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The following article was published in the December, 1996 issue of the English magazine Woodcarving and is reproduced with permission. Details at the end of the article.

I reviewed Kirschen (`Two Cherries') regular woodcarving tools in issue 9, May 1994. I found them to be well made., professional quality tools, as might be expected from Wilh. Schmitt, a manufacturer long established among carvers in mainland Europe.

It would seem carving tools described a micro are becoming more common in the marketplace. I reviewed the one from Robert Sorby in issue 19, and those of the Dockyard Model company in issue 20.

I tools exception in those reviews to the word micro as I felt it an inappropriate bit of hype for tools which could at best be described only as small.

Interestingly, Kirschen describe their won tools in their literature as Zier-Schnitzeisen, calling them micro only in English.

Zier means something like fine or delicate, even dainty, an accurate description and a far better way of seeing them. Fine or delicate woodcarving tools they certainly are.

The set I looked at , presented stunningly in a wooden box, contained the full range of Kirschen's small tools. They had a close family resemblance to Kirschen's normal-sized range.

The box itself is available only on special order and costs an extra £21 including VAT.

The numbering of the blade sweeps followed the Sheffield List, with both sweep and width appearing on the handle. However, unlike the list, the curved tools were given the same sweep number as a straight one.

A 4-piece and a 6-piece set are available, the contents being taken from the list below.

The full range then contained two tools at .5mm, five tools at 1mm, six tools at 1.5 mm, and one tools at 2mm.

Blade length was 60mm, 2 3/8 in and the handle 110 mm, 4 1/4 in.

At 170mm, 6 3/4 in. in overall length was substantially shorter than a regular carving tools of about 230mm 9in.

The tools themselves were beautifully made, polished all over, with comfortable octagonal handles, rounded at the ferule ends.

The walls were thin and of even thickness, with .5mm meaning exactly that.

The tangs were large, square sectioned and aligned with the blade. the tool-making appeared faultless.

The bevels were well set, and most of the tools were ready to carve with. A few needed a little attention.

I am pleased to say the ability of these tools to hold an edge was equal to Kirschen's full sized tools.

Obviously I was taking only light cuts, but for example the edge of one extensively used gouge never needed more than stropping.

I found the small light handles balanced nicely in the fingers and enhanced the manipulation of the blades.

Although there may seem nothing left to say, I would make four points regarding the range choice, the use of these delicate tools, the shape of the curved tools, and the price.

Carving tools down to 1mm are made by several manufacturers. Kirschen blades ( as also the other makes of micro tool) differ in that they are shorter, with a handle designed to match. These factors cut down blade flexing and make the tools easy to use. I think Kirschen has got the balance right here.

Such blades are obviously designed for fine detail, as might be found in faces, eyes, noses, etc..

When a firm makes a specific range they can never hope to satisfy everyone, myself included, since carving is such a wide field, but they must be looking for the maximum advantage with every tool in the set.

Personally I think there is room for improvement in the selection, despite believing that manufacturers always do their market research.

For example, I have found small chisels less useful at this size than small flat (No. 3) gouges. Gouge corners can be kept clear of the surface. And bent chisels, tome, have no advantage over bent flat gouges at all.

As it is virtually impossible to differentiate adjacent sweeps at this size (say between No. 3 and 4) Kirschen are right to simplify matters by having only flattest, deepest, and middle sweeps in the range.

However six of the nine gouges were U-shaped. I would prefer having fewer of these and increasing the range of flat and middle sweeps, possibly including semicircular gouges instead of U-shaped ones.

Regarding the curves along the blade lengths, I would question whether the profiles were appropriate for the small size of tool.

The curves were quite long and some were not particularly curved at all, giving little, if any, advantage over the straight tools.

My experience, which includes making similar tools, is that a more useful profile would be a shorter, tighter, spoon crank rising practically from the cutting edge.

I will readily concede that these comments may gave a lot to do with my style of carving, but if you are thinking of buying these tools you need to bear in mind both the range of sweeps and widths, and the shallowness of the curves in relation to the work you intend to use them for.

Although the prices of Kirschen's regular tools compare favorably in the market, these small, delicate tools cost substantially more than the regular tools of many manufacturers.

The reason must lie in the specialist nature and low sales volume, as well as the fact that these delicate tools, must be more time consuming to make.

For the cost, you need to look at how much you need such a range of tools. However, I think for the price you have the quality.

In summary, with one eyebrow raised over the bends, and a twitch form the other over the sweep selection, these are fine woodcarving tools from Kirschen in all the senses of the word. Small and refined, and undoubtedly excellent in their making.

The price of the 14 piece set 5414 is £258.44. The four piece set 5404 is £76.31 and the six-piece set 5406 is £109.22 all including VAT.