Larger bowl gouges and skews

Re: Larger bowl gouges and skews

Ron in Drums PA

>Depends on what you are turning.

For me I like to rough out with a 1/2" gouge and finish up with a 3/8" gouge

As for skews I have a 1" 3/4" 1/2" 1/4". I use all of them. All my skews except the 1/4" (which is round) are rectangle with the edges rounded over. I'm sure someday I'll pick up a oval skew.

Re: Larger bowl gouges and skews

Andy in Raleigh

>How big is "big"? I use my 1" skew a lot, even though much of the time I am using only about 1/8" near the bottom corner. If I ride the bevel and do some planing cuts I like having that top corner further away. I had far more catches with my 1/2" skew. I just got an oval 1" skew and so far I do prefer it the the traditional one.

I do mostly spindle stuff and I am a relative novice at that, so I can't speak to you bowl gouge question and you should even take my skew comments with a grain of salt (though I am pretty pleased with how I work a skew on spindle; at least something is working for me :)

-Andy

Re: Larger bowl gouges and skews

MP Wall

>I have a larger P&N skew that I like a lot. It is very stable, has a rounded bottom edge and flat top edge which makes it easier to make cylinders and roll beads etc. I would go for the larger skew. MP Wall

Re: Larger bowl gouges and skews

Lyn J. Mangiameli

>Skews, I must have near a dozen skews collected over the years, including ones from Sorby to Glaser, round and rectangular, radiused and straight, but mostly rectangular straight ones with eased edges. My favorite is my most recent, which is the 1-1/4 P&N. It is the most massive of the bunch and has the most useful edge profile (much like the Lacer recommendations, though P&N was doing this long befor Lacer popularized this geometry). So, based on my choice of tools, I have found the larger, more massive skews to work best for me, as they offer a larger sweet spot and more mass to absorb little irregularities in the cut.

As for the size of Bowl Gouge, I have them from 1/4 to 3/4 (and also have a 1 inch Glaser Spindle gouge). All have almost identical Glaser grinds put on them. The biggest difference has to do with shaft diameter, and it is this I'd suggest you give greatest thought to. If you are working in deeper bowls with longer overhangs, or roughing out irregular shaped blanks, the larger diameter shafts will be stiffer (so less vibration) and stronger (so less apt to bend or break). I also find that the greater mass up at the edge of the larger gouges makes them perform better during shear scraping. So, I would suggest it is wise to have at least two bowl gouges. An approximately 3/8 shaft diameter for mor delicate detail work, and a larger 5/8 or greater shaft diameter for longer overhangs and roughing out.

Of course this all depends on the size of the projects you generally make. If you mostly do small scale work, you can get by with a 3/8 shaft diameter, if you do larger work and rarely do miniatures, you can get by with a 5/8 with a swept back grind. There are a lot of other variables, but I usually suggest that most folks would benefit most from the the 3/8 and 5/8 with Ellsworth/Glaser Grinds.

Re: Larger BG & Skews - Thanks for your comments!

JL work

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Re: Larger bowl gouges and skews

John Trant (Baltimore/DC area)

>As Ron said, I use a 5/8" (PM) gouge for roughing and a 3/8" (Sorby) for finishing. I also a 3/8" gouge with a very blunt bevel for turning the bottom of the interior of the bowl. If you only have money for one gouge, the 3/8" with the Ellsworth grind is my choice. Adding a second gouge ... I would get another 3/8" gouge with the blunt bevel. The bigger gouge (1/2" or 5/8") is needed only for large, rough blanks or where speed of roughing is a premium.

With that said, I prefer to have all three!

John

I totally agree with Lynn

TD

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another member of the "Me too" crowd

Mike Schwing from Md.

>I'm with Lyn. Hands down, no contest my 5/8" superflute (ellsworth style) gouges are the most useful to me. They get worked 90% of the turning time done in my "shop". The rest is for "specialty" tools like spear point scrapers, 1/4" bowl gouges, hollowing tools, etc. I think I've turned just about every shape so far except for tall candlesticks.

I like the grind you can put on the superflute type gouges, and only drop down in mass from 5/8" to 3/8" or 1/4" when size dictates the need. The extra mass in the larger tools makes for more comfort, more control, and less vibration/chatter. I do a lot of bevel rubbing/shear cuts and also like the large bevel area for stability.

Re: Larger bowl gouges and skews

RonZ

>Skews:

Nick is a wizard with the oval skew and I think that 1 1/4 is necessary for the oval skew if you want to have flexibilty and heft. The negative factor is that it's not the easiest to sharpen. Along those lines I have a 1" rectangular with rounded edges and that's my main planing skew and for larger spindles it's ground with a radiused bevel. I use the new Alan Lacer 1 3/8" skew I use for large cylinders. I have basically have almost all oval and rectangular along with a few round skews ranging from 1/8" to 1 3/8" and I use the rectangular with rounded edges and radiused grind the most.

Bowl gouges:

I have these from 1/4" to 1". I use the 1" to round out logs and the 1/2" with a long grind to rough out my bowls. The 3/8" has a long grind also and that's what I use for finishing.

If you were to buy something new you don't have I would first try the large oval and see if you'll be happy with it and you'll be able to sharpen it. If not, a good 1" round edge, radius grind skew would be my main choice. If you don't have a large bowl gouge, then I would suggestthe 1/2" with a long grind.