Based in Hereford, England, Chris Pye is one of the foremost working carvers in the world today, with a distingushed list of patrons that includes Prince Charles. He is also a renowned teacher and has written some of the best books on carving available today.

Chris has worked together with Ashley Iles (Edge Tools) Ltd. to produce a custom tool made to Chris' specs. The beauty of this tool, which they named the 2 1/2 gouge, is that it's flatter than a modern No. 3 gauge, but still has a slight curve. As Chris noted in a article for Woodcarving magazine, "Finishing from the tools gives me a level, subtlety and individuality of expression that is not available to me when I sand."

Chris has thoughtfully provided us with a downloadable acrobat file with detailed instructions on the use of the 2 1/2 and some thoughts on its advantages.

Click here to download the manual (822k).

Click here for more information and to purchase the Chris Pye's 2 1/2 gouges.

Click here to see the entire range of Ashley Iles tools we carry. (the 2 1/2 gouges are in the specialty carving tool section).

In order to read the downloaded copy you must have a copy of the Acrobat Reader installed on your computer.
If you don't already have Adobe Acrobat Reader, you can download it for free directly from the Acrobat site: click here.

Chris Pye's website is one of the best sites on carving around and is a model of how internet content should be distributed.