Woodworking Magazine Blog

I like city life. Nothing pleases me more than walking the streets of old cities, ducking down the alleyways of Charleston, S.C., stumbling unexpectedly into the squares of Savannah, Ga., or just absorbing the 19th-century vibe of German Village in Columbus, Ohio.

In fact, I've often thought that my entire life has been an effort to distance myself from our primitive and isolated farm in Hackett, Ark.

Sometimes with woodworking, what seems crazy one day can be quite sensible the next.

I distinctly remember reading in the late 1990s a manuscript from an author who was building some Morris chairs. He used an 8'-long beam compass to lay out the shallow curves on the chairs' stretchers and had to enlist his sons to help him strike the arc.

Fellow editor David Thiel and I chuckled about that detail when we read it. It seemed like a lot of trouble for a shallow curve that we would strike using a flexible piece of thin hardwood and a couple nails.

But this week I'm not laughing anymore.

This week I'm building a Stickley sideboard for the next issue of Woodworking Magazine, and one of the prominent features of the piece is a shallow curve on the front rail. When I built the prototype of the project I used the flexible-stick-and-nails approach to lay out the curve.

After staring at that curve for many months on the prototype, it bugs me. It's not a perfect arc. It's a subtle thing, but I think the arc is a little flat.

So yesterday I built a monster beam compass that was more than 4' long. The beam itself is 1/2" x 1". At one end I drove a #8 x 2" screw through the beam. At the other end I drilled a 1/4"-diameter hole. Then I whittled a pencil to fit snugly in that hole. (Good luck trying to find the right drill bit to fit a standard pencil. Are pencils metric?)

I drove the screw into my benchtop just a tad then secured my sideboard's stretcher to the bench with a holdfast. I struck the arc then cut it out. It's perfect.

What's next? Am I doomed to build a jig that holds too-thick biscuits so I can sand them to perfect thickness? Am I going to build a router table with a micrometer built into the fence?

Shoot me if I do.

— Christopher Schwarz

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Find your credit card. You know the one. It's one your spouse always hides when you get caught reading my blog.

Auriou, the venerable French toolmaker that closed it doors last year after a labor dispute, re-opened for business on Friday. Thanks to new owners and the same plant manager, the new Forge de St Juery is making and selling many of the most popular and useful woodworking rasps on its web site.

The company has more than 400 rasps in stock right now, is currently taking orders and will begin shipping on Nov. 20. The company is much smaller than it was before it shuttered its doors (there is only one stitcher at the present time), so production will be on a small scale until more stitchers can be trained. That is a lengthy process.

The plant is still under the direction of Michel Auriou, a passionate and knowledgeable toolmaker, and so I have every confidence that the new tools will be as good as the old. And what great tools they are. I own four Auriou rasps (two at work; two at home), and I cannot imagine working without them. Actually, I can't remember what it was like to work without them. My old Nicholson rasps seem sorry, coarse and slow.

Of course, the logical question is which rasps you should buy. If you build typical casework and shelves, I think it's ideal to have two rasps:

A cabinet rasp (9", 10" or 12" are all good lengths) with a grain of nine or 10.

A modeller's rasp. I really like the 6" in a 15 grain. It leaves a very nice finish.

I'm also very interested in trying the ALBI rasp listed on the site.

The other good news here is that the prices are fairly in line with what the Auriou rasps sold for when the company closed last year. A 9" cabinet rasp sells for about $107 – that's much less than these suckers were going for on eBay. The shipping is expensive, however. A box containing up to five rasps is going to cost about $30.

However, all this talk about money is immaterial in my book. These are great rasps – the last ones you are ever likely to buy if you are a home woodworker.

— Christopher Schwarz

Looking for More Woodworking Information?
• Sign up for our newsletters to get free plans, techniques and reviews HERE.
• Looking for free articles from Woodworking Magazine? Click HERE.
• Like hand tools? Read all our online articles on hand work HERE.
• Want to subscribe to Woodworking Magazine? It's $19.96/year. Click HERE.

