I thought I'd have a go at a blog post about the gouges and other cutting tools I use when making my lino prints. Once again this is about my personal experience with different tools and about how I use them to create my own work. Others may prefer different tools and different ways of working. There's no definitive best tool or right way to use it.
Finding the right combinations of cutting tools for a relief printer is one of the hardest choices to make. As with many things its a play off between price and quality and how much you want to invest. There is a very wide array of brands and choices. The tools also need to match the way in which you want to work and to work for you physically.
Most people start with the plastic or wooden handled versions of cutters with replaceable blades. These are good starting tools as long as they are sharp. I used them to teach with in a secondary school for decades. It was always a task to ensure that the blades were sharp and properly attached to the handles. The blades can be honed/sharpened but I found that if they'd been used for potato printing (or combat!) they were only fit for the bin!
The step up from the replacement bladed gouges is to use fixed blade cutters. As you become confident that linocutting is for you and you want to take your practice to the next level, it's a logical step. It does make cutting easier but you need to choose a a combination of cutters that suits you and the way you work. Most manufacturers offer quite expensive sets of several tools. I don't usually advise people to buy these. There are always a couple of tools in the set that never/rarely get used. My advice is to identify the two or three tools that you already use most (assuming you are using the replacement blade types of cutters or sharing somebody else's tools) and to just gradually buy those.
A brief video!
These are my experiences over the past decade or so with different types and brands of tools.
Replacement Blade Tools
These tools are a good way to start with lino cutting. They are usually fairly cheap. One thing I know from being head of an Art Department in a (short for cash) secondary school in the Welsh Valleys is that the blades can usually be sharpened and honed.
The ones shown below are the red plastic Essdee handle and cutter, Abig, light wooden handle cutter and (my favourite) a vintage William Mitchell handle. There are other manufacturers, I know the Arteina tools are well made (as are all of their range).
Pros - Usually quite cheap. A good way to discover which blade shapes suit the way you want to work. Cons - Strangely I've found there can be some variation in the quality of blades within the same manufacturer. They don't stay sharp for long. If you only have one handle, you need to be constantly changing blades.
Pfeil
These tools are a very popular choice of gouge for many lino or wood relief printers. The steel seems to hold an edge for a long time. I've managed to keep mine going for years with a good polished edge without any sharpening. They just need honing each time they are used and maybe every couple of hours if working all day.
They can be bought individually or in sets. My comments about buying gouges in sets definitely apply to this make. The codes for the blade sizes and shapes can be a bit confusing, there is a logic to it but here's a chart.
Pros - Solid and well made. small enough to fit most hands, with the flattened mushroom shape that fits well into the ball of your hand. The steel takes an excellent and lasting edge.
Cons - Fairly expensive (but if looked after properly, they should last a lifetime).
Matthieu Coulanges
Matthieu Coulanges makes a high end range of hand made tools for different print techniques. It's a French company (you may have guessed). I also have some of his intaglio tools. All are of a very high quality. The handle are well balanced and beautiful to use and to look at. You can choose from a range of woods for the handles. Mine came with these natty blade guards. They are very slightly bigger than the Pfeil gouges.
Pros - Just beautiful! Hand turned handles and good steel that stays sharp. Brass ferrules. Well balanced. you can even chose the type of wood (or combinations of wood) you would like for your handles.
Cons - The price. I've resharpened my small V gouge and it seems to cut better now, I think the angle of the blade was very slightly obtuse. If you are in the UK, importing them from France isn't as simple as it used to be.
Vintage Mushroom Handled gouges, T N Lawrence, H Taylor and others
These are some of my favourite gauges. Many of my tools must be around a hundred years old. I think most of mine were manufactured in the UK (when we had a proper manufacturing sector). T N Lawrence is still going but no longer selling their own tools (and just recently taken over by Jacksons!).
They can be a bit variable but are generally the finest made tools available. I find that the older steel keeps an edge very well indeed but there can be small pockets of impurities. The original handles usually have quality brass ferrules.
In the past I've found them in junk shops etc. but also on eBay. The ironic thing is I've then used Lawrence's excellent sharpening service to get some of their own old tools, that they no longer supply, into the best possible condition. I can sharpen tools myself but it's difficult to beat the convenience of the service.
