Gouge

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This bronze gouge was found in a hoard with two spearheads at Torran in Argyll. It was used for fine shaping of wood, to create grooves and hollows, sometime between 950 and 750 BC. The objects may have been a votive deposit, or buried for safekeeping.

The well-preserved gouge has a socket at one end for a handle. The blade shows some signs of use and re-sharpening from the inside and outside.

Socketed gouges are a specialised woodworking tool, used for fine woodworking, and were part of the Late Bronze Age specialist carpenter's kit.

Record details

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• Online ID: 000-100-034-546-C
• Image Rights Holder: National Museums Scotland
• Project: National Museums Scotland
  Project description   View all records in project
• Ref: National Museums Scotland  X.DQ 117
• Date: Between 950 and 750 BC
  Late Bronze Age
  
• Material: Bronze; socketed; with raised band round the mouth
  
• Dimensions: 3.00" L
  
• What:
• Subject:
• Who:
• Where: Scotland, Argyll, Loch Awe, Torran
  
• Event:
• Description: Late Bronze Age socketed gouge with raised band round the mouth, from Torran, Argyll
  
• References:
  • Coles, John M. Scottish late Bronze Age metalwork: typology, distributions and chronology. Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 93 (1959-1960), pp 16-134, esp. pp 51, 87, 105. 
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