Thank you, was struggling to find gouge sharpening tips that didn't involve a grinding wheel. Was gifted a bunch of damaged gouges and this video helped me on starting to learn.
Thank you James, I bought an old lathe that came with some beat up chisels that I've been too scared to sharpen, until now! This video is just what I needed.
Great video James, thanks to all your encouragement I decided to dip my toes into the world of carving. I bought a v gouge to add some details to my projects.
Great vid! Just wondering if you can use the gouge and carve across the grain, going perpendicular to the piece of wood in order to make a shallow, curved notch?
Perfectly informative! I myself, have been collecting items from garage sales and flea markets. I find the best deals! And I can refurbish every piece! Many blessings to you!
Just did some old gouges that my grandfather had. They are Castiles but pretty rough. I do all my sharpening on my Work Sharpe. It does a pretty good job once you get used to the rolling in your fingers. I had to blunt one out and start over it was so lopsided. Thx for the help.
The stamp on that chisel looks pretty much like the markings that come on Pfeil. I have Ashely Iles myself and both of these chisels would be among the best you can get, good find sir!
I have had those ones now for about 8 years still my daily drivers. I think I bought those at woodcraft but you can find them a lot of places now. Here are the exact ones I use.www.woodbywright.com/tool-suggestions/sharpening
Thanks for the very helpful info James! A good number of your videos seem to come out at the perfect time for me and things I'm addressing in my own shop. Especially the sharpening ones. I just recently got a few gouges and I'll certainly be using your advice in getting and maintaining a sharp edge on them.
You prolly dont care at all but does anybody know of a tool to log back into an instagram account?? I somehow forgot my account password. I would love any help you can offer me.
@Tripp Axel Thanks so much for your reply. I found the site thru google and Im trying it out atm. Seems to take a while so I will reply here later when my account password hopefully is recovered.
When you see my comment on your other "Sharpening Gouges" video you'll know why by 57 seconds into this video I wish I'd seen it before buying my chisels. We don’t have Harbour Freight in the U.K., however I think I might have bought something similar to theirs. I will endeavour to move onwards and upwards. Just spend 30minutes reprofiling my gouge, followed exactly how you did it here and it’s now perfect, thank you very much indeed.
It's not really about how much force you use but the angle at which you're holding it. If you lift it too high you'll rub the burr right off the nose. If you lift it too low then you won't be actually sharpening the tip you'll just be back on the heel of the bevel.
hello ....would doing the same motion on sandpaper with oil on its surface do the job? I just happen to live in a part of the world that is devoid of sharpening stones....
Perfect timing James! I just pulled all my good chisels & gouges out of the drawer below the one that is filled with augers, reforged a few sockets, and re, umm, re what? I almost want to say rehung, but that is axes and hammers, re handled? a few. Now all are in need of new edges.
I am wondering what you do with a brand new gouge? I just bought two new ones. A long bent and a sweep spoon gouge. Both #7s @ 20mm. Do you just use it right out of the box? Do you use a strop on it before using it the first time? What did you do with your Two Cherries gouges. (Mine a Pfiel)
with the bevel on the inside, I use the slip stone to do all the sharpening and just polish the flat outside. you want to remove material from the bevel not the flat.
So I wanted to make a smarty pants comment. I got nothing. Great information. I am going to try to put a good edge on some of those pointy pieces of steal you were talking about. Then I will see about some hand carving. I usually use a Dremel with carbide burrs. Keep it up you are very inspiring.
Just got a basic set of Pfeil gouges. (7 in total). Question: Do you have to do anything to a brand new gouge? Strop it a little? Did your Pfeil gouges come really sharp or only factory sharp?
I have a 10 inch diameter hand sander mainly for picture frame corners but it`s useful for gouges .The 30 degree bevel angle is easy to form if you fix a piece of wood at that angle to the sander face. Just having that angle to guide your eye in the background helps to get the best cutting angle . Then do the fine sharpening by using a plastic protractor to keep the angle right . I also make a cut in soft wood for the internal polish as your video shows . If you want to make a violin always avoid the edge of the blade going below the surface . Then you are not slicing the wood but splitting it .
