ICEbear FSR179 ICE BEAR SHINTO JAPANESE DOUBLE SIDED COARSE & FINE SAW RASP

This is an excellent tool for amateur woodworkers like me who are enthusiastic but not yet as accurate as they'd like to be. It's very effective at removing material, leaving a nicely smoothed finish with the fine-toothed side. If your saw-work is a little off at times it's tremendous, easily removing a millimetre of wood so you end up with a snug fit. Similarly, it will tidy up edges that aren't quite square or straight.Waste material falls right out of it, and I've not yet seen it jam up.I own a small selection of files, a couple of rasps and one Stanley surform, but where I would once have used those in most instances this is now my tool of choice.It's a little smaller overall than I had been anticipating (not shockingly so though), but that could be an advantage if the user is a younger person or just has small hands.I'd suggest that no home woodworker's tools kit is complete without one of these. Go on... live a little and get yourself one

A brilliant tool. Cuts so fast. Removes stock effortlessly. And with light pressure leaves a fine finish. The 'rough side' is a 'beast',Really sharp. A very well made tool. As most Japanese tools are. Took a while for delivery, but well worth the wait.

I wasn't too sure what I was getting but had seen an excellent review by a guitar maker. It's not a rasp but a series of saw blabes aligned into a file like matrix...with space between the groupings to allow dust/shavings to disperse. It's pretty amazing I finished a dulcimer scroll head in record time today with a finish ready for sanding. The more I learn about instrument making the more Japanese tools I seem to collect. Excellent buy would highly recomend. It arrived 3 days after the order was placed...no mean feat as I live in the far northern isles of Scotland. Good bit of kit, good service from the supplier.

I needed to file the inside edges of a slot in a piece of 2" mdf, where there was no room to get in there with even a detail sander. The slot was cut just slightly too narrow so needed enlarging. The workpiece was, overall, too small to clamp down and still be able to safely adjust the slot with, for example, a router, or jigsaw. The traditional bit of sandpaper wrapped around a piece of plywood was not getting me very far.This tool fitted nicely and scraped away efficiently at the excess mdf until the job was done. It did not remove the excess as fast as I thought it would, even using the coarse side, but then we are talking mdf. Those reviewers who talk about the speed of cut were doubtless dealing with normal grained wood. and I look forward to trying it for this. It is undoubtedly a fine instrument, and given the price I am surprised that it did not come with any kind of useful storage. A semi-hard plastic slip-in sheath would have cost very little.I found the rasp easier to control and much more efficient than my old surform; having a handle on the main end, with a grip at the other gave it a good balance. It was easier to move back and forth and keep at the right angle.The giant cardboard box it was delivered in was something else: I am sure several hundred of these rasps would have fitted inside, with room left for a few old-style telephone books and a small octopus to stop things from sliding around.I would like to suggest that a shorter, narrower, version of this is produced, or if one is produced already that it is marketed on Amazon.

My first ever Japanese saw rasp, this removes a ridiculous amount of material quickly, but is controllable for more delicate trims as well. Having a coarse and fine side makes this ideal for people like myself with only a limited amount of space for tools. The blade teeth clear themselves well, with only minor cleaning with a brush needed occasionally, if the wood is a little damp. To me, well worth the price

Hand-stitched rasps are great, but for speed and value for money, you can't beat a Japanese rasping saw file. The two sides offer just the right balance of coarse for fast progress, and fine for tidying up. I bought the medium length, but in hind sight I should have bough the long as I catch my knuckles on my work trying to use the full length of the tool. So I'm masking it down to 4 stars for comfort/ease of use. I would definitely give it a 5 if it were longer, though others may find that due to the shape of their work this isn't a problem for them.

For shaping wood this takes the biscuit, far better than using traditional files and, dare I say, for me it's a lot easier to use than my Surforms. So far I've used it on green wood and seasoned hardwood with great results. If you decide to get one you'll need to learn by doing, since the instructions on the packaging are all in Japanese! Practise on some offcuts first - 5 minutes should do it, then you'll be shaping wood like a master.

Excellent product for removing stock quickly, why didn't I get one years ago?