Rifflers - Italian vs Chinese

[Dennis McDonaugh]

I am in need of a good set of rifflers, both the rasp and file type. I was looking at Woodcraft's Italian and Chinese versions. I figure the Italian are better, but at $139.00 a set are they that much better than the Chinese version for $19.95? Anybody have any other suggestions? I'd like a good set, but surely there has to be something in between.

Thanks,

[Steve Wargo]

I think that if you're into carving, and ball and claw, and period reproduction then splurge for the good set. If not I have the cheapo set and they work fine. They don't clog as quickly as I suspected they would and they do everything I need them to. But I usually use them to clean up a moulding and carve very little. Hope this helps.

[Bob Lang]

If money is the issue, consider getting one or two good ones instead of the whole set. I went through this debate, and realized I didn't need to have all of the possible shapes.

Bob Lang

[Dennis McDonaugh]

Steve, Bob, thanks for the ideas. I do quite a bit of shaping wood and a little carving. My current project is a cherry hat rack that is shaped like a tree. Its seven feet tall and has 6 major branches, each of which can hold two large ladies hats. A few rifflers would make the process a lot easier. My first thought was to buy a whole set, but you are right I only need a few profiles. I'm thinking of buying the cheaper set to find out what profiles are the most useful to me, then buy the Italian equivelent. I could also see the difference between the two and decide if they are really that much better before purchasing more.

Thanks,

[Steve Wargo]

If you're not in a big hurry, Dieter in Europe has hand cut italian rasps that are sold individually. I have two of them and they work nice. The cost is less than $20 each for double ended ones and that's with the conversion from euro to US. His site is fine-tools.com Very nice to deal with and shipping is usually less than 7 days. No affiliation, just a happy customer. Used to purchase more from him but with the sad state of the dollar it's hard to justify.

[Dennis McDonaugh]

Thanks Steve, I'll check them out.

[Pam Niedermayer]

Dieter is great, I bought a lot of stuff from him when the dollar/euro exchange rate was more beneficial to dollars. However, shipping costs are very high, so be sure and check. It might be worth your while to buy a few other things from him to amortize the shipping.

Also, I just noticed that the Italians are hand-cut. Based on my experience with some Auriou files, you will appreciate this.

Pam

[Jerry Palmer]

I have some of the cheap Chinese riflers and and one thing I've noticed is that the cut is over aggressive to the point near uselessness, especially in harder woods. You would be much better served to go with a better quality.

[Dennis McDonaugh]

Thanks, Jerry. I still haven't bought any so I guess I'm still deciding. I can see what you mean about cheap ones. I bought a cheap rasp and it was very coarse, kinda splintered the wood when you went across the grain at any angle and gouged it with the grain.

[Mark Singer]

They are not nearly the same just as with rasps....you can really feel the difference! French brand Auriou...sold by The Best Things and Tools for Woodworking , Joel..is very good.

[Brent Smith]

I agree with Marc. The Auriou rasps and rifflers are quality tools. I never could really get the hang of using a rasp until I tried Aurious.They cut through even the hardest wood like butter and allow you to consentrate on shaping the wood instead of cutting it. Expensive, but worth the price.If you only get 2 or 3 of these instead of the set of Italian rifflers you'll be way ahead.