The brown truck came today.
Dave Smith
>Sitting on top of a box of sassafras I got from Terry Quiram was my Glaser 5/8" deep flute gouge with a manly black handle. So the first thing I did was unpack the gouge then go out back and finish cleaning up the mess left from cutting down two small apple trees. Now there is will power for you. Finally I was able to try out the new gouge. I put a piece of sassafras on the lathe and went to town. The gouge is sharp out of the box as advertised. That bowl was a piece of cake. Next up was a piece of mesquite I picked up from Larry Hancock when I visited him last fall. I mounted it with a screw chuck and left the corners on to see how the gouge handled. Let's just say that I am under lathed for this gouge. I had more problems keeping the lath rest from moving than anything else.
I don't know whether to praise Jerry Glaser or curse him. His gouge with the shot filled handle has extended the life of my Jet 1236. A wonderful thing if I wanted to keep the lathe. Disappointing since the tool has tipped the balance back to keeping the lathe. The vibration reduction was very noticeable. The grind on the gouge is very close to what I am using on my 3/8" and 1/2" gouges so there is no learning curve with the new gouge. It will take a while to see how the cutting edge holds up but so far it seems to be a big improvement over my existing tools. I'll have a better idea when I chuck up a piece of dry osage orange or a chunk of concrete which is about the same thing.
Dave Smith
Kinda like Christmas in March here in Longview, WA.
