wrote in message
ups.com...
Although checking the sites of the manufacturers referenced above does
not tell you that you shouldn't, the people that sell the gouges seem
to be emphatic that you don't. I did notice they highlighted the
warning, too. BTW, Packard tools (for the most part) are branded
Crowns.


They're also the ones who remind you not to use your lawn mower as a hedge
trimmer. Presumably because some folks don't do much thinking.

Why someone would say such a thing is curious, because these were the only
gouges available for hundreds of years before advances in metal milling made
the cylindrical gouge - cheaper to make - the "bowl" gouge. For longer
reaches, they were made "long and strong," but the pattern was the same -
equal thickness material and equal angle grind. You'd have to undercut the
groove in a cylindrical gouge to get back to the advantage of equal
thickness, of course.