Dragon rasp?

[Charlotte_Henry]

Does anyone here use the stewmac dragon rasp? I am thinking about getting the pair of large rasps and want to hear from someone who has them.
Charlotte

[David Malicky]

I have the 4151 Large "Coarse" - it's awesome! But I would call it a medium rasp, in comparison to most "coarse" rasps.

[Jim Bonnell]

I have all three and LOVE them. Make sure you don't pass on the smaller one. I probably use the large coarse one the least, but that's just me.

[John Hamlett]

I don't have 'em, but I want 'em!

[Louie Atienza]

I have both coarse and fine, smaller ones with the half rounds on one side, and a curved back side. They work excellently, take little effort to cut, and leave a nice surface that's easily sanded...

My buddy bought the flat ones and I don't like them as much. They also raised the price like $10 since I bought them years ago.

[Arnt Rian]

I have a pair of the large ones, from DICK gmbh in Germany, but I believe its the same product. They are nice, especially for the price, but nowhere near as nice as my Arious...

[Craig Bumgarner]

I have to 4152 fine, large, very good. I use it primarily for shaping necks. The long length gives leverage and accuracy in use, but in spite of its size, the small sharp tip can be used for pretty small work. I don't have the 4151 course file, but the fine moves wood so quickly that I doubt I would ever need the 4151.

That said, I keep hearing good things, like Arnt says, about Auriou rasps. A good fine cutting rasp (or two) is an indispensible woodworking tool. I had a Nicholson 50 that last me 35 years in all kinds of woodworking. I absolutely loved it, but finally wore it out (shaping fiberglass with it probably didn't help ) The Dragon 4152 is an even better replacement, but if I thought I would be using a rasp for another 35 years, I'd probably spring for the best that money could buy (Auriou?) considering how much I use them.

[Steve Senseney]

I have some generic rasps, and lots of files. And I use all of them.

I also use scrapers a lot.

When I need to remove lots of wood at a time, on a curved or flat surface, I use some pieces of 40 grit sanding belt with a flat, curved or round backing board.

[Nathan Noel]

It has really cut down on the time it takes me to carve a neck and I get really good control aresults from it. Count me as a fan.

[Craig Bumgarner]

Steve brings up a good point about homemade abrasive "files". Adhesive backed sandpapers in a wide variety of grits are pretty common these days and they can be stuck to all kinds of shapes made from wood and used like files and planes. I have a whole drawer full of such.

[Mattia Valente]

I have a pair of the large ones, from DICK gmbh in Germany, but I believe its the same product. They are nice, especially for the price, but nowhere near as nice as my Arious...

The 'Chinese' rasps from Dick (which don't seem to be available any more) look very similar to the Dragon rasps, so I'm guessing they're the same ones. I have one or two. They're nice enough, reasonably well made, but I prefer my Herdim hand-cut rasps (which are Dick, or now Dictum I should say, 'home brand' hand-cut rasps), as they are much, much better. I've looked at Arious in a shop before, and they look great, but I'll put in a vote for the Dictum home-brand hand-cut rasps. The difference between them and a machine-made rasp is night and day. Combined with a selection of scrapers, they're responsible for 95% of all neck shaping. Only really use sandpaper to 'shoeshine' at the end.

Dictum appears to now have machine cut rasps they claim surpass hand-cut ones, which is interesting. Haven't bought a bad tool from them yet..

[Darrel Friesen]

Never tried the Dragons but I love my Aurious which I bought pre-shutdown and subsequent start-up..

[Tom Frei]

Hmm, I wonder how much these cost: http://www.nordicforgeinc.com/vallorbe_ ... r_rasp.htm Aurio competition. Just sold my Aurio #6 because this is just as good or better for neck rasping:

I have a small rasp from woodcraft that I use, it cut hog really quick and has coarse and medium edges, - don't see it on their site any longer.

[David King]

I really like the pre-sharpened Nicholson #49 and #50 rasps from Boggs tool. I'll put them up against anything else out there for sharpness and smooth cutting at any price.

I have a Heller Legend Farrier's rasp and it is very sharp and good for hogging off on necks but it's got nowhere near the control and agility of a #49. It is a good upper body workout however and more controlled than draw knife in tricky grain. They cost about $20 ea unless you buy a box of them.

[Dave Anderson]

I like the Dragons too. They are fine rasps for neck shaping.

[Alan Peterson]

Any opinions about farrier rasps for neck shaping? I live within horsefly-buzzin' distance of several stables, riding academies and farrier supply companies here in Northern Virginia, and the rasps they sell for shaping hooves are 14-18" monsters, which could chew up a lot of wood in just one stroke.

[Andy Barnhart]

Any opinions about farrier rasps for neck shaping? I live within horsefly-buzzin' distance of several stables, riding academies and farrier supply companies here in Northern Virginia, and the rasps they sell for shaping hooves are 14-18" monsters, which could chew up a lot of wood in just one stroke.

I have made a few archery bows and a lot of bowyers swear by farriers for shaping. I have a Nicholson for "old school" rasp work and also have a set of Microplane rasps (the high tech "cheese grater" type) which are awesome when they are new but are not nearly as durable as traditional raps.

Anyway, my info on farrier rasps is second hand but I saw a lot of discussion about them and the reviews were consistently positive, though "for the price" was often a qualifier.

[John Hamlett]

I learned to sharpen edge tools early (my early teens) and I'm pretty good at it, but I don't like doing it so, once sharpened, I like to keep my tools sharp. Abrasive papers leave small bits of grit in the wood, so I don't like to alternate sandpaper with edge tools. In other words, I don't like to use coarse grit sandpaper to shape wood and then follow it with scrapers or edge tools. In other other words, I prefer rasps and files to 40-grit-on-stick.
I make mostly mandolins, mostly curly maple. I make a few guitars too, and the straight grained mahogany cuts so easily with edge tools that I don't rasp much on guitar necks. A draw knife followed by a scraper does almost all of the shaping. Curly maple mandolin necks, on the other hand, are where I end up using rasps and files the most, and in fact I usually end up alternating sandpaper with scrapers a little bit.
Another reason I prefer edges and rasps to sandpaper is the dust factor. Rasps certainly do make dust, but not like sandpaper.

[David King]

A new Farriers rasp is razor sharp. Don't judge a used tool. Farriers go through a lot of rasps, often one a week and they are fanatical about sharpness and durability. When you think about what they are doing, cutting down the hooves of a 500 pound animal who might be getting impatient, you can see why sharpness matters. That said hooves and wood don't behave exactly alike. If you want to try a Farrier's file I'd take a block of wood to the farm supply store and ask if you can try the various brands out. I've used Savedge and Heller and both worked well once you get the correct angle, pressure and speed but they behaved differently. Wear gloves when you use them as the coarse side can perforate right into your palms after a few strokes.

[G. M. Seigmund]

I have a pair of the large ones, from DICK gmbh in Germany, but I believe its the same product. They are nice, especially for the price, but nowhere near as nice as my Arious...

I have a pair of the dragon rasp and they are just fine, but which Ariou rasp are similar to the dragon?