craftsman gouges
Keith Tompkins
Sears Craftsman continental style gouges...what good are they? Many turners scoff at the mention of these tools, but this style of tools have been produced for hundreds of years. Worthless? Here are three practice finials turned during classes I taught at Peter's Valley. The first one on the left is yellowheart, turned in 2012. The center one is red oak from a piece of scrap, turned with a Craftsman 1/2" spindle gouge, the one on the right is ash, also turned with the 1/2" Craftsman gouge. I bring these tools to my classes for a good reason.... It's not the tool! It's if you know how to use it. The usual comment after seeing what one of these tools can do: "I've got one of those in my old tool box, I thought it was junk. I'm going to go home and sharpen it!"
Here is the grind I use.I drop it in the pocket of the Wolverine arm, and simply rotate to get the rounded nose. Like Mike says, super easy to grind by hand. You can see it's been honed to the point where it needs to be reground.
