Hans Karlsson 35-30 double hoop straight gouge
Description
Hans Karlsson’s double hoop straight gouges are made of high quality SS2258 steel.
These are big, heavy gouges - the 70-50 is the largest one at about 12” long.
The Swedish ash or elm handles are reinforced with two brass ferrules (or hoops), which make them suitable for use with a mallet. To that end, there is a shock/sound absorbing polyurethane insert in the end of the double hoop handle.
These large, heavy duty straight gouges are designed for carving large bowls. They are also used by wood sculptors and for hollowing Windsor chair seats by chairmakers who don’t use an adze and inshave.
Straight gouges are the go-to for wood removal and roughing out projects. The handle, blade & sharp edge of a straight gouge are all aligned, giving the most efficient and direct transfer of force down through the tool to the cutting edge. This makes work with a straight gouge more productive and effective than exertion with a bent or dogleg gouge.
All HK straight gouges are excellent for work on the outsides of bowls, initial hollowing of bowls, the inside rims of shallow bowls or platters & they can also be used on spoons while the spoon blank is still chunky and square enough to be clamped firmly in a vise. A top-quality all-around gouge for almost any project.
The Karlsson’s sweep system has two numbers, the first number indicates how cupped the gouge is based on the curve of a diameter of a circle measured in millimeters. A larger number indicates a flatter cup or sweep. The second number is the width of the gouge at the cutting edge in millimeters. Because these tools are all handmade, there can be a variation of a few millimeters in tool width compared to nominal size.
The Karlssons produce three sizes of double hoop straight gouges: 35-30, 55-40 & 70-50.
We carry all three sizes.