Stone Curving Tools 

The principal stone carving tools needed by the sculptor include the point chisel, tooth chisel (rake), the flat straight chisel and a hammer, all of varying sizes and weights. All are forged from high carbon steel and tempered for strength.

The point removes the primary bulk material and comes in three sizes, small, medium and large. All taper down to a four-sided point and the thickness, or size of the point, will be determined by its heaviness. The smaller the size, the finer or lighter the point.

The tooth chisel or rake, for the second stage of removal, is a flat straight chisel with slightly beveled teeth. It is available in four basic widths, the smallest having four teeth, the next five teeth, the next six teeth, and the largest having eight teeth. The tooth chisel is principally used in the geometric reduction of a larger piece of stone.

The flat straight chisel is the finishing tool used before the final abrasive finishing, rasping, and sanding. It has a straight edge with a slight bevel of possibly 30° and is available in three sizes, small, medium, and large.

There are also specialty tools which are not normally used in standard carving but by intermediate and advanced carvers for added assistance in multiple projects. They include:the diamond shaped point, used for parting ferrules width-wise (In stone carving there are no “v” or veining tools as in wood carving; points do this job.);and the rondel, a rounded curved tool used for concave carving; the cutting edge is a round bevel.