Are veiners/U-gouges worth buying?

[patriclop2pl]

Hi,
Do you guys think veiners/U-gouges worth buying?
Thank you,
Patricia

[Rick Wiebe]

Re: Are veiners/U-gouges worth buying?

Absolutely!

I would be lost without my 11/10, 11/15, 11/18,

Even the smaller ones are pretty useful.

The larger ones particularly allow the quick removal of lots of wood for roughing or relieving backgrounds in relief work. Flatter gouges can then be used to finish up.

Since they are deeper than they are wide, there is less of a tendency to bury the corners in the wood - which produces splitting

[Claude]

Re: Are veiners/U-gouges worth buying?

I agree with rick - very useful!

Claude

[patriclop2pl]

Re: Are veiners/U-gouges worth buying?

Absolutely!

I would be lost without my 11/10, 11/15, 11/18,

Even the smaller ones are pretty useful.

The larger ones particularly allow the quick removal of lots of wood for roughing or relieving backgrounds in relief work. Flatter gouges can then be used to finish up.

Since they are deeper than they are wide, there is less of a tendency to bury the corners in the wood - which produces splitting

Thanks Rick W! :-)
What size you recommend for a beginner that doesn't carve really large pieces yet?

I agree with rick - very useful!

Claude

Thank you Claude!

[Brian T]

Re: Are veiners/U-gouges worth buying?

My 9/15 would be about as shallow as it gets in this class of gouges.
I'll suggest two: 11/8 and 11/15, little and big. Start with the 11/8. When you find that it's taking forever to remove waste wood with any speed, that's the time to consider something wider/bigger. You will understand when that happens.

[joepaulbutler]

Re: Are veiners/U-gouges worth buying?

I find them most useful. By the time I i get through with a carving I've most of the different sweeps out, different size, I just carve to be comfortable, over a period of time I've collected a nice verity of carving tools and I don't want to show preference . . . .JoeB

[jangler14]

Re: Are veiners/U-gouges worth buying?

As others have said, yes they are very handy for wood removal. U gouges can be like sculpting with wood. Though as all gouges, they are only effective if kept sharp. And though they are deep, I like to avoid using the full depth and only use about half, about where the sides become straight. Flip them upside down and they can be used to create vine like structures.

[Mitchell]

Re: Are veiners/U-gouges worth buying?

Well, it really depends on what you are carving (or want to carve).

I don't use a large #11 often. I do find the smaller sizes handy for texturing.

[jangler14]

Re: Are veiners/U-gouges worth buying?

You may find this video about veiners of interest.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pE-hir_Nof0

[Rick Wiebe]

Re: Are veiners/U-gouges worth buying?

I use the 11/10 a lot on 6 - 10 inch tall figures.

The 11/7 is likewise useful.

I find that beginners often make the assumption that because they are new at carving and only doing small carvings, that they should get tiny gouges.

Actually, the really small ones are for experts. Rule of thumb - use the biggest gouge that will do the job.

Hardly any beginners that I have seen would not benefit from having an 11/10.

Smaller ones have their applications too. They can be obtained as small as 1/2 of a millimeter!

[Rick Wiebe]

Re: Are veiners/U-gouges worth buying?

The larger #11 gouges (Veiners - and Veiners are NOT V tools), say 11/15, 11/18 etc, also are bery useful not only for hogging off a lot of wood quickly, but by laying them on their side, they can be used like a flatter gouge - say a #3, for smoothing things up