You mentioned that harbor freight chisels are just "hunks of steel with a point on them". I made the mistake of buying them, and they really are. Does anyone have a recommendation of a good set at a lower price point?
The cheapest new ones are made by two Cherries. I know the idea of $25 a chesel sounds high, but for carving chisels it is dirt cheap. The only cheaper methoud are anteques that you can but at meets like MWTCA and other tool meets.
Hey James which side of a fresh leather strop would you use, rough or smooth? I just bought one and the internet's providing conflicting information...
+cVictori both work fine. I generally use the rough side with buffing compound because it holds it better and the smooth side without when I want that REALLY shinny finish.
you say every tool is your favorite;) the ones you got look allot like the ones my dad bought when he took a wood carving class in the 60's at a wood carving store and school. The old greek guy who owned the store and tought the class tought him to sharpen gouges, chisels and knives using a fine india slipstone (his one size fits all stone for sharpening carving tools). it was with that same slipstone my dad tought me to sharpen, and i went back to that same school (which was still owned and run by the same old greek guy in the 90's) to buy my own india along with a hard arkansas slipstone. got my first shaving sharp edge with these stones, and i still have them although i dont use them much anymore in favor of diamonds and waterstones. however, the 2x4" size india and hard arkansas slips are actually extremely versitile and portable stones that will pretty much sharpen anything you need sharpened.
shonuffisthemaster Hehehe...I use exactly the same stones and I've got razor sharp-long lasting gauges ( Henry Tailor & Asley Isles) all the time! (😊I' m Greek too)
Wood By Wright if your talking about a good hard arkansas slip, they are really not made anymore. the quarries have dried up. they do come up on ebay for sale used occasionally, both in 2x4 slip form (which i like due to versitility) usually around $60 or hard arkansas machinist files, both are good to get in the norton brand if you can find it. u can also get a spyderco fine ceramic (really extra fine by most standards) 4x2 slip and also a file set although they are pricey too. i wish spyderco made a medium ceramic slip (their medium ceramic is also more like a fine, finer than india fine its similar to surgical black arkansas). you can also get triangular files from spyderco in the form of sharpmaker rods in med diamond, med ceramic, fine and extra fine ceramic ive also looked at adhesive backed flexable diamond sheets but they are also pricey
As you sharpen the iron a tiny bit of steel will push off the end of the tip. With the bevel on the sharpening stone that tiny bit of steel will start to poke up away from the sharpening stone. Or strap. You should be able to feel that on the back side of the iron if you run your finger over it.
James, there are different schools for sharpening. After your try ceramic japanese waterstones (no need to use windex, just tap water) it is the most precise and fastest way to sharpen tools in my opinion. This is what gets used for sharpening shaving straight razors as well as carving tools. I have an atoma 350 diamond over a steel slab (similar to DMT) but even that does not cut as smoothly and effortlessly as a chocera 1200 ceramic waterstone. And if you have a 2000 + 4,000 , +6,000 you don't need a strope (i have a whole set). Basically what you are doing with your stroping compound in this video is filling the gap for your lack of waterstones. You will get slightly better defined edges that stay sharp longer with waterstones than relying on compound which can't really define an extremely precise edge, only maintain it. By the way i bought that $9 "hunks of steel with a pointy end" set from HF to try to train advanced sharpening skills and see if i could transform them into carving tools. After regrinding the bevels (effortlessly with the chocera by hand !, incredible how it removes metal without pressure unlike a diamond stone) and sharpening to mirror finish up to 6000 grit i got extremely sharp straight and skew chisels. Tested on pine and it removes very thin sheets of wood effortlessly, a real pleasure. The skew chisel works very nicely accross the grain. The gouge and V groove are much more challenging to rework. But i was successful with the V groove ( studied some tutorials on the geometry of an ideal V groove tool). The intended gouge from HF (after corrections and sharpening) are nothing like the gouge you commonly see including the one here in your video, they have a very large angle that has a curve in all 3 dimensions but it works to create spherical cavities, not cylindrical cavities. You don't use them the same way. With your gouge in this video you cannot carve a spherical cavity because the edge is only circular in two dimensions not in the third dimension, so the tool wants to move in translation not in a circular trajectory forward. Now i don't know if this steel will keep their edges but it will have served its purpose to let me experiment on tool forming and sharpening. The wood handle are too short for them to become practical in daily use but it's joy to know I developped skills to make real tools out of real cheap ones.
