Gouge

I started hollowing out the inside of the little yacht - technically, I think it's a sloop - with the gouge we made. Since I'm not much of a woodworker, I don't have much of a collection of carving tools, so one of my students and I made a gouge from an old file. He ground off the teeth and shortened it up. We then heated it up and shaped it, did a little grinding, heated, tempered and then sharpened it up. It does the trick right smartly. I do need some better sharpening stuff if I'm going to continue woodworking. A good Arkansas stone and a couple of slips for sharpening things like gouges would be nice. I think there will be room under the Christmas tree for a couple of those items.

You can see the saw kerfs in the photo that I made with a circular saw. I figured it would be a lot easier to remove all the wood inside the hull if I made some saw cuts first. The next thing I need is a transfer caliper. With one of those I can shape the outside of the hull and then finish carving the inside while maintaining the proper wall thickness. When I get them made I'll throw up a picture. I started on a set but the stock was a little flimsy. I'll beef them up or maybe even make them out of brass. Might as well go whole hog if I'm going to build a collection of tools. I've got a real nice brass and walnut pencil compass I made from plans in Wooden Boat magazine. The calipers would look good in the drawer of the new tool box with the compass. How's that for logic?