My wife and I took the kids to St. Louis this past summer for a family reunion and while we were there my mother-in-law invited me to take what I wanted from a large stash of tools in the basement.

The haul included this pair of oilstones and a set of in-cannel gouges, the kind once favored by pattern makers but not often used in ordinary carving or woodworking. No matter. Because they are from my wife’s family and because I find old tools hard to resist, I plan to clean them up and get them ready for use. I’m sure I’ll figure out some way of using them.

I’ve seen a variety of techniques described for cleaning up the stones, everything from simply flattening them on a diamond plate with kerosene as a lubricant to running them through a cycle in the dishwasher. Not sure about that one, although my wife is game – she wants a new dishwasher.

Anyway, these are the “before” photos. I’ll post more once I’ve got everything cleaned up. In the meantime, anyone have a suggestion or two for using the gouges? I thought they might work well for decorative carving that consists mainly of straight lines – geometric patterns, etc.

 

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