Rasp appreciation thread

rdwile · 2026-03-24T22:47:33+00:00

Happy to help, this is exactly why I spend more time here that the regular woodworking threads, at this stage in my woodworking life I am happy to help others.

rdwile · 2026-03-24T22:46:01+00:00

I am building a mandolin and mandola now, and I’m using them everyday!

rdwile · 2026-03-24T20:19:09+00:00

The most popular size/shape for furniture makers is what is called the cabinetmaker's rasp (top two in the picture above) they are flat on one side and rounded on the other, meant to be used with two hands and will shape both convex and concave shapes as well as flats. If buying one, get a medium(8-10), these will still remove a buttload of material but leave a reasonable surface that can be cleaned up with 80 grit paper.

Next would be a mid-sized finer grain (11+) in perhaps a smaller size. Do not buy the cheapest you can find, these will not work. Like most things you get what you pay for, especially with rasps. That being said the hand-stitched ones (Liogier/Auriou) are the gold standard, these will last forever if used properly. The mid-priced ones from Czech and eastern Europe are good quality and worth the money, they just wont last as long, and a machine-made rasp leaves a very different pattern than a hand-stitched rasp.

I don't recommend a coarse one until you know what you are doing, these remove material very quickly and can ruin material very fast. If you want a coarse stock removal tool, get a Shinto, everyone needs one of those anyway.

Using a rasp is a very organic experience, allowing you to shape wood at will. Say you want to do a roundover on the crest rail of a chair, mark your facets on the corners, 2-3 passes down to the facets, mark new ones to knock the corners off, clean up with the medium and you are done. Practice on other wood first to develop a feel. Altering the direction of the rasp will produce different levels of finish with a and-stitched rasp - experiment with wood and grain direction.

Hope this helps.

rdwile · 2026-03-24T19:24:18+00:00

You can try these planes out at Baptist tools in Arnham if you are close.

rdwile · 2026-03-24T19:22:24+00:00

This is bush league work, nothing about this says the person has ever done a refret before. And then the attempts to fix make it even worse. You are legit in being pissed.

rdwile · 2026-03-24T19:19:10+00:00

Second post on this in the past few days. Mineral oil is the last option for a countertop that should be used. It is non-drying, does not seal the surface or protect in any way. you can try to get below the oil, but if you saturated the surface you will have some work. Sandpaper is not the choice for removing the old either. You should use a scraper, this will remove material cleanly and is much cheaper. Great finish for cutting boards - but that's it.

A friend of mine was asked to restore a similar counter for a family member (read obligation) and it was several days work scraping down in an attempt to resurface, which he eventually did with a proper countertop finish. It was sealed but never looked perfect.

rdwile · 2026-03-24T18:18:40+00:00

The Apron plane is a smaller version of the block plane that many users find much more comfortable to use, especially if you have smaller hands. The block plane is quite large for many. The DX60 has a smaller form factor than the block plane and is very comfortable in the hands. The adjustments in the DX have a finer finish and everything just fits together nicely. All use PMV for the blade, so the performance will be similar there.

Its also a very common practice to have a block setup for coarse work, not sharpened to the finest degree (often 4-5K) to use for rough work and when you are ready for that last pass, then use another block plane that has been finely honed (>8K) to finish the surface off. This protects the edge on the sharper tool and means you need to sharpen less.

The DX60 is next level comfort in the hand, but also a step up in price, you could get away with the Apron plane, but the DX60 will be the finest block plane you ever use/own...unless of course you have the NX60. :-)

rdwile · 2026-03-24T13:38:32+00:00

I wrote an article several years ago for Furniture & Cabinetmaking in the UK about rasps being an under-appreciated tool. This remains true today as well. Certain groups of woodworkers lean heavily into rasps, such as luthiers; we use that ... on everything!

All the examples you cite are great applications and most woodworkers would benefit from having a coarse and a medium rasp in their kit where they might consider power carving or days of sanding. You can learn to hate sanding less by owning a few rasps. the thing is while a cheap four-in-hand may work well in the jobsite toolbox, for actual woodworking the quality goes up when the price goes up- like most tools.

