Thread: Pumpkin Carving Set: Recommendation?

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My co-worker makes awesome carvings but she has limited tools for the job. Is there a good (but inexpensive) woodcarving set you would recommend? What works best for you carvers out there? Thanks!

Will she be carving real or foam pumpkins or both?

If she'll be carving mainly fakekins, then you might want to pick up the Versa-Tool hot knife at Michaels the next time they offer a 40% or 50% Off a Single Item coupon. This is the first season that I've used one, and (even factoring in a short learning-curve), I find that it speeds things up considerably.

I ground down an X-acto knife into a narrow taper and jammed it into a soldering iron. Works fine on the (supposedly Gemmy) ones from Michaels, I don't have any big Funkins and the two small ones look nice just as they are. I've heard they have thick shells so the x-acto knife probably isn't deep enough. To add more heat to the blade you might want to stick some paper clips in along with it.

She's carving real pumpkins. I looked it up last night when I had more time and FINALLY found what I was looking for....linoleum cutters.

http://www.dickblick.com/products/sp...oleum-cutters/

Is there anything else people use to carve the intricate work on pumpkins?

Linolium cutters also called speedball tools are great for shaving the pumpkin. To cut the pumpkin I use a key hole saw blade on an exacto knife. Works great. There is a lot of great information on stoneykins.com including tutorials on what tools work best on real and foam pumpkins. He even offers a link to dickblick.com so you don't have to go searching for everything.

http://www.stoneykins.com/Shop.html

Zombiepumpkins.com offers a nice set, basically a small set of keyhole saws. They are nice, much nicer that the little plastic-handled ones in the market.

The tool I use for de-gutting is a clay loop with a sharpened edge. It is a band of steel on the end of a handle, they come in a variety of shapes and sizes. Just use a small file to put a slight edge on it and it shaves away meat like it is going through butter.

Finally, it is nice to have an arsenal of other things, like icepicks, apple corers, melon ballers, paring knives, chip carving knives, bristle brushes for cleaning up strings and bits, drywall saws for the lids, and the ultimate secret weapon for detailing...
Wax carving loops, like these lil' beauties.
http://polymerclayexpress.com/images/dtsloops.jpg

Thanks everyone!!!!!