FLEXCUTDeluxe Starter Carving Set SK108 | 21 Piece, Includes 16 Blades, Cutting Knife, 2 Handles & DVD | 1095 High Carbon Steel Blades

This excellent kit is available from a number of vendors but Amazon Prime had the best price at about $38US cheaper than other vendors (in 2013). I'm very glad I got it, and got it from Amazon.The Dear Woodworker(TDW) really likes this kit: he appreciates that it is a kit & all pieces can be easily stored in the good-quality box. The blades are readily accessed during projects in the holder provided for them; multiple blade handles make it convenient to have a few blades set-up & ready to grab during projects; the strop provided is a good starter strop, not great but certainly good enough. The dvd is a nice feature since "I'm always open to the chance to learn something".The blades arrived with a nice edge which is easily maintained. The strop provided was used one or twice as a test & was a success, but TDW prefers his own strop to keep the blades in top sharpness. The provided strop should certainly be sufficient for the beginning carver until the next investment can be made.As chief nurse of the family I appreciated the not-so-subtle reminder of tool sharpness: the little packet of bandaids that came with the set! ;)

This is an amazing set of tools! I have Pfeil gouges, two cherries and I have the flexcut deluxe mallet set. I bought this set just to have as a travel set, (I bought the tool roll so I wouldn't have to carry it in the wood box). I didn't expect to love it like I do being a beginners set. Let me explain why...These tools are much thinner than your standard gouges. Which translates to them sharpening like razor blades. Even though my other tools are just as sharp they don't slice as well in hard wood because they get thicker sooner. Anytime I'm working with really hard wood from now on this is my go tool kit. I can ease off thin layers at a time but overall go through much faster and easier. I love this kit!These tools do flex as the name suggests. It's a little odd at first but you quickly forget about that. Like I said, I have the deluxe mallet set as well, but being intended for a mallet it doesn't flex very much. These flex with ease with every push. At first I thought it would be a problem, but the project I was working on was with an unreasonably hard batch of poplar. So I was just playing with my new stuff and quickly realized this set went through the wood faster than my very expensive Pfeil tools. And I do keep my tools razor sharp.Bottom line, this may be called a beginner set, but it is a very nice set for an experienced woodcarver. One of the best purchases I've ever made for my tool collection. I will definitely be checking out more of these Flexcut products. I started with the carvin' Jack six blade and then got the deluxe mallet set based on how well I liked how the carvin' jack held an edge. The mallets tools are just as impressive. Now this set has impressed me even more. YOU CAN NOT GO WRONG WITH THIS SET!

I have more expensive carving tools, and I like them better. But, I would say that for the money paying $150 for this many tools is a really good deal. Also, I like the fact that they all are made in the US and pretty sharp out the box too. I think a lot of people will like the instructions and the dvd included which helps explained things for beginners. I would buy the more expensive Pfeil tools, but I noticed they were not available. But, I am glad that I bought these tools instead. I think they are still really well made and are not a lot worse than the Pfeil tools. I would say the main difference is that the Pfeil tools are designed with more intricate angles and made for a higher standard of work. I would recommend these to anyone that is particularly not a professional artist. I think that even being one myself that they work really well, but I do linocuts and mostly make mono prints with a profession press. I think the biggest question should be what are you using these for. I would buy the Pfeil if I was making wood relief prints or carvings. I would not hesitate buying these if you are only using them for linocuts.

I bought one of these sets when I had a carving job todo and my 40-odd other carving tools were in storage inanother state. I had never used the unhandled carvingtools and I am not wild about them having done it. Thisset came with 2 handles in different styles and they arefine but switching tools is not that easy to do. I wouldwant at least 3 more handles if using this set much.Of course including 2 handles keeps the price down andyou get a lot of cutting tools for the money.The set is an excellent value, but of limited usefulnessto me. I'll get around to making dedicated handles forthe tools sometime perhaps, which would invalidate theusefulness of the case the set comes in.Flexcut includes some band-aids which is a nice thingfor a carving set to have.These tools also fit some models of reciprocating powercarving tools. I don't have one of those machines soI can't comment on how well they cut or hold up in thatapplication.