Gouges and Relief Carving

Gouges

A gouge is a chisel with a curved cutting edge. Two numbers describe it:

• Sweep: how curved the edge is. In the common Swiss system, #1 is a flat chisel, #3 a barely curved gouge, #5 and #7 medium sweeps, #9 roughly a half circle, #11 a deep U-shaped veiner, and #12 a V-tool (parting tool).
• Width: in millimeters.

So a “#7-14” is a medium-sweep gouge 14 mm wide. Other makers use slightly different numbers; what matters is matching a gouge’s curve to the curve you’re cutting.

A starter set for Scandinavian ornament: a V-tool (#12, 6-8 mm), shallow gouges (#3, 10-16 mm) for grounding and flat areas, two or three medium sweeps (#5 and #7 in a couple of widths) for leaves and curves, a deep #9 or #11 for veins and hollows, a skew chisel, and a wooden or urethane mallet. Buy a few good tools rather than a big cheap set.

Holding the work

Relief carving needs both hands on the tool: one pushing, one guiding and braking. Hold the work down with a holdfast, clamps, or a bench hook, or screw it to a backer board clamped in the vise (see Holdfasts, Planing Stops, and Simple Workholding in Pre-Industrial Furniture Making). Basswood and butternut are forgiving to learn on; birch and oak are traditional but harder.

The relief sequence

1. Transfer and outline: trace the design on, then run a V-tool just outside the lines to separate the design from the background.
2. Set in: drive gouges straight down along the lines with light mallet blows, choosing a gouge whose curve matches each part of the outline. Set in shallow, clear the waste, then set in again; trying to go full depth at once crushes the edges.
3. Ground: lower the background to an even depth with shallow gouges, cutting toward the set-in walls. Mark the depth on the panel’s edge and check often.
4. Model: shape the raised design: roll leaves over, hollow their centers, cut veins with a veiner, and let lobes overlap.
5. Clean up: tidy the walls and background. Leave crisp tool marks; don’t sand. A punched or textured background hides small unevenness.

Always cut with the grain or across it; cutting into the grain lifts splinters ahead of the edge. On curves, the right direction changes partway round, so cut each half from the outside in.

Sharp tools

A gouge is only as good as its edge. Sharpen the outside bevel by rolling the gouge on a stone as you push it, strop the edge on leather loaded with compound, and remove the inside burr with a shaped slip stone or a folded strop. Strop every few minutes while carving; a gouge that leaves a dull, torn surface instead of a shiny cut needs it. The North House acanthus course starts with tool selection and sharpening for this reason ¹.

Try it

Lay out a simple leaf on a basswood board. Outline with a V-tool, set in with matching gouges, ground the background 1/8 in. deep, and model the leaf with a center vein. Strop before and halfway through.

What to take from this

Gouges are named by sweep (higher numbers are more curved; #9 is about a half circle, #11 a veiner, #12 a V-tool) and width in millimeters. Relief carving goes outline, set in, ground, model, clean up: set in shallow in stages, lower the background evenly, cut with the grain, and keep every edge stropped.