How to Refurbish Gouges - Woodcarving Workshops

Don't throw away old rusty tools - learn how to refurbish them.

Master Woodcarver Chris Pye website:

[goognamgoognw]

What i like a lot about your videos is you are very respectful of the listener, you don't waste words or waste the time of the listener. This is hard to find on you tube and I mean in all categories.

[mikeevans]

I recently purchased over 50 carving tools (mostly Henry Taylor) that had this exact issue and was able to restore all of them to usable condition using many of these ideas. I used a grinder with a wire brush and abrasive paper along with W-40 to eliminate the rust, reworked the concave surfaces near the edge with a rotary tool and slip stones, and sharpened as I would with any new tools. It took some time but the monetary savings made it well worth the effort and resulted in some very lovely tools. Thanks for the great video Chris. I would love to see you do a video on issues with sharpening micro tools.

Thanks for this Chris, clear, concise practical advice !

[revwayne]

I was given a set of antique micro carving tools that need this touch. Great teaching. Thank you!

[sambarker]

Really lovely video to watch. A friend of my father's just donated me a load of old tools as he knows I am interested in carvig, some are approaching a hundred years old, and I am excited to try and restore them. I hadn't thought of adding a bevel to the inside.

[InformationIsTheEdge]

Brilliant! I absolutely love the idea that fixing up that chisel, it might be around a hundred years from now. Thanks for the great video!

[cherguialain]

Merci beaucoup Monsieur pour la leçon, je sais quoi faire pour récupérer mes gouges et ciseaux! 👍

[brandynpetersen]

I watched this video a while back, and a short while afterwards, I was at a flea market. It was closing time and I was walking back to my vehicle to leave, and a vendor was covering up their stuff with a sheet, and I spotted a small rusty old gouge. I asked if they would take $3 for it, it's all I had left. They excepted. It was hard to read, but said, "W M Jackson & Co Shear Island works. The internet says it's old and English. The other side says cast steel. I broke the broken handle off of it the rest of the way, and soaked the blade and ferrule in Evapo rust. Then hit them with my wire brush. Cut the counter bevel with my slip stones, just like you said, (that thing was hard) and sharpened the other side with my Tormek 8. And then made a new handle for it on my lathe. I copied the shape of the old handle, and used the original ferrule, but I made it out of spalted maple. I know that maple isn't ideal for a tool handle, but I wanted to see what it would look like.

[imtyazali]

hi sir I'm form India I like your work bkos I'm also wooden carving muster your instrument is very good thanks

[FlukeCarving]

I spray all my chisels now with clear coat or poly to prevent rust . It's worked well. Acrylic cLear coat has been working fine. At least it saves what doesn't ware off from carving. It stinks having a damp shop.

[filipzamec]

I actually tried similar method to yours, but the micro rusty holes caused gauge not to be perfectly sharpened.

You can bevel the edge as you showed, but you should also tell the whole story and that is that you increased the angle from 17° to cca. 25° and that is too much. Tool works, but not greatly.

I think we would have to sand the tool more, but I don't know how to do it on the inner side.

[hangblague]

Do you dis-recommend electrolysis for rust removal?

[Lawman]

What are the names for stones used on the inner bevel? I've seen similar rectangular stones, but not ones that have the curved edge. I'm familiar with the cone-shaped stones, but it seems to me that the stones in the video would fit one's hand better.

[kickpublishing]

"Jenolite" is another variety you might get in the US - or "Vactan"

[denniswilliams]

Hi
If you use some automotive wax, real wax not the modern oily stuff the rust will be less likely to occur in the first place.

[AA-]

READ THE INSTRUCTIONS....NEVER put brush back in the tub, as you spoil the whole tub. !..It reacts with the iron oxide.

[talkin-ape]

Great video! It validated my own thinking on refurbing a gouge re the pitting near the edge and the small internal bevel, which another carver had scolded me on. He wasn't a master, and I ignored him as my gouges worked brilliantly. Thanks also for the rust tip. As you said the Kurust neutralises the oxidation, stopping further penetration. So is much better than a simple clean and oil. I had used vinegar myself, but was unaware I had to soak in a neutraliser afterwards and the acid ate a little too much. Thankfully the tools were saveable, and now in use. I'll look out for the Kurust, it seems a much easier method.

[machfiver]

My god it's so frustrating to try and make my tools perform like yours. I can get pretty sharp but no where near as good as yours are. I dropped one of my best u gouges onto concrete which broke off parts of the edge. I have tried to make a new bevel and thought I'd succeeded until I used the chisel and snapped off bits of the edge in the wood I used it on. I went too fine. It looked ok but obviously wasn't at all. I think I'll take my chisels to a professional sharpener and pay him to get them all back to a proper state. It doesn't help that most of my chisels were bought used and hadn't been well looked after by the previous owner. They are all high quality chisels though so that is something at least.

[claudb]

Perhaps superstition but, I was taught not to run the tool perpendicular on the stone as it creates scratches across the cutting edge. Like scratching glass and then breaking it on that scratch line the same thing happens to your sharpened edge.

[JamMastaJew]

Anyone know a brand more common in America similar to Kurust? It doesn't appear to be carried in American stores.