Clean Phil Wanted. Right comment from you, besides the simple and proper way to sharpen and honing his gouges, James is wearing this orange T shirt that creates a disruptive impact and downgrades his (very good) induction!
I've moved most of the teaching over to the other channel. Now. This channel is more for the easy listening and people who just want to watch it happen. So you'll probably like the new videos. But this one is a lot older.
Ty for this, I think I over did the technique and gave up few years ago, going to get back at it 👍👍👍👍🍺😎
Thanks!
Thank You
Ha....I wish I would have seen this first. Ill need those diamond stoned for my chisels, and the other accessories. Great skills video.
Thank you, was struggling to find gouge sharpening tips that didn't involve a grinding wheel. Was gifted a bunch of damaged gouges and this video helped me on starting to learn.
glad I could help!
Thank you James, I bought an old lathe that came with some beat up chisels that I've been too scared to sharpen, until now! This video is just what I needed.
cool. for a lathe, you want a much steeper angle (around 30 degrees) another wise you will be sharpening every 30 seconds.
Wood By Wright Thanks for the advice James, I'll make sure I'll do that. Much appreciated!
I just bought a gouge, so this is just what I'm looking for.
Glad I could help!
yeah ...same here...I got a Beaver Gouge...
I am here to find out what are the best carving gouges for making Kuksa's and bowls.
Great video James, thanks to all your encouragement I decided to dip my toes into the world of carving. I bought a v gouge to add some details to my projects.
Sweet! looking forward to what you make with it Evan. don't have too much fun!
Great vid! Just wondering if you can use the gouge and carve across the grain, going perpendicular to the piece of wood in order to make a shallow, curved notch?
This is really helpful. Thanks man :)
2:51 Love that set up on strops..
Great video, THANK YOU SIR!
Perfectly informative! I myself, have been collecting items from garage sales and flea markets. I find the best deals! And I can refurbish every piece! Many blessings to you!
right on that is where I get most of my old tools now!
Just did some old gouges that my grandfather had. They are Castiles but pretty rough. I do all my sharpening on my Work Sharpe. It does a pretty good job once you get used to the rolling in your fingers. I had to blunt one out and start over it was so lopsided. Thx for the help.
The stamp on that chisel looks pretty much like the markings that come on Pfeil.
I have Ashely Iles myself and both of these chisels would be among the best you can get, good find sir!
that they are. This one was made by a company I have not heard of but with a little research found out they closed in 1890.
I've always used sandpaper and dowels for the inside. I love your charged pine method as stropping the inside has always been a challenge for me.
yup that is what I use to do as well.
Where did you get your stones that you started with. Great tutorial on sharpening the gouge chisel by the way...
I have had those ones now for about 8 years still my daily drivers. I think I bought those at woodcraft but you can find them a lot of places now. Here are the exact ones I use.www.woodbywright.com/tool-suggestions/sharpening
Your style is great and very encouraging. Also, there is no T in across. Even still, have a wonderful day.
Lol thanks. But of course there's a tea in the word across. Lol
Thank you for posting this video! I really struggle with sharpening curved chisels and plane irons!
+Chris Jaussi hopfuly plane irons will be coming out next week.
