A few weeks back I asked advice on buying a few gouges. I received several excellent suggestions and ended up buying a few Pheil gouges. I say a few, because that's all I could afford. Imagine driving a Hugo all your life and somebody handing you the keys to a new Porsche!!!!! Unbelievable!!!!!!! And I haven't even cut myself......yet.
Dennis also mentioned the name Flexcut in his reply, which I had never heard of. I happened on a store locally that handles them. I stopped in and the owner was very talkative and helpful. I had already ordered the Pheil gouges and didn't have much money left but felt guilty leaving the store empty handed after all the helpful advise the owner offered. Soooo, I ended up buying a left and a right handed # 3 x 5/8 skew palm chisel. About 14 dollars each, wouldn't break the bank and I left without feeling guilty.
A few nights ago I was inletting a butt plate and there sat my two new flexcut chisels. Why not give them a try. They made the job the easiest, quickest and the best buttplate job I ever done. I would recommend those to gouges to anyone, even though they are not designed for that kind of job.
If anyone wants to take the advise of a amateur, buy good gouges and chisels. Don't suffer for years as I did. Even if your only planning on building one or two guns for your self, buy good tools and sell them when your done. Taken care of you won't lose much money and the work saved will be worth way more than the price you originally pay.
Thanks again to everyone who replied to my original post.
Bill
