Mary May Additional Carving Set 1

Mary’s favorite tools are all Swiss Made by Pfeil and our Mary May’s sets are made up of ONLY those Swiss Made Tools. Mary May Additional Carving Set 1 described on Mary’s website and pictured here. The set consists of: #1-14mm flat chisel, #3-3mm Gouge, #2-18mm Gouge, #5-6mm Fishtail, #7-10mm Fishtail, #8-10mm gouge and a #11-3mm Gouge (#11 Sweep is often called a Veiner). NOTE: Mary recommends that we replace the #1-14 Straight Swiss Made with the Two Cherries brand!

To see more of the Swiss Made woodcarving tools by Pfeil see: Swiss Made Tools

Mary May On-line Woodcarving Classes

Mary’s classes, both on-line and in person, are widely acclaimed. Her on-line classes are the most popular since you can learn right in your home at a time convenient to you. Mary says: “I’ll show you every step in as much detail as possible. My teaching approach is methodical and thorough, without skipping over important details. In fact, one of my lessons includes a whopping 7 and 3/4 hours of video.”

If you wish to purchase any of our other products that are Not On Sale (and you ARE a Mary May student) then Identify yourself as a Mary May Student in the comment section of your order form. We will deduct 10% when we process your order in our shop. To qualify for this 10% Discount, your purchase must be over $50 before any taxes or shipping. Taxes are only charged to Canadian purchases.

Canvas Tool Rolls Your Swiss Made tools will last a lifetime if you treat them properly. They will keep their edge extremely well and generally require a stropping only. A simply stropping on leather will keep them in tip-top shape for hours of carving enjoyment. Do not sharpen them on a regular basis – only when they require it.

Protect your tools and yourself …consider a 12 Pocket Tool Roll in which to store your tools! Choose our Large Tool Roll for this Mary May Set.

Here is our Chipping Away Leather Strop …choose it and a bar of green honing compound.

Check out these Journeyman Brass Head Mallets too!

Mary says: To Mallet or Not To Mallet? That is the Question…

I often go back and forth as to whether I use a mallet or not. Sometimes I switch just to get a change of muscle use. Sometimes one or the other gets too repetitive, and I simply need variety and a rest.

If I am trying to remove a lot of wood, then I use the heaviest mallet I have – between 1.5 lb and 2 lb. The 2 lb. mallet can create muscle fatigue much quicker, where the 1.5 lb. mallet requires more strokes, but I am often able to carve for longer periods. It is better to use a wooden mallet for this heavy pounding, as the metal-headed mallets can do more damage to the wooden gouge handles. In spite of this potential, I often end up using the metal mallets because of the less bulky nature, and deal with any damage to the handles that come along.

I often use my metal mallet for lightly tapping controlled v-cuts. This will be very clear in the lesson where I carve the phoenix in the guitar body. With the wood being maple, the mallet guided the v-chisel in a much more controlled manner when I needed to keep the curves twisting and accurate. There were a few times when I tried pushing through without using the mallet, and it often slipped further than I wanted. Harder woods and pushing through with a v-chisel tend to be much more difficult to control.

Mary May Additional Carving Set 1

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