Thompson first thoughts.
Well the Thompson 5/8 V was in when I got home from work. First I went out and hung the shower curtain behind where I stand at the lath, definitely worth the time - where there would normally be ~4" of curlies on my jointer it was plumb clean
(well except a couple that flew over top.. but still 99.999% better).
Then started roughing out the outside of a bowl. Realize that my only other real bowl gouges have been a 3/8, 1/2, and 5/8 Benjamins Best so my comparison set is pretty small.
The flute is a bit deeper than the BB. This seems to make it want to shoot the shavings straight back at me just a bit more than the BB did. I was able to mitigate that a bit by playing around with the presentation but was still more shavinged than usual. I think the BB's are somewhat between the Thompson V and the U looking at the profiles.
Noticeably less vibration, especially in roughing cuts. This alone is worth it if you're doing rough bowls - not feeling like you've been clubbed with a 9 iron after a day of turning is nice! This might also be somewhat due to the better handle (I got one of the Thompson handles while I was at it). In some ways I like the look of the action on the Serious cam lock handles but decided to get the Thompson for two reasons: first its more "streamlined" around the handle->gouge transition whereas the serious handle has a big cutoff there and second I was already placing an order with Thompson
. Not sure if the shape will really matter because your hand isn't really there much unless you've pushed the gouge in and are choked way up on it somehow.. but I liked the look anyway. I suspect that the steel is also a bit less bouncy but can't quantify that. Having a new gouge that has more length also helps of course because leverage.
The Thompson has noticeably more "usable flute" than the BB did new.
I was definitely generating a higher percentage of sawdust to shavings compared to the stuff I was producing on the weekend. There are several possible causes for this outside of the tool itself: wood is a bit drier (and the sawdust % seemed to drop off some as I got into the meat of the bowl where it wasn't as dry), I might have set the rest a smidge lower, and finally I'm still adjusting my presentation/grind with the new gouge (I've decide I like the wings swept back a bit more and a lot less heal than the stock grind) and saw some improvement from that as I went. On the flip side of that I'd say the quality of the cut was generally at least as good and in some orientations seems perhaps a bit better. I'd expect that to improve as I get used to it.
Once I got rolling with it it definitely seems easier to take a bigger bite with the Thompson. In fact have to be a bit careful with that... I bogged the lathe down a couple of times
(granted this was turning a largish piece pretty slow so easier to bog down at that). Once I get it rolling though pealing off a 3/8" deep slice didn't seem that hard. It also seemed to be a bit sweeter with the sheer scraping cut, I somewhat attribute that to the edge retention characteristics (the BB would rapidly loose its edge with a lot of sheer scraping).
I did take it to the grinder twice but that was more just to adjust the shape/grind a smidge. I could feel a bit of difference after the second touch so it does still dull some. It seems that the dulling curve is different though. Whereas the BB would get dull and just keep getting duller the Thompson seems to loose the really crisp edge almost as fast and then holds at that point for a longer time (how much longer I dunno as I haven't turned with it long enough to really see a huge change). Note that the slightly less than perfect edge is still more than adequately sharp although I might end up touching it for really clean finish cuts sometimes.. maybe...
You get a really nice set of pictures of all of the gouge flute profiles in a brochure with the gouge. Doug needs to get that up on his website!
Overall
Its a heck of a gouge!