Project Information
For the 2017 "Shop Made SURPRISE Tool Swap" I forged this set of three incanal wood carving gouges from 1080 steel. I forged the tangs then hammered the curvature with my swage block. I heat treated them in the forge, quenching in oil and tempering at 400 deg F, followed by softening the tangs. The handles are walnut (partially sapwood) with copper ferrules, finished with danish oil, shellac, and wax. They are three different sizes/sweeps, though it's hard to tell from the photos.
These are incanal since I have no way of grinding the concave flutes. Maybe someday I'll get a small radius grinding setup and try making some outcanal gouges.
I sent them out to my new friend sherm54 in Utah. For my received items, bondogaposis sent me this great tool chest and birdcage awl:
It was delivered by an army of penguins:
Bondo, thanks a lot for this amazing chest. I had no idea what I was looking at for a second when I first opened the package, then I was impressed when it clicked. The blue pine is really beautiful, and the dovetails are nice. I'm keeping my rotary bits for the flex shaft grinder in it now. The birdcage awl is really impressive too, especially the hand-carved handle. I'm not sure what the wood and inlay materials are, but they're both beautiful.
Here are some progress photos:
Forging the tang:
Hot cutting to length:
Making the curvature with the swage block:
Rough forging complete:
Turning identical handles is tough:
These are incanal since I have no way of grinding the concave flutes. Maybe someday I'll get a small radius grinding setup and try making some outcanal gouges.
I sent them out to my new friend sherm54 in Utah. For my received items, bondogaposis sent me this great tool chest and birdcage awl:
It was delivered by an army of penguins:
Bondo, thanks a lot for this amazing chest. I had no idea what I was looking at for a second when I first opened the package, then I was impressed when it clicked. The blue pine is really beautiful, and the dovetails are nice. I'm keeping my rotary bits for the flex shaft grinder in it now. The birdcage awl is really impressive too, especially the hand-carved handle. I'm not sure what the wood and inlay materials are, but they're both beautiful.
Here are some progress photos:
Forging the tang:
Hot cutting to length:
Making the curvature with the swage block:
Rough forging complete:
Turning identical handles is tough: