Firmer gouge

[BobW]

I find myself in need of a firmer gouge for some rough carving on my current project - a piece of southwest style furniture. Although I only need a 3/4" one right now, I figure I might as well get a set, if the price is right. I don't need top of the line, but I don't want junk either. I'm considering the following: This set from Lee Valley, or this one from Amazon.com. The Lee Valley set is made in El Salvador...I don't think of Central America as a source for fine woodworking tools, but then Lee Valley doesn't generally sell junk. As for the Amazon set, I'm familiar with Narex, as I have a set of their mortise chisels, and they are decent.

Opinions?

[AgGEM]

I am not a carver but have a couple of the LV gouges you linked, and I like them.
Ag

[AHill]

Just curious. How do you know the LV set was made in El Salvador? There's no indication I can see on the website to indicate their country of origin. You can get a US made firmer gouge from Jamestown Distributors for about the same price. Narex makes pretty decent chisels, so it would stand to reason their firmer gouges would be decent as well.

[BobW]

AHill said:

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Just curious. How do you know the LV set was made in El Salvador? There's no indication I can see on the website to indicate their country of origin.

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I emailed them to ask CoE.

[Bibliophile 13]

It's a good gouge for the price. I found that on the harder hardwoods, the factory bevel was a bit shallow and that the edge would roll. A steeper bevel took care of that problem.

I've since upgraded to a Swiss-made gouge, and the edge-retention is much better. You get what you pay for. But I think that for your purposes, the LV set is exactly what you want.

[BobW]

Thanks for the information. I ended up ordering the Narex set yesterday...deciding factor was that I will get them by Tues with Amazon Prime, and I'm anxious to get started. LV would have taken a week or more.

[JimBelair]

Another vote for the LV gouges.

Oops, too late.