Gouges from brace bits

[Philip Davies]

Here are some gouges I have made recently from spoon bits, shell bits, etc. The handles are homemade (with one or two exceptions)
These type of bits were a cheaper alternative to auger bits, but they are not very good, I think.

Here are a few I have salvaged, before treatment. There is a third type, which has a lip or hook at the tip. I just ground off the lip, and sharpened them in-channel.
At first I thought I would reforge the tangs, and I did do some like that, but without a specific swage, it was difficult to form a bolster, so in fact it turned out more efficient to grind the tangs back (efficient, but not very pleasant)

Of course, I could have just inserted them as they were into handles, but then the handles would have to be large, and therefore disproportionate.

Here are some before buffing and sharpening.
I prefer to ream the handles out using tapered drills (easily ground on the bench grinder if rotating them in a drill) Then I usually square the holes with a chisel, before selecting an old file or other tanged tool which has the approximate taper. This I heat, with a blow torch, a push it into the handle, until the seating is a tight fit on the gouge tang. I think that this is better than heating the tang of the tool itself, particularly if you want to replace a broken handle on a good chisel.
I made quite a few, but I shan’t keep more than 6.

[DIYer]

Thanks Philip Davies! We've added your Gouges to our Woodworking category,
as well as to your builder page: Philip Davies's Homemade Tools. Your receipt:

Gouges by Philip Davies

tags: gouge

[Arurry]

Spoon bits are useful in that they center themselves and do not wander. Also called chair-makers bits. They are hard to find. I used one to bore a one inch hole 18 feet through a mahogany keel for a shaft. Absolutely straight. An auger bit would have followed the wood grain and wandered. So auger bits are better? Maybe for some things.

[piloon]

Was given a collection of spoon bits and ended up doing just that, sure made some nice carving tools with them.

[Philip Davies]

You’re right, Arurry, I was really only echoing conventional thinking, I haven’t used them enough to know. But certainly turners use spoon bits, as my late pal, Don did, making his superb woodwind instruments, the whole gamut. If they’re made at all now, it’s for turners. Did you make your own bit for the boat job? We only send sets of augers to Africa, the rest are scrapped.