wood engraving tools

So I want to build a collection of wood engraving tools. I have none right now.

What are your thoughts on these vintage Miler Falls wood carving tools? They’d need to be sharpened at most I’d imagine.

Took a screen shot of the eBay auction of these tools since the link wasn’t working here on the briar press site.

image: Screen Shot 2024-09-05 at 4.49.20 AM.png

Screen Shot 2024-09-05 at 4.49.20 AM.png

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Those don’t look like wood engraving tools, but rather wood carving tools, more for sculptural work. I have a few tools from McClains that are good. They also sell a holder for sharpening. https://imcclains.com/catalog/engravingtools/roundgraver.html

Thanks. What about these wood engraving tools on eBay?

image: Screen Shot 2024-09-05 at 4.29.39 PM.png

Screen Shot 2024-09-05 at 4.29.39 PM.png

Those look like the correct style, but I can’t speak to their quality. Check out the Wood Engravers Network to find artists working in this medium, they might have better advice.

I prefer bent shaft burins for wood engraving over straight shaft. EC Lyons sets are high quality and a good place to start. I think you can still buy them on dick blick and other art supply sites.

Look at Woodcraft. https://www.woodcraft.com/collections/carving-sets

They have great tools but a set may be more than an ebay auction.

Casey

Lyons makes various printmaking tools.
https://www.eclyons.com/
Their wood engraving tools include angle tint tools, eliiptical tint tools, gravers, and multiple line tools, but they don’t sell any sets of tools specifically for wood engraving. You’d have to know which tools you need.

yeah, those are not engraving tools, you need a couple smaller size elliptical tint, a range of angle tint and a couple of diamond shaped burins. note most tools are too long as they come and really need to be shortened to fit your hand, by breaking off a bit of the tip and resharpening. you also need a very fine stone- tools need to be kept very sharp. skip the multi line tools for a while.

I’ve long been aware of Lyons but they are pricey. I’d start out with one of their tools at most.