Large socket chisels and gouges

[Hugh Lane]

I have found this rather stout 1 5/8" Vaughn gouge, which has the largest socket I've come across. It could be a patent bark spud!

Could anyone enlighten me about Vaughn gouges?
Is this feature practical and/or unusual?

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid103/p28c566e26acc5ce174aac9bd5b70cee0/f9ad1753.jpg

[Dave Anderson NH]

I have several large gouges like that which came out of my g-g-grandfather's tool chest. I can't tell from the picture whether the bevel is on the inside or the outside on yours. They are respectively described as incannel and outcannel gouges based on the bevel. Mine are incannel and were used for shipwright and large carpentry tasks such as timber frame work. They were also often used for routing curved bottom grooves and beveling the top edges of large drilled holes. The sockets were large because the handles were large so that they could take the beating of being hit with a very large mallet. It is not a bark spud. Spuds were flat bladed with the socket and the shank set at a slight angle to protect the hands when driving them along a section of log to remove the bark.

[Hugh Lane]

It's an incannel. I was using the the bark spud analogy to describe the construction and weight. This gouge might be blacksmith made, it's a very neanderthal piece of engineering! :cool:

Dave, how long are the handles on your examples? It occoured to me that these might have been operated similar to a slick, rather than a pounded edge.