Fishtail Palm tool?

[johnvansyckel]

I can not find a high quality manufacturer of fishtail tools with palm (also called block or lino) style handles. Ramelson has some but I have had problems with their quality. Flexcut tools have a somewhat fishtail shape but again the quality is an issue for me. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[Brian T]

Bash off the factory handle and make your own to fit your hands.
I've made up less than 2 dozen crooked knives from farrier's hoof trimming knives
with handles that actually fit my hands.

Use a Dremel to cut up something like a Pfeil 5F/8 for edge and length.
Got a brand of palm tools in mind with the right size and shape of handles?
Either a model or build a hybrid.

[Randy]

I have never seen a real fishtail palm tool. I used flexcut for a number of years. Then I got a couple of Drake palm tools and found their handles were a really good fit for my hand. They at now my palm tool of choice.

[Arthur C.]

I have used Ramelson and Flexcut for years and have had no problem with quality whatsoever. I do make my own handles to fit my palm, though. Personal preferences vary, of course.

[Brian T]

Handle size is critical. Even more so if you feel the least little twinge of arthritis.
Pacific Northwest tools, straight knives, crooked knives, elbow and D adzes
are sized like tennis racquets.

Palm up, fist grip, gentle squeeze.
The tips of your second and third fingers should just touch the fat ball part of your thumb.
With some fast experiments with soft cedar, I learned that the square blank size to begin with for all of the handles is 7/8" x 7/8" for me. I can do from 3/4" up to 1". Funny how obvious it became.

What this meant was that I didn't need a death grip. I could relax carve for hours.

[Dark Lightning]

This is one tool that I wanted palm-sized, and I actually bought tool steel to make some. But then I discovered that Ashley Iles had some of what I wanted. Options are to grind an already made tool into a fishtail, which I'd prefer over doing all the heat treatment and so forth myself. I bought a set of Schaaf fishtails, but they are mid-sized. Good thing that they were cheap, because even those "hand polished" ones needed serious sharpening. A couple of them weren't even straight across the front! I ground them straight, and sharpened and honed them to usability. I'd rather just buy one ready to go, honestly, and pay that price...it's not all that much more.

ETA- I looked at the Ramelson gouges, but wasn't impressed with the amount of "fishtail".

[JerseyGirl]

One man’s garbage is another man’s treasure. I love my Ramelson palm fishtail gouge! But I wasn’t impressed with their V tool. Go figure.

[Steve Reed]

There was an issue with Ramelson tools a while back. A quick contact with the company and I was told if there is an issue, return the tool and it will be fixed. Just my $.02.
Steve

[DiLeon]

All my fishtails that are used are not palm....Pfeil Fishtail Gouges, Henry Taylor fishtail and Two Cherries. Favorite fishtail is the Pfeil which I do use a lot. Suggestion: sometimes you have to switch methods for quality tools so get a Pfeil and a mallet, it is worth it in my book of opinions.

[Brian T]

Pfeil manufactures a second set of wood carving tools, exactly the same steel, exactly the same sweeps, etc. Called the "D" series, the handles are considerably smaller. I have a few only to find that the handles are really too dainty for my big mitts.

[Rick Wiebe]

How badly do you want these palm fishtails?
If price is not an object, buy some Pfeil fishtails, hacksaw them off at the appropriate length, and epoxy them into handles of your own making (you're a carver - how hard can this be?), or buy handles from Pfeil.

Another approach is to buy the full sized Pfeil fishtails, and wrap the shafts with vetwrap tape, until the desired thickness is achieved and carve away.

I no longer sell Pfeil or any other carving tools by the way.

[Rick Wiebe]

Price.

It is amazing to me, that people who routinely spend 60 - 100 dollars to fill their gas tank, or 15.00 to get a hamburger and fries, get all weird about spending 30 - 45.00 on a carving tool that will last longer than they will.

[Gulf Coast Handyman]

Not sure if Drake makes fishtail but you can’t beat his quality!! IMHO

[Dark Lightning]

Price.

It is amazing to me, that people who routinely spend 60 - 100 dollars to fill their gas tank, or 15.00 to get a hamburger and fries, get all weird about spending 30 - 45.00 on a carving tool that will last longer than they will.

Price of food. Man! I can appreciate that sometimes one just doesn't want to make it themselves. I take the wife out once a week, and $35 for a couple of sandwiches in a sit-down place isn't all that unusual.

BoT, I'd rather just buy the tool, if I can find it. It's starting to look like I'm a tool collector, though. I keep them honed to where they can shave hair. I have about 200 tools (20+ years of buying), between the Dockyard chisels/gouges, Flex-Cut knives and scorps (left and right hand, no less), Pfeil/Henry Taylor/Ashley Iles palm chisels/gouges, and Pfeil big chisels/gouges. They sit there all shiny in their tool chests that were made just for them. When I die, and if my wife is still alive, the (potential) new husband will wonder why I "collected" carving tools. :lol:

I'll have to go back and look at the Henry Taylor fishtails. But I don't recall seeing them in palm size. I carve sort-of-small projects, and palm tools work for me, because I only use (for the most part) finger force to push the tool. They don't get away from me that way, like a large tool would. If the tool starts to slip, I simply reduce the force. And the sharp part isn't aimed at any fleshy parts, anyway.