Gouges

[Ledzendrix1128]

just to make sure we're all on the same page:

Palm Handled

Regular Handled

[M_A_T_T]

What are you using them for?

[Ledzendrix1128]

carving guitar tops

- adding the carves inside the horns that is (like on PRS horns). Not sure what i want to use to do the gradual contours... a spokeshave is good you think?... If you cant tell im pretty new to carving

BTW - yesterday i bought a swiss made gouge from woodcraft for $40. I used it doing a carve on a piece of ash just to see how it feels, and i got pretty good results, its nice and sharp... I learned how to also avoid getting my knuckles all bloody from banging them against the wood.

Edited December 12, 2005 by Ledzendrix1128

[M_A_T_T]

The ones you linked to are too small to carve a top. I've been using 1" #7 bent gouge on a violin I'm making:

http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=...cat=1,130,43701

The bent feature keeps my knuckles from touching the wood while carving. If you want to add the access curve like on the treble horn of a PRS, I think a rasp would be better. For the re-curve around the edge, where it goes down then back up into the main arching, a scraper might work really well, that's what I used on my violin.

I think a spokeshave would be difficult to use, not the right shape of work for the tool.

Also, read up on 'scary sharp' for getting your gouges deadly sharp.

Personally, I found these to be very helpful, too:

http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=...680&cat=1,41182

[Mattia]

Those bent gouges look nifty...I've got a bent blade Kirschen chisel I use for glue cleanup around braces, a gouge equivalenty would be quite nifty. This said, for top carving, I'm very partial to the router+angle grinder with a sanding disk approach, clean up with a random orbital sander, and an IBEX plane for very subtle changes/cuts. And yes, rasps for PRS-type access curves. And a selection of scrapers for all manner of work (although I don't do much recurve on my electric instruments).

Should get me one for work on the mandolin I plan to build (and I'd want a long handle on 'em), but for electrics? Nah. I've carved one by hand, stricly using a router (inial rim height) and an IBEX fingerplane, next one was router+gouges+sandpaper, then an angle grinder, and I've never looked back. I just want some nice gouges because I'm a bit of an edge tool junkie.

[Ledzendrix1128]

so i bought this swiss made gouge from woodcraft the other day. Its about 1/2 inch wide with a radius on it (cant tell you offhand) its pretty large... its not a small one at all... I dont know if you can tell what im talkin about but i have 2 questions

1) is that gouge i described useful for carving guitars

and

2) if i dont have a good router at my house or much less an angle grinder what would be the best hand tool way to approach a prs STYLE carve... its not gonna be exact... but that the most similar example i can think of.

Im thinking about investing in a nice fingerplane next paycheck too... i should probably open a new thread... but i just got off work and im tired

[M_A_T_T]

so i bought this swiss made gouge from woodcraft the other day.  Its about 1/2 inch wide with a radius on it (cant tell you offhand) its pretty large... its not a small one at all...  I dont know if you can tell what im talkin about but i have 2 questions

1) is that gouge i described useful for carving guitars

and

2) if i dont have a good router at my house or much less an angle grinder what would be the best hand tool way to approach a prs STYLE carve... its not gonna be exact... but that the most similar example i can think of. 

Im thinking about investing in a nice fingerplane next paycheck too... i should probably open a new thread... but i just got off work and im tired

←

1/2 wide is a bit small. A rule I've heard before is use the biggest tool you can (gouge) until you feel you will start messing things up. I found my 1" to be good for my violin, but my experience is limited.

If it were me, I'd get a larger one, I'm guessing at least a 1" for a guitar, and then some finger planes. With my violin, I went right from rough gouge work into finger planes then scrapers.

EDIT: I think with gouges and carved tops, you want to use a gouge simply for rough work, to honk out as much wood as quickly as possible, so use the biggest you think you can use safely. Fingerplanes are great for cleaning up the gouge marks and blening everything, they are so fun to use, then either scrapers or sanding.

Edited December 13, 2005 by M_A_T_T

[Ledzendrix1128]

sounds good matt, thanks for the help. I'll run all these ideas by my shop teacher too and see what he thinks.