Rasps

M

Michael Gardner

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Getting tired of power carving my cork, it makes such a mess even with my dust collector. I've been using a few inexpensive rasps and have found it to be almost as fast, with much less mess.

Does anyone have any fan favorites they'd recommend?
 
I have a rasp that looks like a drywall rasp, I have had it for 20+ years. it works great for cork and foam. I cannot find one the same now.
i did find this one that looks interesting but i havent bought one yet
www.rockler.com

Japanese Saw/Rasp

Shinto hand saw rasps are manufactured from high quality saw blades to eliminate clogging.
www.rockler.com www.rockler.com
 
The old Stanley Surform Rasps are my Go To for rough out shaping. As aggressive as the cork will take without pulling out black cork chunks.. Then I proceed with rasps that are less aggressive (antique cabinet makers rasps). One of the antique rasps I named "The Grim Reaper". That one is used after the Stanley's for further definition of the shape. Get thee to some tool auctions, garage & yard sales, estate auctions and you will fine high quality tools that just require some TLC.

Black cork makes one helluva mess, no matter what. Static Electricity IS it's friend and it will be and stick everywhere from fine dust on up. I cover as much skin as I can and clean up the area and myself ASAP. A good Mask is a must. Lots of makers and carvers shy away from it cuz of that. Black cork makes Mighty Fine decoys and it's the price ya pay for using it.

my 2 cents
 
I've been meaning to buy one of those shinto rasps to try but never have ordered one.

One of my go to "rasps" especially for wood is actually a microplane zester and not a rasp at all. Will take wood fairly fast and leave a much neater surface than a true rasp. I had a microplane rasp with a handle on each end for years but being made of fairly thin metal I put too much pressure on it and broke it a few years ago. When I went on the search for a new one I found out they had made the shift to more food service tools. Saw the zester and it looked basically just like the rasp I had, just no handles, so I ordered one to try. I use it constantly. They are inexpensive so I ordered a couple extras a while back for when the day comes that I break that one I can just toss it and grab another off the shelf.
 
A little story. My hunting buddy and I started hunting together and got some freezer cork and proceeded to carve a few decoys. His father was a caretaker and lived on the estate. We were using horse shoe rasps [free]. The wife came to the garage to get her car and saw us working and asked what we were doing. We showed her our work and thought it was cool. She asked if we needed better files, we said yes and two weeks later she handed us about 50 mixed files each. Her maiden name was Nicholson, still have some of the original batch, 66 years ago...
 
Capt Rich Geminski said:
A little story. My hunting buddy and I started hunting together and got some freezer cork and proceeded to carve a few decoys. His father was a caretaker and lived on the estate. We were using horse shoe rasps [free]. The wife came to the garage to get her car and saw us working and asked what we were doing. We showed her our work and thought it was cool. She asked if we needed better files, we said yes and two weeks later she handed us about 50 mixed files each. Her maiden name was Nicholson, still have some of the original batch, 66 years ago...
Click to expand...
Back when they were still making quality files - some of the very best!
 
Michael Gardner said:
Getting tired of power carving my cork, it makes such a mess even with my dust collector. I've been using a few inexpensive rasps and have found it to be almost as fast, with much less mess.

Does anyone have any fan favorites they'd recommend?
Click to expand...
The best rasps I have used are those intended for farrier work. You can get coarse and fine and boy that they make quick work of wood and cork, especially
 

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