A rasp is a coarse form of file used for coarsely shaping wood or other material. Typically a hand tool, it consists of a generally tapered rectangular, round, or half-round sectioned bar of

case hardened Case-hardening or surface hardening is the process of hardening the surface of a metal object while allowing the metal deeper underneath to remain soft, thus forming a thin layer of harder metal at the surface. For iron or steel with low carbon ...

steel with distinct, individually cut teeth. A narrow, pointed tang is common at one end, to which a handle may be fitted.

Use

Rasps come in a variety of shapes—rectangular, round, and half-round—and vary in coarseness from finest, "cabinet", to most aggressive, "wood".

Farrier A farrier is a specialist in equine hoof care, including the trimming and balancing of horses' hooves and the placing of shoes on their hooves, if necessary. A farrier combines some blacksmith's skills (fabricating, adapting, and adj ...

s, for example, commonly use rasps to remove excess wall from a horse's hoof. They are also used in

woodworking Woodworking is the skill of making items from wood, and includes cabinet making (cabinetry and furniture), wood carving, joinery, carpentry, and woodturning. History Along with stone, clay and animal parts, wood was one of the first mate ...

for rapidly removing material and are easier to control than a

drawknife A drawknife (drawing knife, draw shave, shaving knife) is a traditional woodworking hand tool used to shape wood by removing shavings. It consists of a blade with a handle at each end. The blade is much longer (along the cutting edge) than it is ...

. The rough surfaces they leave may be smoothed with finer tools, such as single- or double-cut files. Rasps are used in shaping

alabaster Alabaster is a mineral or rock that is soft, often used for carving, and is processed for plaster powder. Archaeologists and the stone processing industry use the word differently from geologists. The former use it in a wider sense that includes ...

. Saws and

chisel A chisel is a tool with a characteristically shaped cutting edge (such that wood chisels have lent part of their name to a particular grind) of blade on its end, for carving or cutting a hard material such as wood, stone, or metal by hand, s ...

s are used to rough out alabaster work.

References

Woodworking hand tools Files (tool) Alabaster {{tool-stub

Use

See also

References