80 - Heirloom Tool Cabinet, страница 41
A Pull Stroke. If you get tearout from the previous motions, try reversing the direction of the rasp. Flip the tool end for end and pull it toward you to cut. A Drawing the Rasp. Sliding the rasp along the workpiece removes scratches left by the previous steps and smooths out the shape. left photo on the opposite page. Repeat this motion in long, overlapping strokes along the length of the workpiece. At this point, you'll notice the saw marks have been replaced with a series of diagonal scratches in the surface. Reverse Direction. The next stroke is similar to the first. The goal here is to further refine the shape of the workpiece and remove the scratches left by the first stroke. There's just one differ ence. The strokes in this step should angle the opposite direction, as you can see in the right photo on the opposite page. You can repeat these two strokes until the workpiece is close to its final shape. The left photo below shows a slight variation of the cross stroke that may come in handy. Reverse the direction of ait by pulling the rasp toward you from the opposite side. You may find this works well if you experience a lot of chipout when pushing the rasp in the other direction. Drawing the Rasp. The final stroke removes the scratches left by the previous steps and leaves a pretty smooth surface. To do this, hold the rasp at a slight angle and draw it along the length of the piece like you would skew a block plane (right photo below). You'll want to work with a light touch here to smooth the surface, not remove a lot of wood. & to vary the size of the teeth to make rasps of different grades or "grains." (Smaller teeth cut slower and smoother.) Auriou rasps are available in 15 grades. I found that the finest six grades are the most useful for woodworkers. Hie coarsest grades are used in stone carving. One of the benefits of so many grades is that you can move from a fast-cutting rasp to a finer, smoother cutting grade and still remove material faster than with files or sandpaper. Shape. A final feature of these rasps that I liked is their shape. Like many rasps, the Auriou rasps come with one rounded and one flat side. But the big difference is at the end of the tool. All of the rasps come to point This point makes it easy for me to get into tight corners when shaping and smoothing details. There are even teeth cut in the edge right up to the point, as in the photo at right. Cost. As you might expect, all these features come at a cost. The rasps range in price from about $50-80 apiece. To find out where you can order these rasps, take a look at page 51. Are they worth it? Well, if you do a lot of shaping curved parts and carved detail, then getting a few of these rasps will be just the tiling. But occasional users may find they may need only one. Either way, you'll be reaching for them often and getting great results. A Random Teeth. The hand-cut teeth on Auriou rasps are spaced randomly so that they leave a smooth surface and cut aggressively. 41 |