After shutting its doors in late 2007 because of a labor dispute, Auriou Toolworks is set to re-open its doors this month and start shipping a small range of rasps directly to consumers, according to one of the owners.

This is great news for woodworkers because the worldwide supply of these excellent rasps – our favorites in the shop – has dried up since Auriou closed its factory. Prices for the Aurious increased to ridiculous levels on eBay. I found one rasp that went for $600; and even last week a small set of four rasps fetched $192.

Auriou (pronounced are-you) began producing handmade rasps in 1856 in Saint-Juery, France. The rasps are hand-stitched, meaning their teeth are punched out individually by an artisan. This handmade touch makes Aurious cut smoother than any machine-made rasp I've ever used.

After the factory closed, its assets were sold to a group of investors who sought to re-open the toolworks with Michel Auriou back at the helm. The investors have opened a much smaller factory now and is training new employees on the art of making the tools, says Mike Hancock of Classic Hand Tools in the United Kingdom, who was one of the investors.

Workers have made about 200 rasps so far and will be ready to fulfill international orders to North America within a week or two. For details, you can visit the company's web site at forge-de-saint-juery.com.

Initially, there will only be a limited number of models available, Hancock says, though that line will be expanded as more rasp-makers complete their training.

The five models available in September include:

• Albi rasps, a double-sided flat rasp that has different teeth on each side. It's useful for shaping flat or convex work.

• Rattail rasps, a tapered round shape useful for getting into small areas.

• Cabinet rasps, an all-purpose rasp with one flat face and one curved face. These will be available in 10" and 12" lengths and in a variety of tooth configurations.

• Modellers rasps, a small tapered rasp useful for finishing work started by the cabinet rasp.

• Curved ironing rasp, a short rasp with an offset handle that is useful for working difficult-to-reach areas.

Once production increases, Hancock says he plans to start supplying woodworking vendors in North America with the rasps within the next six months so woodworkers will be able to buy them domestically.

On a side note, Michel Auriou will be attending the Woodworking in America event in Berea, Ky., Nov. 14-16. So if you are signed up for that conference, you'll be able to meet him personally.

— Christopher Schwarz

The venerable rasp-making company Auriou plans to reopen its factory in France this summer after being shuttered by a labor dispute, officials said. The closing of the company resulted in a purchasing frenzy of the rasps by woodworkers that continues to this day – one Auriou flat rasp sold for $600 on eBay today.

The new Auriou will be a smaller company that will focus on making tools for the woodworking and stone-working market, according to Mike Hancock of Classic Hand Tools in the United Kingdom. After the factory begins production, there are plans to begin exporting the rasps to the United States, Hancock wrote in an e-mail.

Hancock was part of a small group of investors that purchased the machinery and tooling from the Auriou factory when it was auctioned off. Michel Auriou, who ran the factory, will be the technical and workshop manager for the new company, according to Hancock.

In addition to the machinery and tooling, Hancock's company also purchased a selection of finished rasps and rifflers during the auction that he will be selling beginning on Monday, Feb. 11. To get a list of the tools (mostly rifflers) send an e-mail to sales@classichandtools.co.uk and ask for the "rasps & riffler list."

— Christopher Schwarz

John Griffin-Wiesner writes: Thanks to your blog posting last week which alerted me to the closing of Auriou, I purchased my only three Auriou rasps. While explaining them to a non-woodworker friend on the phone he asked if rasps ever wear out or need sharpening.

Huh. I never thought of sharpening a rasp.

But rasps are metal, and all my other metal woodworking edges need replacing or sharpening at some point. I can't fathom the sharpening of a rasp. But my friend couldn't fathom the sharpening of a saw blade either -- which I know is not too big a deal. Will these fine rasps wear out one day, or need sharpening, or ... ?


Answer: There are (at least) two schools of thought on resharpening files and rasps.

