What profile gouges for first set should I get?

[Penske]

I have some year end bonus money so I am looking to get so Pfiel gouges. I am thinking a number 7 profile in 2mm, 4mm, 6mm, 10 mm and 12mm. I would be using these in my British 1776 rifle build. Your thought are greatly appreciated.
Regards,
Peter

[J. Talbert]

A question that comes up often and there is no simple answer.
What chisels and gouges do you already have.?
What do you mean by 1776 British rifle?  Is that a specific military model?  Are you planning to use these primarily for carving or inletting?

My best advice is to order specific gouges as you identify a need.  Why are you thinking of starting out with so many #7 gouges.
I will say this, I use a lot of shallow gouges #2s & #3s when hogging out a lot wood within an inlet and also cutting across the grain for buttplates.

Jeff

[hortonstn]

Jack brooks has a video on carving longrifles he explains sharpening them how to use and at the end
He lists the chisels and gouges he uses very good video worth the money

[Penske]

Thanks Hortstn,
I will look into the video.

[Penske]

Jeff it is a British rifle model 1776, sort of an English jager rifle used during the Rev war period. I have a set of Narex straight chisels from 6mm to 26 mm, left and right skewered chisels in 12mm. No gouges yet. Will be using them for inletting and fitting the barrel into a pre-carved stock. Inletting will be the lock and barrel tang areas maybe a few more small areas. on the fore stock. I was thinking these areas would use a more curved profile.
Thanks,
Peter

[Mike Brooks]

I have no idea what you would use that many gouges for when building a Brit 1776 rifle.

[J. Talbert]

So, after checking out the 1776 British rifle I would be looking for maybe #3 & #5 gouges in 2 to 4mm widths for walking around the curves of the side plate and the lock plate.
For fitting the face of the butt plate I use the rasp as much possible, but for fine tuning the fit I frequently use a #3 or #5, 10 mm gouge for cutting across the end grain.

These are just a couple thoughts based on how I do things.
Ultimately the more you do, the more you’ll decide which gouges you need.

Jeff

[flatsguide]

Gouges are like ‘C’ clamps, you can’t have too many.
Cheers Richard

[Penske]

Thanks all for your input, I will go with the 3 and 5 profiles in the sizes mentioned to start.
Regards,
Peter

[Penske]

Mike what you recommend as to chisels for this project. I know you have done a few of these rifles. Interested to here your thoughts.
Regards,
Peter

[LilysDad]

Isn't there a place for a V gouge? For outlining and such?

[Eric Krewson]

I learned about buying "sets" when I made my first rifle, I bought a set of Flex cut carving tools before I made the first bit of sawdust on my rifle project. I use a couple of them on a regular basis, the rest gather dust.

The advice to buy only that you know you will need is good advice.

[Tim Crosby]

 Probably more info and tools than you need but here us the list Gary Brumfield used to use for his carving class at WKU:

  http://www.flintriflesmith.com/ToolsandTechniques/tools_carving_class.htm

   Tim C.

[t.caster]

Shoot, my first couple of rifles were built using an Excto blade set and a 4 in 1 and a rat tail file! Now I have about 50, from different sets and I only use about 5 or 6 of them. A 3/8" wide flat is the MOST used and a 3/8" half round. Everything else is smaller down to about 1.5 mm for barrel lugs, etc. A set of Craftsman flat chisels 3/8" to 1 1/2" is nice to have, too.

Tom C

[Mike Brooks]

Mike what you recommend as to chisels for this project. I know you have done a few of these rifles. Interested to here your thoughts.
Regards,
Peter

I use 1 chisle to make a gun. just a plain old chisel about 3/16" wide. If you're going to do relief carving you may or may not need gouges, depends on you technique. But since this gun only has an apron around the tang you could get by with a "V" tool to do that.

[Woodland]

This might be controversial, bit I bought a cheap but highly rated complete set of chisels and gouges on Amazon for around $75.  I used that set to identify which ones I used the most.  I began replacing the most used ones with quality tools.  I then purchased more quality tools to fill my perceived holes in the set.  I figured this way I start with everything I needed and only spent big money on the stuff that gets used.

[Penske]

Thank you for all the suggestions and tips. Now I have to decide how to proceed but I now have a sound understanding to move forward.
Regards,
Peter

[Pukka Bundook]

Mike B pretty well has it I think.

I do have some heavy gouges, that are used with a mallet for removing great chunks of wood.
After that, I have a few small ones and most of the time if I need a gouge, (inletting a bridle for instance) I always use the same one. 
It's possible to have too many tools and never be master of any of them. I use a couple or three chisels and one gouge for pretty near everything.

[Mark Elliott]

These are the chisels that stay on my gun stocking bench.  I rarely reach for anything else.
            
Bench: 1/4", 1/2", 1"            
Morticing: 1/8", 3/32"            
Stamping: 3/32"            
European No.(sweep/width mm) Gouges: 1/2, 1/3, 1/5, 1S/5, 3/16, 5/8, 5/12, 6/14, 7/6, 7/10, 8/3, 8/4            
European No.(sweep/width mm) Gouges:  9/2, 9/5, 9/7, 12/1, 12/3, 21/6            

[paulitus]

The best gouges to have are sharp ones.

[flinchrocket]

I have one gouge, hardly ever use it.