Replies

1. 
   Clay | Mar 28, 2003 04:07am | #1

   The gouge looks like a nice one in your picture though I am not familiar with that maker.  Could your stylus tool be a diamond graver?  Possibly intended to mark ownership on the tools?

1. 
   AlanTurner | Mar 28, 2003 02:13pm | #2

   I don't think so.  It seems old, and I wonder if it might be ivory.  I don't know how hard ivory is, but this is pretty hard.  The pix I posted wasn't large.  Last night I played with it a bit, and I am not a carver (its on my short list, and now I have no excure), so I just took some of the smaller gouges and carved a small hole, and then used this tool to burnish the bottom, where there was still a bit of tearout.  Do carvers use a burnisher? 

1. 
   Clay | Mar 28, 2003 05:49pm | #4

   Ivory is a form of bone and is slightly harder than most bone.  It could be a burnisher though that is not a standard carvers tool.  Burnishers are used for water gilding which is something that a carver might do to some carvings or parts of them.  Sharp bone and antler points are also used by flint knappers.  Could this have been part of a knapper's kit mistakenly included in the carving equipment?

1. 
   AlanTurner | Mar 28, 2003 06:34pm | #5

   What is water gilding?  What is a flint knapper?  As to the possible mistake, yes that is possible.  The case contained 95 carving tools, 8 small rifflers, and this stylus.

1. 
   Clay | Mar 28, 2003 07:58pm | #6

   Water gilding is a traditional technique of gold leafing.  In water gilding the object (or carving) is coated with a gesso which contains rabbitskin glue and gold leaf is applied to the dampened surface, then burnished to a very fine gloss.  Flint knapping is the process (very old technology) of making stone tools (arrowheads, scrapers, knives, spear tips, etc.).  Antler or bone pointed tools were commonly used as pressure flakers.  The tool that you have looks remarkably like some modern pressure flaking tools.  Try a search on google for flint knapping and check out a few sites.  You will see many different designs of flakers for sale.  Some have copper tips but some are still bone or antler points.  Some are traditional forms with handles formed by the antler or bone itself, but others have a point set into a wood or plastic handle that very much resembles what you have.

2. 
   Timberwerks | Mar 28, 2003 03:41pm | #3

   Try e mailing your photo and question to http://www.chrispye-woodcarving.com/

   He could offer some help.

   Dale

3. 
   RickW | Mar 29, 2003 03:31am | #7

   I hesitate to suggest this, at the risk of stating the obvious, but can you get in touch with the guy you bought the tools from and ask him what it is?

   I'll take a guess at what it is, though. I think it's a tracing stylus, for tracing the outline of a pattern without obscuring the line , as you would with a pencil.

   I used to do a lot of carving, and I made a tool similar to this one, for tracing over a pattern when transfering it to wood using carbon paper. Mine was made from rosewood, with a bone point.I used it for a while,and finally ended up using a dry ball-point pen.

   I'm not familiar with the brand of carving tools you got.

   Good luck with your carving!I've done a lot of different kinds of woodworking, but I enjoyed carving the most.

   Rick W.

1. 
   bRon | Mar 29, 2003 06:58am | #8

   All,

   Rick20954 seems to have had the best notion of what the mystery tool is. The carving tools look good. In the 19th c. there were many small tool makers. If they work, that's what counts, not who made them. After you've used them for a while, you'll start getting notions about whats right and wrong about them; then you can move on to other tools, or not. Enjoy!