1. Don't be a snapperhead. Use it and throw it away.

2. Send it to Boggs Tool & File Sharpening Co. in California. Boggs uses a "liquid honing process" to remove material from the back of the teeth, exposing a sharp edge. I've used rasps sharpened by Boggs and I can attest that they work better than the tool did when new. These were not Auriou products, however; they were Nicholson patternmaker's rasps. So I cannot say how the Aurious would do. It wouldn't hurt to give Boggs a call and ask. Last time I checked, resharpening a cabinet-sized rasp was less than $10.

— Christopher Schwarz

The finest maker of handmade rasps and rifflers has closed its factory in Saint-Juery, France, after a protracted labor struggle with its workers, according to a release from Michel Auriou.

The Auriou company has been making rasps by hand since 1856, and have only recently become available to woodworkers in the United States and Canada, where they have been hailed as outstanding tools. Several of the North American catalog companies that carry the tools still have stock on hand (get your credit card ready), but once that is gone, no more tools are expected.

Mike Hancock, the Auriou representative for the United States and the United Kingdom, said that the company had been growing quickly during the last few years, but that some employees refused to work overtime to keep up with demand. The situation deteriorated during the factory's normal August shut down, and now the company has been handed over to liquidators.

The full text of Michel Auriou's statement about the closure can be downloaded below.

Auriou's rasps are, without a doubt, the most prized rasps in the Popular Woodworking shop, even more so than the Nicholson patternmaker's rasps that most people consider as the best. Auriou also made carving tools, adzes and other tools.

The teeth of the Aurious are made by hand, which gives them a slight randomness in their arrangement on the blank. This randomness creates a rasp that cuts quite smoothly and quickly. If you'd like to read more about how these rasps were made, Joel Moskowitz of Tools for Working Wood has written an excellent explanation of the process that you can read on his web site.

If you are looking to purchase Aurious, here are a few of the places that we know that carry them. Act fast.

As to our recommendations for the rasps to have, that really depends on your work. We typically use a cabinetmaker's rasp followed up by one of the modeller's rasps. We've also used the rifflers, which are excellent, if your work demands it. I'm not sure how fine ours are. The cabinetmaker's rasp is coarser than the modeller's rasp, which is a good combination for us.

• Tools for Working Wood
• Lee Valley Tools
• Lie-Nielsen Toolworks
• Woodcraft
• Highland Hardware
• The Best Things
• Classic Hand Tools

And if all of those sources are sold out, we recommend you take a good look at the Gramercy Tools handmade rasps from Tools for Working Wood. Though not quite as perfect as the Aurious, they are high-quality tools.

Download the full text of Michel Auriou's statement.

AuriouStatement.htm (6.47 KB)

— Christopher Schwarz

Hand-tool work can be confusing and frustrating when you follow the power-tool rules. Today offered a good example: I was working on finishing up the transitions between the aprons and legs of the Creole Table. After sawing them out, I had to first remove the bulk of the waste with a chisel, then follow it up with a rasp, a little sanding and then some scraping.

While working on the first corner I was having trouble seeing where the rasp was cutting in particular. The problem was that our shop at the magazine is too well lit. We have enormous windows on two walls and banks and banks of fluorescent fixtures in the drop ceiling overhead.  Plus task lighting at the benches. It's like our photographer, Al Parrish, always says: "There's too much light. I can't see what I'm doing."

So I took two steps backward and flipped off all of the overhead lights in the shop. With only the daylight coming in the windows, the rasp work was much easier. I could see every mark left by every tool in high relief. Same went for the marks left by the chisel, sandpaper and scrapers. They all were much more evident with side-lighting alone. Lots of omni-directional light eliminates the shadows that clue us into how we're progressing.

This makes sense. Hand tools were developed to be used in shops that were dimly lit. And early workbenches are typically pictured in front of a window (check out the Dominy bench at Winterthur and the Andre Felibien illustrations of an early workshop in "Principes de l'architecture").

