here are the best products at a glance.

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How to Choose the Best Wood Carving Tool

Woodcarving is an amazing hobby to take up. It’s the perfect way to use your hands to express your creativity. Using the best wood carving tools is a great way to make sure you’re getting the best results possible. We researched a wide range of products and kits to put together this wood carving tool buying guide. Before we get to our products, let’s take a look at some of the key features you need to know about before you shop.

Best Wood Carving Tools

Pieces: These kits come with a wide variety of tools. Some have one that’s really specialized while others give you basic wood carving tools plus everything you need to care for them. We included everything in this figure, including a case.

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Handle Material: Most of these handles are made out of wood but you will find some that are made of plastic or metal, too. What they’re made of isn’t as important as how they feel when you’re working with them.

How to Choose the Best Wood Carving Tool

Case: Not all of our picks include a case but luckily most of the larger kits do. There is no better way to properly store your tools than to keep them in a proper case when not in use.

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Carbon Steel Blade: Carbon steel blades are preferred because they stay sharper longer than most other metals, including stainless steel. Most of these kits use carbon steel for precisely this reason but there are some that use other metals.

Best Wood Carving Tools

Manual Included: Some of the kits that are specifically targeted to beginners will include a manual. They vary a little in their content but usually cover things like how to care for your tools and basic carving techniques.

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Guarantee: There aren’t a lot of woodworking tools that include a guarantee but there are a handful of our picks that do. Guarantees are always a great thing to have because you’re not stuck with the product if you’re not happy.

Top 10 Products

We’ve looked at the most important features to consider when looking for a wood carving kit, now let’s move into our best wood carving tools review. Start at the beginning, especially if you’re in a hurry. You’ll find out top and budget picks at the top of the list. They really show you the range of tools that are available. Read on to see all the rest of the unique choices we found. Now, let’s cut to our reviews.

Flexcut Deluxe Carving Set

Flexcut Deluxe Carving Set
Our top pick is one of the top rated wood carving tools we found in our research, the Flexcut Deluxe Carving Set. This set has 16 interchangeable blades and 2 different handles as well as a fixed handle cutting knife. To help keep the blades sharp and in good shape, they also included some polishing compound and a Slip Strop. The blades are sharp and ready to right out of the box. It’s a great set for a beginner because it includes a 90 minute DVD that teaches you all the basics and walks you through your first project. These tools are a little thinner than standard gouges and they have a little bit of flex to them so they play nicely on the wood. Even experienced carvers will find put this set to good use.
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Gimars Carving Tools Kit

Gimars Carving Tools Kit
If you’re looking for the best cheap carving tools, Gimars Carving Tools Kit is a fantastic choice. This kit has all the tools that a beginner needs to get started wood carving. There are 12 tools in all that range from deep to shallow gouge and narrow, wide, and rounded chisels. You get a parting tool and a pinpoint tool, too. The handles are wood and made really well so there’s no need to worry about blistering or a loose blade. Each has a protective plastic safety cap and they’re all stored in a plastic sleeve. This set is ideal for projects and crafts involving softwoods like pine, poplar, or hickory. And that’s not all. They even include a 100% money back guarantee if you’re not happy with your purchase.
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Xacto Deluxe Woodcarving Set

Xacto Deluxe Woodcarving Set
The Xacto Deluxe Woodcarving Set has all the essential wood carving tools that hardcore hobbyists need. It includes a no. 5 handle, 6 assorted blades, 5 gouges, and 4 routers. One of the things about this set that we really liked it the wooden chest. It’s nice and compact but keeps everything organized perfectly. This set is particularly good for detail work because of the size and sharpness of the blades. If you’re looking for a set that will help you finish all the little things, this is a great one to try. The handles are universal which means that you’ll be able to get perfect results whether you’re a lefty or a righty. One more thing, these blades are sharp right out of the box which means you can get started right away.
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Power Grip Carving Tools

Power Grip Carving Tools
For quality wood carving tools that are great for detail work, you can’t go wrong with Power Grip Carving Tools. They’re designed to be a perfect middle ground to everyday palm handled tools and full sized ones. What do we mean? The blades are short and the handles are designed to help like a pencil to give you the ultimate control. When you need a little more force, just place the rounded end of the handle into the palm of your hand. If you switch these out with other sets during large projects, these handles really give you hand the break it needs. This set includes 7 different blades, including gouges, a V-parting tool, plus a skew and straight chisel. Each one has a 4 ½ inch wooden handle and a 1 ¼ inch laminated steel blade.
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BeaverCraft Wood Hook Knife

BeaverCraft Wood Hook Knife
If you’re looking for the green wood carving tools, check out the BeaverCraft Wood Hook knife. This knife is designed specifically for green woodworking and carving things like spoons, bowls, and cups. This a great choice for anything with a concave shape or that needs a rounded edge. The blade is made of carbon steel that’s been hardened, sharpened, and polished. This is a really sharp knife that’s appropriate for cutting both hard and softwood. That’s not all, the handle is made of hardwood oak and processed with natural linseed oil. The ergonomic design not only looks good, it fits nicely in your hand, too, for less hand fatigue while you’re working. Plus, you get access to 2 useful ebooks with purchase: 5 Easy Steps to Sharpen Hook Knife” and “How to Sharpen the Wood Carving Knife.”
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Flexcut Mini Palm Gouges

