Cogelow Skew Gouges.

[FrederickH]

I purchased a NIB set of 10 of these about 10-12 years ago, on eBay, with the intention of using them for a project. I managed to do the carvings with the Swiss-Made tools that I had, put these away, and have just recently "discovered" them. When they arrived, I knocked off the sharp edges of the long shanks and honed/polished the edges before putting them away. My question is: how common/useful are they for the real world of carving involved with cabinet making??

 

[marymaycarving]

Frederick,
I have never used this shaped gouge before, but can certainly see how they can be useful - especially since they are both right and left skew. I would certainly try a project and get comfortable using them. The skew shape will cause you to push the gouge through the wood differently - most likely twisting towards the lower edge. The question is whether they are any better than the standard shaped gouge, and I wouldn't be able to answer that until I had one in my hand. Who knows - you might discover that these are easier to control or cut through difficult grain. I would be interested in seeing how Fred Cogelow uses them (I know he does a lot of full sculptural work) and why he chose these shapes as being special. The bottom line is once you figure out how to use the gouges, they are ALL useful. A good idea is to try doing a carving project and put all other gouges away so it forces you to figure out how these skewed gouges work. Think of it as a new adventure! And then sharpening them is another story... and adventure...