Thanks for the very helpful info James! A good number of your videos seem to come out at the perfect time for me and things I'm addressing in my own shop. Especially the sharpening ones. I just recently got a few gouges and I'll certainly be using your advice in getting and maintaining a sharp edge on them.
Fantastic Jason!
You prolly dont care at all but does anybody know of a tool to log back into an instagram account??
I somehow forgot my account password. I would love any help you can offer me.
@Ralph Jayceon instablaster :)
@Tripp Axel Thanks so much for your reply. I found the site thru google and Im trying it out atm.
Seems to take a while so I will reply here later when my account password hopefully is recovered.
@Tripp Axel it worked and I now got access to my account again. I am so happy!
Thanks so much, you saved my ass :D
When you see my comment on your other "Sharpening Gouges" video you'll know why by 57 seconds into this video I wish I'd seen it before buying my chisels. We don’t have Harbour Freight in the U.K., however I think I might have bought something similar to theirs. I will endeavour to move onwards and upwards.
Just spend 30minutes reprofiling my gouge, followed exactly how you did it here and it’s now perfect, thank you very much indeed.
Thanks Mark I'm glad I could help.
Great tips! What kind of leather is that and where can I get it?
Horse butt leather is the best. www.woodbywright.com/shop/strops
@@WoodByWright ...tried to buy some from your site. Said "did not have enough".
Very informative! I am not brave enough to try it yet... maybe one day.
go for it! it is easier than it looks. and there really is only one way to do it!
Can’t get a burr on my gouges. Really using some force. Any additional advice of the angle to use?
It's not really about how much force you use but the angle at which you're holding it. If you lift it too high you'll rub the burr right off the nose. If you lift it too low then you won't be actually sharpening the tip you'll just be back on the heel of the bevel.
hello ....would doing the same motion on sandpaper with oil on its surface do the job? I just happen to live in a part of the world that is devoid of sharpening stones....
Yes you can do it with sand paper. no oil needed. it is a great wat to do it. just more expensive in the long run.
I enjoy your videos, thanks for sharing your knowledge!
+galtobell1 Altobell my pleasure!
Perfect timing James! I just pulled all my good chisels & gouges out of the drawer below the one that is filled with augers, reforged a few sockets, and re, umm, re what? I almost want to say rehung, but that is axes and hammers, re handled? a few. Now all are in need of new edges.
Sweet! I love seeing an old tool come back to life!
Great I have a bunch of 122 year old lathe videos coming up soon.
Thanks for the info James! 👍
my pleasure Fred!
Perfect timing on this video, I have some carving to do. What are the slip stones that you want to eventually get?
I have not decided between the DMT wave (here amzn.to/2xAsSbz ) and getting some good natural stones I will probably go DMT though.
hello, would doing the same motion on sandpaper with machine oil on its surface do the job?
Great James...rr
thanks Richard!
Great info James. I need to get some slip stones, wish they came in diamond stone form!
Well you can get the wave and I have used that one in the past but I do not own it. amzn.to/2xAsSbz one of these days I will get a set.
Looks pretty cool ... did you find it effective?
+Make Brooklyn oh ya. It is on my list of to buy tools.
Make Brooklyn Diamond are quite "aggressive", try the white Arkansas ones for this purpose!
Do you put oil on your leather strops?
No. Just chrome oxide compound.
I am wondering what you do with a brand new gouge? I just bought two new ones. A long bent and a sweep spoon gouge. Both #7s @ 20mm. Do you just use it right out of the box? Do you use a strop on it before using it the first time? What did you do with your Two Cherries gouges. (Mine a Pfiel)
for Pfiel or two cherries they should be ready to go out of the box.
@@WoodByWright Thanks. Then just keep them sharp with a strop. (like you said in the video)
Yup. As long as you don't chip them.
Well now that saves me asking how to do that 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
Do we do the same when the bevel is on the inside?
with the bevel on the inside, I use the slip stone to do all the sharpening and just polish the flat outside. you want to remove material from the bevel not the flat.
