Questions Intaglio carving

[catbird]

I know I am a beginner, but I haven't heard of Intaglio carving before the new issue of WCI. On page 74, I have begun carving the snowman. I am very frustrated because the tools they have listed, I don't have. I have a lot of the swiss made gouges. I don't know what the difference between a #3, #5 or a #8 3mm gouge is. I may have some of these but don't know how to tell.
Please explain this to me so I can use what I have or decide if I need more tools...
Thanks for any suggestions or guidance.

[BobD]

Catbird,
The larger the number, the deeper the gouge is. As a rule of thumb:

A #3 gouge is a relatively shallow gouge
A #5 is a medium sweep gouge
A #8 is a deep gouge

Really...it's a bit of a matter of experimenting. In some cases, you can use a #4 gouge in place of a #3 or a #5, etc.

Bob

Bob

[Joy]

The easyist way to see the difference is to go to the woodcraft.com site and look at the different gouges. The #3 is barely curved, the #5 more curved and the #8 really curved. The 3mm is just the width. So look on you swiss made gouges and those numbers are written on the handle....you will know what you have then.

By the way, did you know Spirit has a carving video on UTube?

[catbird]

Thanks for your answers. That helps a lot.
Joy, yes I knew Spirit has that video. I have watched a couple of times. Still want to take a class with her. Might need to wait until spring,now.