But in the world of power tools, bright lights are helpful for most tasks. You don't want anything dangerous and finger chewing lurking in a dark area. So light it up.

With the lights out, the work proceeded quickly and all of the transitions were cut smoothly (and I saved my company a few cents on its light bill).



I also had a little time to finally glue up the top for the Creole Table. This was my second attempt – the first was thwarted by unruly wood that was in tension. After surfacing all the boards for the top, I edge-jointed them on our Bridgewood jointer and noticed immediately that the machine was sniping the boards. Somehow the outfeed table had dropped below the cutterhead. Adjusting this part of our machine is a touchy operation, so instead of spending an hour futzing with it I reached for my jointer plane and trued up all three joint lines in about five minutes and then sprung all the joints by making stopped cuts in the center of each edge. The joints in the top closed up with one clamp across the center.

That was too easy. I felt guilty, so I added a couple more clamps. Then I scooted off to a barbecue restaurant with my family where I ate entirely too much brisket and bread pudding. More guilt (and pressure).

— Christopher Schwarz

The Shinto "Saw-Rasp" has always been a curious thing to me. I first spotted it years ago hanging on the wall of our local Rockler store in the sandpaper section. It looks like (and probably is) a series of 10 hacksaw blades that have been bent and riveted together. It looked so unfamiliar to me – not a rasp, not a saw – that I never had the urge to try it.

But then I saw how furnituremaker Glen Huey uses the tool on his cabriole legs and decided to try the Shinto out on the legs for the Creole Table. I'm glad I did. The Shinto has turned out to be one of the most pleasant surprises of the project.

There are two parts to the Shinto: the blade and the handle. The blade is about 10-3/8" long, 1-1/8" wide and vaguely boat-shaped. One side of the blade has coarse teeth (11 tpi) and the other side has fine teeth (about 25 tpi). The handle ingeniously grips the blade by hooking over the rivets that pass through the blade. And then you lock the blade by turning a screw up by the hot-dog-looking handle.

The handle is nicely finished, much better than what you'd expect, actually. But you don't need the handle assembly. In fact, I think this tool works better without the handle attached (and you can save some money as a result; more on that later).

The Shinto is an "intermediate" shaping tool – what I would call a "medium" tool in the "coarse, medium and fine" classification system I use for most tools. It is best used after the coarse shaping of the band saw, jigsaw or turning saw. The rasp's long length allows you to true a curved surface up and remove the coarse marks from the saw blade. But it won't produce a ready-to-finish surface at the end, even with the fine teeth. After shaping the legs with the band saw and Shinto, I took them to their finished state with a cabinet file and a little scraping (files and scrapers are classic "fine" tools).

The Shinto is as fast at shaping as any traditional rasp I've used, and it leaves a remarkably nice surface for a hacksaw-based tool. One of the reasons it's so fast in use is because you have both teeth immediately available to you when you use the tool without the handle – just flip the blade over and go to town.

I also really like its price. The Shinto with the handle is $25.99. But I recommend you skip the handle and just buy the blade and save about $10. Our Rockler retail outlet sells the replacement blade for about $16, though I cannot find the replacement handle for sale on Rockler's website. However, Highland Hardware will sell you just the blade for $15.99.

As a couple readers have pointed out, there also is a version of this tool that has a handle on the blade and looks more like a traditional rasp. It's available in 9" and 11" lengths from Japan Woodworker. Of course, buying the blade alone is still the best value.

The "Shinto" name is curious to me. In college I took a fair number of classes on Western and Asian religions, including several classes on Buddhism and Shinto, the two religions that are intertwined into Japanese culture. In my studies, we learned that the Shinto religion considers all natural objects to have their own spirit, which should be revered. So, my professor said, a Shinto shrine or other structure wouldn't use any nails or metal in its construction because that would be offensive to the kami (or spirit) of the tree.

I wonder what the kami in my legs thinks about the Shinto hacksaw tool that chewed it up pretty good last week.

— Christopher Schwarz