beginners tools in Oz

["Clive Murray-White" <clivemw@zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz>]

Hi Simon,

Thanks for the info. The real problem is that I don't run workshops for
these people for a number of reasons, far too busy, unwilling to sacrifice
my studio and fearful of Public Liability and OHS stuff.

I happily show people what I use for each process but as you can imagine,
the Bon Accord + a pretty good range of Ashcroft's beautiful chisels, more
hand chisels, some nice Tiranti stuff, angle grinders, sanders etc is way
outside the means of someone who is just going to give it a bit of a go.

Re: what kind of stone do these people usually use, most often modest little
un-needed lumps from my own pile. Marble from Bindi near Omeo or Chillagoe,
and fine grained fairly hard limestone from Buchan ( they call it Buchan
marble but I don't think it is) mid to darkish grey with white markings. All
these stones can be a bit tricky but do hold a very good surface.

Hammers can be a problem for them, no problem at the heavy end 1.3kg
available everywhere but what about something lighter, my favourite is a
225gram Square Japanese hammer with the handle cut down but these cost $50!
and you rarely see a usable mallet in any cheap tool store.

Most introductory stone carving is done with Mt Gambier limestone, so soft
that anything will work on it, marble's a bit different.

Thanks best regards
Clive Murray-White
Web: www.cowwarr.com