If you are a woodcarver and taking a plane when traveling abroad, you may be wondering if you are allowed to take certain woodworking and wood carving instruments such as chisels, wood carving knives, and types of wood, with you when traveling.
When traveling by plane, you are allowed to take wood carving instruments such as carving knives, chisels, and others, in your luggage as long as they are securely wrapped in a layer of protection that will prevent them from sticking out of the suitcase when moved. None of the above-mentioned tools, however, are allowed in hand luggage.
With that said, certain airlines and security regulations allow the airport staff to confiscate objects that are not suitable for traveling for a long list of reasons. In this article, we will go over the 3 tips to both make sure your travel with tools is safe and convenient and, of course, assure your tools to still be yours when you get off the plane.
1. How To Pack Your Wood Carving Tools Correctly
This is by far the most important tip we can give you. Packing your tools in a way that will not satisfy the airport security may lead to you having to waste a lot of time repacking them, or in the worst case even confiscated.
Wood carving tools are dangerously sharp, therefore, it is required to wrap or pack them into something to avoid them sticking out of the suitcase and damaging other goods nearby or injuring staff members.
The cheapest and most basic way to do that is to wrap all of your wood carving tools in a cloth, and leave them in the center of your luggage surrounded by other items and not on the side of the luggage, contacting the wall of the case.
Although highly unlikely, the staff members may consider a cloth to not be sufficient protection from the sharp objects inside. If you want to be 100% sure that you will not face any problems you should get the wood carving traveling case which is shown below.
This pouch case will fit in multiple wood carving tools in a storage efficient way. It is very affordable and will last you a lifetime, therefore if you are ever looking to travel somewhere with wood carving tools, consider getting this.
Another advantage of traveling with a case instead of a cloth the possibility that the sharp tools will damage your own belongings in the suitcase. Although unlikely, and the cloth being is sufficient, it is up to you if you want to ensure yourself with a more secure way of traveling.
2. Increased Efficiency For Traveler Carvers
If you are going to be carving in other countries you probably would like to take your whole workshop with you. However, for space efficiency, it is obviously not a good idea.
A smart life-hack for carvers that want to travel efficiently but still take a large range of tools with them is combining multiple tools into one. This can be done in two different ways:
- Tools that provide a sufficient replacement to multiple tools
- Tools that have attachments, and can be build to later dismantle
The first type of tool is something like this 6in1 Flexcut knife which is ideal for traveling.
This knife is small enough to fit into your pocket when traveling and will provide you with excellent carving results as you always expect from Flexcuttools. Don’t forget you are still supposed to leave it in your luggage when traveling even if it fits in your pocket.
The second type of tools are the ones that can be built and dismantled. An example of that are the multiple attachments that Dremel has for only one of their power tools. If you are not a power carver and only use hand carving objects, then this method is very unlikely to suit you.
Can I bring wood carving tools into the US?
If you are traveling into the USA from anywhere in the world you are allowed to bring wood carving tools as long as they are stored in the correct way in your luggage. None of the wood carving tools are allowed to be brought with hand luggage on the plane.
What to tell the airline if they don’t like you traveling with tools
It rarely happens that airlines complain about what is in your luggage, however, if you were very unlucky and the staff were incredibly picky and want to stop you for your wood carving tools, the first thing you need to do is understand whether you are in the right.
If you packed your wood carving tools in your suitcase the way we explained above, with the cloth wrapping the sharp objects and the tools not touching the wall, then there is no legal reason to stop you. With that said, the staff has the authority to not let you in even if they don’t have a valid excuse for it.
The best thing to do is offer to repack your suitcase in a way that satisfies the staff members. If the airline decides that the carving tools are strictly forbidden to you even in luggage, then you have the choice to either throw have them confiscated or use your right to get off the plane with the tools.
Please keep in mind that this is very unlikely, and the only reason for this to happen is if the knife or a chisel pokes through your luggage. To avoid that wrap the tools in a cloth securely or use the pouch we recommended.
Final Thoughts
Traveling with wood carving tools is absolutely normal and apart from a few uncomfortable risks associated with the confiscation of the tools, there is nothing to worry about.
Thank you for reading this article, we hope you enjoyed it and that you have a pleasant flight with your wood carving tools in your luggage. If you would like to learn more useful wood carving tips and tricks, be sure to surf the website for a little longer.
