Carving a snail and the use of rasps

I have been toying with buying some rasps for years now to add to my carving tools.

Liogier is one of the French manufacturers that makes hand cut files. This guy does a good job of the range and how to use these rasps in shaping wood.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DThQm5eCHI

But check out this artist and how he uses them to carve a snail neat work.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpLgt-P05XM&list=PLQKRkDKY8d89HGKGY7HS3BNpFLFjbH883

If anyone is interested in these Rasps the best place that i have found to get them is direct from the factory store online shipping to North America is only $12 flat rate regardless of number of tools.

Here is a link to the store and some deals works out about $200 less for a set than buying them via a distributor in North America.

http://www.hand-stitched-rasp-riffler.com/tradition/woodworking.html

That's actually a pretty good price for the set imho. The "hand cut" rasps do indeed leave a pretty nice finish. Certainly tempted (especially on the rifflers, I like rifflers) but not today (I don't NEED more rifflers), I'll stick with what I have for now until I actually use them enough to justify more variety to myself

I don't have any Liogier's but have acquired a few other of roughly the same class/type over the years so I'll throw them out there with a mini review for comparison.

I have the TFWW riffler set: https://www.toolsforworkingwood.com/store/dept/TRR/item/MS-RRSET3 Honestly they're actually a smidge coarse, but still quite useful for detail work. A slightly finer set would be more generally useful imho, but probably depends on what sort of work you're doing.

I also have one of the TFWW hand cut rasps (from the 1/2 off discount bin) which I'm pretty sure is the 11 tpi 9 1/4"): https://www.toolsforworkingwood.com/store/dept/TRR/item/GT-CMRASP.XX Its a nice piece of work and at the price I paid I'd buy it again. Full price I'm not positive on it.. if you were doing a lot of curved work it'd be worth it. The 11tpi leaves a regular surface where you can feel some variation but not a lot, a pass with a wood file cleans it up to 150 grit (something like a 15 or higher grain would likely also do the trick).

I also picked up an Aurio curved out of a discount bin (this isn't where I bought it but that place doesn't seem to carry them anymore so..) http://www.highlandwoodworking.com/auriou9-34x9curvedrasp.aspx Its definitely a material remover (maybe a little grabby still but I expect it'll settle down with a wee bit of use), my main regret is that its not stitched on the one side (which would be super handy for reaching through some curved work).

Not hand cut but handy is this little jobby: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000H1VZ5G Its a nice little 4 in hand that can get into those tight little places. Its actually more useful to me than the rifflers (not that they don't have their place.. just depends on what you're doing). The "coarse" side is a bit finer than the 11 tpi TFWW and the fine is basically a nice wood file.

Between the Aurio and the TFWW I'd say the immediately obvious quality is pretty comparable, but I haven't used them enough to see how well they'll continue to hold an edge (and the curved chair makers Aurio is a bit coarser so its not a 1:1 comparison). I haven't held a Liogier to compare those.

I'd also add that bang for the buck its still hard to beat the iwasaki carving files, I have 5 (ish maybe 6) of those. They cut fast and leave a pretty nice finish (not "done" but minimal cleanup needed). The cabinet makers and other shaped rasps do have some advantage over the limited square and half round available with the iwasaki's though.

Most of these seem to be a bit grabby when you start using them but settle in after a few hours of work (maybe there's a slight bur to the edge or their just "to sharp" or something, not sure but all of them seemed to work better after a bit of use).

Do get a decent brass file brush to clean them out. They all cut well enough that you'll end up with strands of wood caught in the teeth.

If I had to pick between the nice rasps and a decent set of carving chisels I'd take the chisels

Thanks Ryan for those links. Looks like Tools for Woodworking have had their own files made, as i recall they started out with selling either Auriou or Liogiers brand but probably did not have the right price point or margin hence where they have had their own made. Wonder just how they compare to the French made stuff. I thought the Liogier starter set was a good price by comparison to what i can get locally and compared to buying the set.

I have all the chisels i want for now, i did find the rasps i have came in handy when i was making some plane totes at one time. Dont quiet see the chisel doing the same thing for me in that kind of operation where its more of a shaping/sanding task.

I fancy a set of those rifflers years back i took a blind stab at a special for rifflers well I got what i paid for alright and they can hang on the wall as ornaments.

Rob Keeble said:

Thanks Ryan for those links. Looks like Tools for Woodworking have had their own files made, as i recall they started out with selling either Auriou or Liogiers brand but probably did not have the right price point or margin hence where they have had their own made. Wonder just how they compare to the French made stuff. I thought the Liogier starter set was a good price by comparison to what i can get locally and compared to buying the set.

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Yeah, they started with the Aurio (or at least sold the Aurio for a while, I don't remember them selling Liogiers but haven't paid that much attention). It would certainly be interesting to see a head to head comparison since my experience is limited to the couple I have. It doesn't seem that the TFWW ones are any cheaper anyway, I'd probably not have any if it wasn't for the sale price, but am glad I do. If I was buying another one.. dunno, I'd probably get something else just to compare compare (although how fair that would be for different size/tpi is dubious).

Rob Keeble said:

I have all the chisels i want for now, i did find the rasps i have came in handy when i was making some plane totes at one time. Dont quiet see the chisel doing the same thing for me in that kind of operation where its more of a shaping/sanding task.

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Yeah, especially for inside work and rounding rasps and wood files are incredibly handy. I do have a set of "wood files" but they are pretty horrible so we'll just leave them in the bucket under the bench where they mostly sit, the finer cut rasps would leave a better surface faster based on my limited exposure thus far.

Rob Keeble said:

I fancy a set of those rifflers years back i took a blind stab at a special for rifflers well I got what i paid for alright and they can hang on the wall as ornaments.

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I also have http://www.leevalley.com/US/wood/page.aspx?p=20139&cat=1,42524 - but they are REALLY fine. Useful for things like the fingernail sized carved knots or cleaning up the underside of fine details but are basically a micro sanding tool more than a shaping tool.

I also have a set of needle files that are basically used for sanding, they aren't anything special but work reasonably well for finish work.

I've been eyeballing these off and on for a while: http://www.leevalley.com/US/wood/page.aspx?p=53821&cat=1,42524,53823,53821
For a lot of work I find it easier to manipulate a straight tool like that than a riffler, although I suspect that says more about shortcomings in my techniques than anything else..

Then this lands in my inbox this morning:
http://www.leevalley.com/US/wood/page.aspx?cat=1,44047&p=73072
The Rc55-60 is a pretty wide hardness range which makes me a bit dubious on the quality but maybe they'd be worth a shot for the price. maybe...

They look a very similar to the $47 TFWW set I have (the handles are a bit different and the LV set gets you one more riffler):
https://www.toolsforworkingwood.com/store/dept/TRR/item/MS-RRSET3

Also I guess TFWW still sells the full set of Aurio rasps - I was being blind the other day and missed the Aurio link:
https://www.toolsforworkingwood.com/store/dept/TAU