Bent my bowl gouge.. a 5/8" bowl gouge

Chuck Ellis

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Tellico Plains, Tennessee
I loaded up a chunk of wood - a chunk of spalted maple - to turn a bowl. The bowl would have been about 10-11 inches diameter, but was a little out of balance to start... not a real problem usually... however, my Jet 1442 evidently didn't like the wobble... he head stock kept kicking loose, the lathe walked about 8 or 10 inches towards the door and somehow and sometime I must have caught the gouge too far over the tool rest and now have a curved bowl gouge. :eek: It bent about 5 degrees along the back side... the groove side up.:eek:

I've taken a hammer to it and straighten it a little, but I'm think I'll be getting a new tool in the near future. :wave:
 
Too bad it bent it in that direction, could have been used for hollow form if it was bent the other way..:D

If Chuck thought a catch on the outside of the bowl was fun, he'd absolutely love the ones he can get with a gouge inside a hollow form. :p
 
Vaughn would you be kind enough to give us some recommendation on which ones to buy as a starter kit. I have a basic set but in the gouges my stuff is junk. One side is not the same as the other in the u part. Dont quiet know how they got that right but thats what cheap tools are about.

I aint into the big stuff just say 7 inch size bowl or smaller.

Thanks
 
I have 2 Thompson bowl gouges - 1/2 roughing and 1/2 finish and they are fantastic tools. I will admit I have not been using them much lately because other tools ive been using but you will not go wrong with the Thompson tools...........:thumb:
 
Vaughn would you be kind enough to give us some recommendation on which ones to buy as a starter kit. I have a basic set but in the gouges my stuff is junk. One side is not the same as the other in the u part. Dont quiet know how they got that right but thats what cheap tools are about.

I aint into the big stuff just say 7 inch size bowl or smaller.

Thanks

Rob, beyond the typical Harbor Freight starter set (which has no bowl gouges), I'm not a big fan of the sets. I think a person is better off buying a few versatile tools instead of a set that has several that will hardly (if ever) get used.

If I were to choose just one bowl gouge, it'd probably be the 1/2" V shape Thompson gouge. I'm comfortable turning nearly anything with that. A 1/2" V shape and 3/8" U shape would make a good complimentary pair for smaller pieces, and still be very usable on the big stuff. I find myself using all sizes of gouges on all sizes of pieces. I might grab a 3/8" gouge for cleaning something up on a 16" bowl, but on the other hand, I like using a 3/4" bowl gouge to turn bottle stoppers. (I'm a bit odd that way.) If I were putting together a set of tools from scratch, I'd probably have one or two bowl gouges, and square scraper and a radiused scraper (both in the 3/4" to 1 1/4" range, as thick as practical), and a parting tool. The Ci1 and Ci0 carbide tools (or their smaller mini cousins) would also be good additions to a set, in my opinion. If you add in a 3/8" detail gouge and the dovetail tenon cutter I made out of an old Harbor Freight scraper, that would pretty much sum up the tools I use on a very regular basis. (Except I have six bowl gouges instead of one or two.) Keep in mind that's for someone who does very little spindle work. If a person is primarily making pens, bottle stoppers or furniture parts, they'd be better served with a different assortment.
 
Vaughn would you be kind enough to give us some recommendation on which ones to buy as a starter kit. I have a basic set but in the gouges my stuff is junk. One side is not the same as the other in the u part. Dont quiet know how they got that right but thats what cheap tools are about.

I aint into the big stuff just say 7 inch size bowl or smaller.

Thanks

Rob,
I'm nowhere near the artist that Vaughn and some of the other guys on here are, but I will agree with Vaughn... I have two of the "sets" of turning tools... first one came with my first lathe - A Ridgid, second came with my son's Jet 1014 which I still have and use regularly.... the sets have a few pieces you will use regularly, there are 3 or 4 pieces in my sets that I never use... they are rusted and just take up space. I'm thinking I'll figure out some other use for them and regrind.

My list will vary from others because as turners, we learn to use or prefer to use certain tools that others don't....
My most used tools are:
1. A bowl gouge...
I actually have 3 from PSI... HSS Benjamin's best in the 3 sizes they offer... I use the 5/8" most of the time and could probably get by with only the one.
2. A skew...
Again I have two different sizes that came with my sets... one is a 1" or maybe 1-1/4" not sure... the other is 1/2" (there's 2 of these, but find myself only using one some of the time... I like it for smaller turnings, but could do all that I do with it with the larger if necessary.
3. A spindle gouge....
Again I have two since I have two sets... one has been sharpened to a point almost like a point tool and I find myself using it more than the other... I pretty much only use it in doing beads and coves and could use the skew.
4. A round nose scraper...
Again two from the sets, and I use them about equally... they are 1/2" and I sometimes use them to rough some pieces and to scrape inside of shallow bowls...

I have a rack full of other tools that I don't use so often, but do find a use for occasionally.. I've reground one of my 1 inch skews to a flat nose scraper and use that pretty regularly...
A friend gave me a couple of roughing gouges that I mentioned I wanted... he bought them as appreciation gift for showing him how to do some turning... he's actually pretty good, but needs to practice... he has some good skills.

The tool I reach for most often is the bowl gouge..
 
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