So I wanted to make a smarty pants comment. I got nothing. Great information. I am going to try to put a good edge on some of those pointy pieces of steal you were talking about. Then I will see about some hand carving. I usually use a Dremel with carbide burrs. Keep it up you are very inspiring.
once you play around with gouges for a while you never go back to the drummer. so much more fun! and no dust!
Just got a basic set of Pfeil gouges. (7 in total). Question: Do you have to do anything to a brand new gouge? Strop it a little? Did your Pfeil gouges come really sharp or only factory sharp?
+Bruce Brachman pfeil come ready to go. At least the ones I use do.
I have a 10 inch diameter hand sander mainly for picture frame corners but it`s useful for gouges .The 30 degree bevel angle is easy to form if you fix a piece of wood at that angle to the sander face. Just having that angle to guide your eye in the background helps to get the best cutting angle . Then do the fine sharpening by using a plastic protractor to keep the angle right . I also make a cut in soft wood for the internal polish as your video shows . If you want to make a violin always avoid the edge of the blade going below the surface . Then you are not slicing the wood but splitting it .
Have you seen the "DMT Diamond Wave"? its made for this kind of work.
oh ya. I have used it a few times. and it is high on mt to purchase list!
great
You mentioned that harbor freight chisels are just "hunks of steel with a point on them". I made the mistake of buying them, and they really are. Does anyone have a recommendation of a good set at a lower price point?
The cheapest new ones are made by two Cherries. I know the idea of $25 a chesel sounds high, but for carving chisels it is dirt cheap. The only cheaper methoud are anteques that you can but at meets like MWTCA and other tool meets.
Thank you very much for the advice.
Hi, where did you get your leather?
I just saw your link. Thanks
Sweet thanks!
Hey James which side of a fresh leather strop would you use, rough or smooth? I just bought one and the internet's providing conflicting information...
+cVictori both work fine. I generally use the rough side with buffing compound because it holds it better and the smooth side without when I want that REALLY shinny finish.
Hi there from Portugal,
Nice info :D
Obrigado(Thanks)
thanks man!
you say every tool is your favorite;) the ones you got look allot like the ones my dad bought when he took a wood carving class in the 60's at a wood carving store and school.
The old greek guy who owned the store and tought the class tought him to sharpen gouges, chisels and knives using a fine india slipstone (his one size fits all stone for sharpening carving tools).
it was with that same slipstone my dad tought me to sharpen, and i went back to that same school (which was still owned and run by the same old greek guy in the 90's) to buy my own india along with a hard arkansas slipstone. got my first shaving sharp edge with these stones, and i still have them although i dont use them much anymore in favor of diamonds and waterstones. however, the 2x4" size india and hard arkansas slips are actually extremely versitile and portable stones that will pretty much sharpen anything you need sharpened.
shonuffisthemaster Hehehe...I use exactly the same stones and I've got razor sharp-long lasting gauges ( Henry Tailor & Asley Isles) all the time!
(😊I' m Greek too)
I wish these were that good. these were the cheaper manufactured stone. one of these days I will get a good set.
Wood By Wright if your talking about a good hard arkansas slip, they are really not made anymore. the quarries have dried up. they do come up on ebay for sale used occasionally, both in 2x4 slip form (which i like due to versitility) usually around $60 or hard arkansas machinist files, both are good to get in the norton brand if you can find it. u can also get a spyderco fine ceramic (really extra fine by most standards) 4x2 slip and also a file set although they are pricey too. i wish spyderco made a medium ceramic slip (their medium ceramic is also more like a fine, finer than india fine its similar to surgical black arkansas). you can also get triangular files from spyderco in the form of sharpmaker rods in med diamond, med ceramic, fine and extra fine ceramic
ive also looked at adhesive backed flexable diamond sheets but they are also pricey
my carving tools have been sharpened by a lathe user! the bevel noiw needs 60deg. angle to operate! will your methos work to restore my bevel?
