U-gouge

A U-gouge (also just called a gouge) is a chisel with a U-shaped, semi-circular cutting edge. Its blade is curved like a half-cylinder, allowing it to scoop out wood. Think of it as the tool for hollowing and rounding cavities: it’s what you reach for to carve out bowls, spoons, flutes, and channels. By dragging a U-gouge along the wood, it removes a wide, curved strip of material in one pass, creating smooth concave shapes.

Beginners find U-gouges very useful because they make concave cuts effortless. For example, when carving a simple spoon, a U-gouge can quickly hollow the bowl without having to make many small cuts with a knife. It’s great for deep cuts and removing material efficiently while still being controlled. U-gouges also help novices progress beyond flat whittling — they open up new possibilities like carving rounded legs on a small figurine or giving dimension to relief carvings by cutting out background.

At BeaverCraft, we offer bent gouges that serve as U-gouges for carving rounds. One example is our G7L/22 Long Bent Gouge. This tool is described as «used to make narrow semicircular recesses and holes» and is «ideal for finishing bas-reliefs and for general roughing-out tasks». In other words, our bent gouges are U-gouge–style chisels made for exactly the same use. Novices can look for BeaverCraft spoon and bent gouge products to carve bowls and hollows with ease.