Bevel in or bevel out ?

[Roger B]

I've been working forever with whatever was at hand, and now I want some nice inletting tools. Seems like everything I inlet looks like it was done with a starving beaver.  This may be a silly question, but which is best; a curved gouge with an inside or outside bevel?  I would think that an inside bevel would be best for inletting.  I do fine with inletting tangs and other parallel shapes, but semicircular shapes kill me.  And while I'm asking silly questions, what types and sizes of chisels would most of you consider an adequate set?
Roger B.   

[okieboy]

 I own an inside bevel chisel (incannel I believe), but have no use for it. Curved outside gouges are great for removing material from the bottom of inlets and are sometimes useful for the edge of inlets, but curved inlets can be well generated with straight chisels. The straight chisels for this however must be very narrow, like .060" or less, which usually means hand made, but straight chisels are very easy to make. It also is slow to generate a curve with a very narrow chisel, and (I think) a lack of patience is one of the biggest obstacles to nice work.
 It is nice to have two small gouges, one with a small radius and one that is much "flatter" to smooth the botton of an inlet before flattening with a "scraper". which is a straight chisel held perpendicular to the work and dragged across it. 
 As for sets, after you have a six piece general carving set, buy chisels and gouges etc. one by one as the work demands them.

[Acer Saccharum]

Bevel out for wood carving and general work.

I never used bevel in; might be good for stabbing in designs, or for inletting, as you suggest. I wouldn't get a lot of these tools with the bevel on the inside. maybe one with a curve that fits the nose of a lock?

Adequate set? That's a personal choice that fits your style of working; you will know what your ideal set is after about ten years of working guns. this means you will buy a few duds that never get used. You will get this even if you buy a generic set from Woodcraft or the like.

Look thru the carving tutorials, there are some suggested tool lists. Fishtail gouges and parting tools rock.

For inletting, a selection of straight chisels, from 1/16 to about 3/8 is the most I use. Then a strong gouge for removing stock. Then rasps or planes to fine tune the shape, then scrapers to finish the surface.

[gunmaker]

Get a few small "quality" Electronic/computer 1/16" to 1/4" screwdrivers & hone 'em up on a diamond stone......I like the German brand Wihn, they stay sharp.....Tom

[jerrywh]

 carving tools in reality are no different that engraving tools or metal chisels. A tool used for such a purpose must have a heel or there is no way for it to exit the cut except to rip the chip out. It is impossible to stir a tool out of the cut with no heal. A tool with an inside bevel has no heal. This is not to say there is no use for it. Such tools are used for paring cuts like on the end grain of a board or to true up a mortise like the inside of  patch box walls.

[Mark Elliott]

You will see some books aimed at arts and crafts carvers show gouges sharpened with an inside bevel.   These are not for traditional gun carving where you want to use the traditional European radius gouges.   These must be sharpened with an outside bevel to maintain the radius on the inside of the gouge.  

Now, you can use a flat chisel on either side of the bevel depending on what you want the chisel to do as in cut a sliver out of the wood or push it out of the way as a morticing chisel does using the bevel as a wedge.   I have never seen anyone apply this method to gouges, at least on purpose.   I have done it by accident requiring me to reconfigure my design.

[Roger B]

As always, I very much appreciate the information!  This board is a real treasure trove of experience and advice.  Now, would anyone like to buy a hungry beaver?
Roger B. 

[David Rase]

As always, I very much appreciate the information!  This board is a real treasure trove of experience and advice.  Now, would anyone like to buy a hungry beaver?
Roger B. 

I would keep your beaver for rough out work and upgrade to a trained rat for more precise wood removal. 
David

[Acer Saccharum]

Rase, the teacher in you is coming out the further you get into retirement. I wish I could think of such witticisms, but I have a job to do.......

[Vomitus]

   Beavers have bad breath.

[Roger B]

I was bow hunting up in the Uintas many years ago and had a fine furry beaver walk up within about 10 feet of me and start working on a slender aspen.  They are really precise workers. It would slice across the trunk three or four times and then sit back and study its work for a minute.  Then it would change it's angle of attack or move to another position and do it again.  It took most of the morning but the tree finally succumbed and fell towards the pond. It stopped and studied me several times and then went back to work, apparently unconcerned.   Did not see any deer that morning but really enjoyed the lesson the beaver gave me.  I will say this, you definitely wouldn't want to corner one and have it latch onto your mitt!
Roger B.

[Acer Saccharum]

In my area, a LARGE cottonwood tree, 20" in diam, had been beaved to a 3" neck. For some reason, the beaves left it like that, maybe no one would step up and take the last few bites.

Some witty human then posted a sign on the tree: 'Help Wanted, Mr and Mrs. Beaver'.

Soon thereafter, the power company took it down.

[PPatch]

They are just as meticulous when their building a dam. We have them locally and last summer I spent about two hours watching one drag and position branches. Slow, but sure. I came back several day later to see the result - beautiful and effective workmanship.

dp

[Roger B]

After watching them and really appreciating their abilities, I'd have a hard time drowning one in a trap.  Of course I've never had them destroying my property, so that makes a difference.  I'm afraid I would have to have been in the business end of the fur trade in the 1830s in order to own any "hairy banknotes".  Its amazing to me that they were nearly trapped out by such a relatively small number of trappers back then.
Roger B.

[Bob Roller]

For precise lock inletting,the colony of termites reigns supreme but they should be backed by a shingle hatchet.

Bob Roller

[KLMoors]

This thread turned into a yarn.   

[Roger B]

Doesn't everything eventually?  Bob, do you train the termites by threatening them with the hatchet?
Roger B

[jerrywh]

 Back to the subject. Just one small piece of info. When you strap a tool on a leather strap or anything similar it puts a micro heal on it. That is the reason some people think they can come out of the wood or metal with no heal on the tool. They have inadvertently put on a micro heal by polishing it on a strap. You can see this under a microscope.

[Meteorman]

Despite their reputation, some beavers are lazy and leave their tools laying around the job site.

[Acer Saccharum]

Oh, man. 

[KLMoors]

Wasn't there some Monty Python line about cutting down a tree with a herring?

Here it is:

[Acer Saccharum]

Off topic! I'm going to report you to a Moderator!