Ya I would grind back the bevel on them. Carving tools most all need a fine angle.
Subbed, awesome video man.
thanks Mark. that means a lot!
Obrigado
de nada
Great video James very informative. Do you have any carving tools out of that collection that you want to sell?
LOL I have already given away the duplicates that I got. sorry.
I'm not clear on what you mean by a bur.
As you sharpen the iron a tiny bit of steel will push off the end of the tip. With the bevel on the sharpening stone that tiny bit of steel will start to poke up away from the sharpening stone. Or strap. You should be able to feel that on the back side of the iron if you run your finger over it.
I haven't tried any of this, but I am thinking about it
So a bit like slivers along the edge?
Yes it is a little hook that comes up along the edge.
how do I find your links?
In the description below the video.
James, there are different schools for sharpening. After your try ceramic japanese waterstones (no need to use windex, just tap water) it is the most precise and fastest way to sharpen tools in my opinion. This is what gets used for sharpening shaving straight razors as well as carving tools. I have an atoma 350 diamond over a steel slab (similar to DMT) but even that does not cut as smoothly and effortlessly as a chocera 1200 ceramic waterstone. And if you have a 2000 + 4,000 , +6,000 you don't need a strope (i have a whole set). Basically what you are doing with your stroping compound in this video is filling the gap for your lack of waterstones. You will get slightly better defined edges that stay sharp longer with waterstones than relying on compound which can't really define an extremely precise edge, only maintain it.
By the way i bought that $9 "hunks of steel with a pointy end" set from HF to try to train advanced sharpening skills and see if i could transform them into carving tools. After regrinding the bevels (effortlessly with the chocera by hand !, incredible how it removes metal without pressure unlike a diamond stone) and sharpening to mirror finish up to 6000 grit i got extremely sharp straight and skew chisels. Tested on pine and it removes very thin sheets of wood effortlessly, a real pleasure. The skew chisel works very nicely accross the grain. The gouge and V groove are much more challenging to rework. But i was successful with the V groove ( studied some tutorials on the geometry of an ideal V groove tool). The intended gouge from HF (after corrections and sharpening) are nothing like the gouge you commonly see including the one here in your video, they have a very large angle that has a curve in all 3 dimensions but it works to create spherical cavities, not cylindrical cavities. You don't use them the same way. With your gouge in this video you cannot carve a spherical cavity because the edge is only circular in two dimensions not in the third dimension, so the tool wants to move in translation not in a circular trajectory forward. Now i don't know if this steel will keep their edges but it will have served its purpose to let me experiment on tool forming and sharpening. The wood handle are too short for them to become practical in daily use but it's joy to know I developped skills to make real tools out of real cheap ones.
that is the great thing about this sport. there are 1000+ ways to do it and everyone has to find the way they like the most.
The grit on those little slip stones is 150 to 180, not 1000. I'm not finding the link to the set you wanted to get?
8:27 Bender approves
This video is all wrong! That shirt is way too contrasty with your apron and watch strap!!!
The sharpening part is great though! As always!
LOL no it is all Wright!
Wood By Wright ohhhh SNAP!
Clean Phil Wanted. Right comment from you, besides the simple and proper way to sharpen and honing his gouges, James is wearing this orange T shirt that creates a disruptive impact and downgrades his (very good) induction!
It's ACROSS. Not Acrost... Theres no T in the word.
What are you talking about? Of course there's a "T" acrosst. LOL
You're talking so much its too lag mahn
I've moved most of the teaching over to the other channel. Now. This channel is more for the easy listening and people who just want to watch it happen. So you'll probably like the new videos. But this one is a lot older.
His intros have to be stopped
LOL where is the fun in that!
Ugnius1 Makavicius2 No way! Keep them coming James. Personally I'm getting excited about how he will introduce the Halloween video!!!
LOL there are so many good things there!