why put a double bevel on flat gouge or chisel?

[Martin Rock]

Hi all

I would like to know why some carvers put a double bevel (one each side) on their flat gouge or chisel.

Can one get by not doing so, and just use his bench chisel.

thanks

Martin

[Mike Henderson]

I don't use a flat carving tool very much - they're mostly used for letter carving - but I've used standard chisels with success. It's not something I have a lot of experience with so maybe someone else will pipe up with better advice.

Note: If you're going to flatten the background of a carving, you'd use a gouge with a slight sweep, such as a #2 (Swiss system), and not a flat gouge.

Mike

[Mike Pounders]

I read some place that you use a gouge with a sweep to make something flat (like Mike says above) and a gouge that is flat, to make something round? So I tried it, and I found it very helpful in rounding eye balls and other things. So now I do have a use for all those flat double-beveled gouges and skews I once thought useless. The double bevel, I guess is more like a knife blade and may let you get it sharper, I'm guessing. I have seen some people using bench chisels for carving, and the flattened back may be helpful for achieving straight and flat mortises. My thinking is that the flat back is somewhat like a safe edge or reference point, in that during use, all the cutting and chips are happening on the beveled side? That's my thoughts on it, but it may be more opinion that fact!

[David Keller NC]

I do a fair amount of letter carving, and a double bevel is essential on a straight chisel for this purpose. Otherwise, you cannot get a consistent "V" on the bottom of the straight trenches, because you'd actually have to make two strikes - one with the chisel held at 60 degrees to the left, then another with the chisel struck 60 degrees to the right. Trying to space the distance between these two hits precisely is virtually impossible.

[Tom McMahon]

If you hold a chisel with a single bevel at 90 degrees to the surface of a piece of wood and strike it with a mallet as it cuts into the wood it will drift away from the bevel. If you do it with a double bevel chisel it will cut straight in. All chisels want to drift away from the bevel, this can cause the chisel to dig in. Bevels and back bevels also change the position of the handle in relation to the surface of the work. Lowering the handle position makes the chisel easier to push and maintain a consistent depth of cut.

[randall rosenthal]

i use single bevel chisels all the time to deepen cut lines that are to be carved too. if the line is first scored with a knife and carved to that little wall will stop the drift. see the roughed out newspaper (page 7 )
in the sticky abpve for a very good example of this. every carved line was done this way.