The Sculptor's Rasps

As anyone who has tried to work with seasoned Australian hardwoods has learned, working with a number of our beautiful native species can have more in common with stone masonry.

The trick to getting a good result when shaping such hard timbers is, in short, to use abrasives and rasps - and the best rasps for heavy material removal are those made by Shinto.

Shinto rasps are made by peening a set of hacksaw blades together. These blades' exceptionally hard teeth last for years in any timber, while the gaps between them allow waste material to fall away from the work rather than clogging the blade. They are an absolute joy to use, and you will wonder how you ever did without it.

But once you have roughed in your shape, how do you get a beautiful glassy finish? Well, with a finer file - enter the Iwasakis!

The two smaller wood files are manufactured totally differently to the Shintos. They have had hundreds of tiny teeth milled into their surface that are profiled similarly to a plane blade, only at a much smaller scale.

These blades take tiny shavings off your workpiece, leaving behind a surface similar to what a plane blade leaves. No sandpaper is required - and this has fantastic implications for those looking to preserve crisp edges and detail in their work. Where abrasives can round off lines or exterior corners that have been painstakingly formed, using a hard file keeps that detail or even exaggerates it further.

This kit includes a wood file- half round with wooden handle  as well as a Fine flat with wooden handle for working interior profiles.

Finaly to get your eye in and give your hands the feel of them, we are including an Australian hardwood spatula blank. Roughed out from a selection of bull oak, dead finish and gidgee branches, this timber is hard, beautiful and sure to make you a beautiful implement!