UPDATE. Lawrence have just been taken over by Jackson's. It seems the sharpening service is continuing and is now available on both websites. I think the price has increased slightly.
For me, the best of these old tools , are the best gouges I have found anywhere. It's a shame they are becoming less easy to come by, as people start to realise their worth (this blog won't help!).
Pros - Very fine and mostly well made tools. Great steel, they hold an edge very well. They are smaller and usually fit smaller hands better and are more maneuverable. The finer 'V's and 'U's are better than any other fine tools I've found. Cons - They nearly always need some attention to get back into fully working order. You may need to use a professional sharpening service to establish a proper edge.
Powergrip
I've only tried a couple ofthese Japanese Powergrip tools. They seems very well made and I know lots of people create fantastic work with them and enjoy using them . They are good value for money and the steel is great. They just don't seem to fit my hands well and the 'V' blades are sharpened at a different angle to my other tools. I think that's why I find then difficult to cut curves.
Pros - A good price and well made. Cons - They may not suit everyone.
Japanese Cutters
These economy Japanese cutters from Intaglio Printmakers are a good step up from the replaceable blade sets. Currently they are available for around £5 each. I purchased several of them for teaching classes. They work fine and the blades hold an edge very well. They have the longer Japanese style handles that may not suit everyone because they have to be held in a different way. I have contemplated cutting the handles a bit shorter but that just seems wrong.
Pros - Good quality for the price. Cons - Limited sizes available. The handles might not suit everyone.
Sharpening/Honing
There is a very important difference between these two terms and they are sometimes mixed up
Many others have written about sharpening cutting tools, just do an online search. I'm not going to start to try to explain the technique in words, it's probably much easier to work from videos. Essentially, it's never a good idea to start changing the angles of blades unless you really know what you are doing. I've found that my gouges only need sharpening very occasionally. Several that I've had over 5 years have never been sharpened. Only if a blade is damaged, misused or angle of the edge needs to changed is it really necessary. If you are unsure about sharpening, busy, or just a bit lazy (like me) I would recommend the Lawrence sharpening service. I've mentioned the service more in the section on vintage tools and I'll post a link at the end of the blog.
In contrast to sharpening, I hone my tools at the start of each cutting session. You can usually feel that a gouge is starting to lose its edge while working. More pressure is needed to cut. That's when it's easy to lose control, to make a mistake in cutting, or worse, to have an accident. It takes a couple of minutes to re-hone the edges and get back working. I have a (Flexcut) Slipstrop which is great for the smaller gouges. For the larger ones I use a nice thick piece of leather, along with some honing compound.
Rub a bit of honing compound on to the leather then only ever draw the edges along the surface of the leather, never push. Keep the angle of the cutter, as exactly as possible, the same as the angle of the edge you are honing. If it's a curved gouge you will need to rock it from side to side as you draw it over the leather. You are trying to polish the cutting edge. it should have a mirror like surface.
This polishing of the cutting edge with make a micro bur of metal onto the inside edge of the blade. This is where the Slipstrop can be handy. Find which profile, on the sculpted wooden side, best fits the inside surface of the gouge. Rub a bit of compound along the profile and then holding the gouge flat against the profile draw the edge (don't push) along the shape to remove the bur. With practice, the whole process takes a minute or two and you will be surprised the difference it can make. If you do it just right, it's quite scary how sharp the gouge can get.
Storage
For me there are two options. If I'm storing gouges in a wooden box, I like to put half corks on the end of each blade. It stops them being damaged and helps to stop your fingers being damaged when you are riffling through your tools looking for a particular tool! One of my ex-pupils very kindly made me a tool roll for my gouges. So the ones I use most often are stored in there.
Essential equipment whenever I teach a class. I still make the occasional slip. The old wisdom is true... 'You are more likely to cut yourself with a blunt tool!'
Please feel free to add comments and ask questions!
UK Suppliers
Hawthorn
Intaglio Printmakers
T.N. Lawrence
Handprinted
Jacksons
Cornelissen & Son
Opmerkingen