Flexcut Mini Palm Gouges
The FlexCut Mini Palm Gouges are some of the best micro wood carving tools we came across while doing our research. This set is meant for miniature carving and is perfect for model-makers or anyone who really wants to get some really fine detail in their work. So, how small are these gouges? They range from ⅛-inch to 1/16 inch. This set of 4 hard carbon blades are razor sharp right out of the box. Plus, they have ash hardwood handles and are ergonomically designed to fit nicely in your hand. That’s always important with wood carving but especially so when you’re working on small projects. It really allows you to have a lot of precision and control. One last thing about this set, it comes in a nice wooden box to keep everything together between projects.
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SCHAAF Wood Carving Tools

SCHAAF Wood Carving Tools
SCHAAF Wood Carving Tools are a set of high quality wood carving tools. They’re made from alloy chromium vanadium steel and then hardened. What does that mean exactly? They stay sharp for a long time and don’t lose their edge easily, even after repeated use. Because they come to you finely ground polished, and factory sharpened, all you have to do is hone them to your preferences and you can get started carving right away. The handles are made of hardwood ask and shaped so that they can’t roll across your work surface. Each one is about 5.5 inches long. There’s more, you also get access to an ebook called, “The Beginner Guide to Carving” which covers everything from the best woods to care to tips and different carving techniques.
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Mudder Carving Chisel Tools

Mudder Carving Chisel Tools
For a kit with the best carving tools for sale, there’s the Mudder Carving Chisel Tools. This is a great case for any skill level and, here’s the kicker, it’s ridiculously inexpensive. Included with this set are 12 different tools with carbon steel blades. They’re ideal for cork, clay, and softwood. That’s not all, various whetstones are included, too, so you can sharpen and polish different kinds of tools, including flat, triangular, oblique, and arc-shaped knives. The wooden handles are each about 6 inches long and work well for shallow carving. They’re shaped so you can use them almost as you would a pencil. Everything fits neatly into a plastic storage case, too. Some of these sets come in wooden boxes or rolls but this one is a small zippered pouch about the size of an eyeglasses case.
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ZUB Wood Carving Set

The ZUB Wood Carving Set is the next item in our wood carving tools review. There are 12 different tips in this set, each is made from high quality carbon steel with an electrolyte coating. They include straight gouges, a V-shape parting tool, as well as a round nose chisel, bent chisel, and wood chisel. The blades are razor sharp right out of the box and are easily re-sharpened when the time comes. Each has a wooden handle that’s an ideal size for just about anyone to use, from adolescents to adults. This is a great starter kit because it comes with just about anything you need but experienced carvers will love it, too. One more thing, this set comes with a 100% money back guarantee. If you don’t like them, send them back for a full refund.
The ZUB Wood Carving Set is the next item in our wood carving tools review. There are 12 different tips in this set, each is made from high quality carbon steel with an electrolyte coating. They include straight gouges, a V-shape parting tool, as well as a round nose chisel, bent chisel, and wood chisel. The blades are razor sharp right out of the box and are easily re-sharpened when the time comes. Each has a wooden handle that’s an ideal size for just about anyone to use, from adolescents to adults. This is a great starter kit because it comes with just about anything you need but experienced carvers will love it, too. One more thing, this set comes with a 100% money back guarantee. If you don’t like them, send them back for a full refund.
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SculptWorks Wood Carving Set

Last up is this awesome set from SculptWorks. This is one of the biggest sets we found in our research, it really gives you everything you need. So, what do you get? It includes a whittling knife, 5 palm wood knives, 7 long shaft tools, and other important pieces like a sharpening stone, mallet, and file. Basically, you have all the tools you need to carve and to make sure your tools are well taken care of. The handles are octagonally shaped so they won’t roll away on your work surface and they help you get a better grip. It comes with a roll-up canvas case where everything tucks away nicely. It even has a hanging eyelet if you want to attach it to a wall hook in your workshop. This set of good wood carving tools is designed for beginners. And here’s the kicker: it comes with a 1-year guarantee.
Last up is this awesome set from SculptWorks. This is one of the biggest sets we found in our research, it really gives you everything you need. So, what do you get? It includes a whittling knife, 5 palm wood knives, 7 long shaft tools, and other important pieces like a sharpening stone, mallet, and file. Basically, you have all the tools you need to carve and to make sure your tools are well taken care of. The handles are octagonally shaped so they won’t roll away on your work surface and they help you get a better grip. It comes with a roll-up canvas case where everything tucks away nicely. It even has a hanging eyelet if you want to attach it to a wall hook in your workshop. This set of good wood carving tools is designed for beginners. And here’s the kicker: it comes with a 1-year guarantee.
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About the Author

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Heather Patton

Expert Researcher and Writer

Heather Patton is a lead researcher and writer at GeekWrapped. She has been creating high-quality content for over a decade and covers home, lifestyle, beauty, fashion products and more.

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Article last updated on:

September 30, 2019

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Flexcut Deluxe Carving Set

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