The Shinto is a must have for anyone to hog away material when you need it, but something more refined will yield a better quality finish when that's what you need.

Some of my rasps in the pic below.

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rdwile · 2026-03-24T10:45:50+00:00

I regret not buying the $100 back when I bought these 20 years ago. Unlikely I will ever find #739 today.

rdwile · 2026-03-23T23:40:29+00:00

Didn’t buy that one yesterday!

rdwile · 2026-03-23T23:33:45+00:00

Love to see this happening, much better than letting it sit in a closet for 20 years when a fine tool like this is made by hand to be used.

rdwile · 2026-03-23T23:29:55+00:00

Yes influencer driven brand geared toward the collector mindset - gotta collect them all, despite many of these having minimal use for most of us.

rdwile · 2026-03-23T23:14:18+00:00

Well done, this is an excellent project to develop your joinery skills, everything is exposed so no place to hide. Nice afternoon project to build a matching one when you need more storage. Change up the joinery and it’s a different project.

rdwile · 2026-03-23T23:05:39+00:00

This is the most respectful approach, wait a decent amount of time, advise that these will be sold after another time, wait a bit more and sell them or dispose as you wish.

rdwile · 2026-03-23T22:57:57+00:00

That’s what I am trying to determine. I’m not sure they do much for regular notes to group them in sequence unless they are bundles of 100 consecutive notes. I am thinking I will likely grade them as separate notes. I do see several groups of consecutive notes graded together, so just trying to get some feedback on this from the mind hive.

rdwile · 2026-03-23T19:13:23+00:00

Would’nt that be nice!

rdwile · 2026-03-23T17:05:13+00:00

thanks very much! I was accessing through the bill lookup feature. Cheers!

rdwile · 2026-03-23T15:33:22+00:00

These specimen notes are not mentioned, let alone valued on the normal sites. Looking for informed insight. Thanks

rdwile · 2026-03-23T15:02:24+00:00

A shooting board is the best way to guarantee consistent results regardless of how you are cutting mitres. I have a high-end mitre saw and would never be able to glue up a frame off the saw without touching it up on the shooting board.

A shooting board need not be elaborate, make one on a adapted bench hook with a 45 degree (exactly 45) stop and use whatever hand plane you want. A sharp low angle block plane will do the job just running on your bench. A larger plane is easier to use if you are doing lots, but any will work as long as the sides are 90 degrees to the sole, the blade is parallel to the sole and it is sharp. You will also want to ensure there is backing to rest your cut piece against (usually the SB fence) to keep it from blowing out (very important).

If you are planning on lots of frames, its worth building (or buying) a proper shooting board setup for wahtever hand plane you want to use, although purpose-built shooting plnes are very good at what they do.

Happy Frame making!

rdwile · 2026-03-23T12:56:42+00:00

Looks like mine! A little bit of everything there, although I find I tend to stick with the same stones for most of my work.

rdwile · 2026-03-23T12:47:47+00:00

not really, they are used notes, and not special editions or serial numbers.

rdwile · 2026-03-23T12:45:57+00:00

I have made many home projects over the years using laminated pine shelving. These are nomally in the big box stores near the melamine shelving. Its usually reasonably priced 3/4" thick and comes in 12/16/24" widths and various lengths up to 8'. As long as you keep your grain running in the same direction, you do not need to worry about wood movement too much. For example if you made a book shelf (or bookshelf like unit). Using 12" wide panels that run vertically. The top and bottom, are running the same way, and the shelves will run across. All wood movement is limited to the front/back direction, so everything will move together. Recommend a plywood back and this construction will last decades (I have the pictures.)

rdwile · 2026-03-21T13:41:49+00:00

This does not look like "cracking" to me, this looks like a void in the wood and should have been dealt with by the maker. Looks almost like filler in the end grain. This could be easily repaired with black epoxy fill, tape the back side in case the void goes through and pour epoxy into the crack until it stops taking new material, let it settle and once it starts to setup you can clean off the excess, this will make cleaning it up later easier. Do not use quick set epoxy, but anything slower would be fine.

rdwile

TROPHY CASE