Bookbinding and the Conservation of Books
A Dictionary of Descriptive Terminology

gouge

A single-line finishing tool, used either for blind or gold tooling on the covers but not the spine of a book. It has a curved edge which forms a segment of a concentric circle. Gouges are generally made in sets of ten, and, if a series of concentric circles are drawn about 1/10 inch apart, the lines impressed by each succeeding gouge will be longer and flatter. So-called flat curved gouges are those derived from an even larger circle, and are therefore less curved than regular gouges. When tooling, the gouge is always sighted from the concave side. (161 , 335 )