Cabinetmaking gouges?

[Dave Cav]

I am going to try my hand at G&G joinery, and I will need some cabinet gouges (as opposed to carving gouges). One detail on G&G work I have never done (at least successfully) is housed tenons, to give you an example of what I plan to try. Any suggestions? Most of my regular bench chisels are a mixed bag of vintage socket chisels, but I don't necessarily want to spend the time and expense to track down vintage tools for the gouges.

I just came back from Pasadena where I took the regular 1 hour Gamble House tour, then followed it up with the 3 hour joinery tour lead by Jim Ipekjian. The second tour was highly informative; Jim is an excellent tour guide and is probably the most knowledgeable person alive when it comes to G&G furniture. The tour could have easily been twice as long, and really demonstrated that I have a very long and steep learning curve ahead of me.

[Jim Koepke]

Dave,

Welcome to the slippery slope.

Maybe some links to the kind of joinery you are thinking of would help.

I have done some tenon work, but mostly use saws and mortise chisels. For "housing" the tenons a router plane was used along with chisels and some gouges for rounded corners.

jtk

jtk

[Deane Allinson]

Unless you are wanting a "set", I still think that the "bay" is the way to go on gouges. There are a lot of good vintage gouges going off on any given day, just watch out for the shipping charges. You can pick up individuals delivered for usually less than $20 delivered. Building a "set" takes time. I have been at it for a couple of years and still need one more to go.
Deane

[Tony Shea]

I agree that a better idea of what type of joinery you're looking at would be helpful in giving you advise. IMO, the best gouges that I've come across are vintage ones. There seems to be a never ending supply of real good quality vintage gouges out there and it's almost crazy to think that the new ones are comparable. I've built a very nice collection of gouges (mostly Buck Bros.) from the Tool Barn here in Bar Harbor (Hulls Cove) Maine. If you give me a better idea of what you're looking for I may be able to go through what I have or stop in at the Tool Barn for you.

[Dave Cav]

Thanks for the information. What I should have mentioned is that I'm looking for in-cannel gouges, and will probably go with a set of the Henry Taylor Firmer gouges http://thebestthings.com/newtools/henry_taylor_gouge.htm; they seem reasonably priced and will get me started, at least.

At this point what I am planning is mostly vertical work, cutting rounded corners in mortises and similar inletting, as opposed to carving or other curved work where out-cannel gouges would be more useful initially, although I will no doubt end up with both in and out cannel eventually.