Play with the gouges

Just some getting used to the tools. I play around a bit in spruce, not the ideal carving wood, very soft but also loves to splinter and break where you don't want it to. I try to make some flower shapes.

Sharpening the gouges

It's steaming hot at the moment in Holland, 35 degrees or thereabouts. We're not really used to temperatures like that. It wears me out, but last night the temperature dropped a bit and I felt some energy returning. I used it to sharpen the set of Dastra gouges I bought last year.

They certainly were not bad, but could use some attention. Most only needed some work on the washita stone to raise a wire edge, polish it further with the Arkansas translucent, work the wire edge with a washita slipstone and finally the strops. I use a side to side motion on the stone and feel for the wire edge often. When a certain part still didn't raise tha tburr, i work that part a little longer. It's pretty simple of course. Some had a very steep bevel, and needed the grinder to get them back to a resaonable angle.  All in all it took an hour to do all 32 gouges, about two minutes each. It's not a race but it is nice to be able to do this kind of thing relatively quickly.

They're great tools. I hope to use them a bit this weekend.