| I'm working on creating a toolbox of wood hand tools. It's going to be
quite heavy on the gouge and chisel side as I want to do alot of
carving but I also want to have a basic selection of tools that will
allow me to do most repairs around the house and to furniture that
might come up. I have a pretty good idea of which tools I want but I
am interested in what other people would sugguest. Most of all I am
interested in good places to purchase hand tools I looked in a few
issues of Fine Wood Working but didn't see much in the way of hand tool
and with out looking at the tools I am leery of buying them. Most
specifically I am looking for good quality chisels and gouges. I've
heard that Japanese hand tools are very nice but I don't know how to
judge good quality from poor... any way here is my list: tape measure
combination square
framing square
finishing hammer
hand saws cross grain and ripping
back saw
brace and bit
bits for above
hand drill and bits
planes (from what i've seen and used I like the Japanese planes)
gouges
chisels
set of screw drivers For the chisels and gouges the only ones I've used had numbers on them
as sizes... ie #2 was shallower than a #9 which was the deepest... is
this a common sizing method or are gouges usually denoted by width in
inches?
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I just recently bought a patternmaker's (ca. 1900) tool chest. You want gouges
and carving tools? Want an instant collection of chisels and scads of other
handtools in factory-new condition? Have I got a deal for you. There are: 12 D.R. Barton bent-shank gouges, with 10" blades and applewood handles.
12 Addis carving chisels.
10 bevel-edged Witherby firmer chisels.
6 Buck Bro. turning chisels.
10 miscellaneous chisels. That's just the chisels! There are all kinds of Starrett calipers, trammels,
planer blocks, surface gauges, shrinkage rules, and miscellaneous tools. There
are handsaws, odd gauges, shaves, and bunches of other stuff I can't think of at
this time. The only plane in the box was a 'lowly' Stanley #113 - I had visions
of the #56 corebox as I was working my way to the bottom, or, at the very least,
a plane with detachable soles. The chest itself is wonderful. A dovetailed two-man box, with a mahogany
interior, four sliding trays, a saw compartment, and two panelled lids. It is
in such fine condition that it looks like it was made yesterday. Still has its
requisite little piece of early cheesecake/pornography inside. I'm selling it (complete, and will only break it up as a last resort) out in
the parking lot at Crane's tool extravaganza starting next Thursday. It's in
Nashua, closer to Hanover than Boston is. The numbers given to carving chisels stems from the nineteenth century custom
of assigning numbers to them based upon their cross section and longitudinal
shape. This was first done in England ca. 1875, in the Sheffield area (where the
premier chisels were made), so that there would be some standardization across
manufacturers. Thus, a #2 gouge was a #2 due to its shape and not its width.
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