Comment on September Revolutions

[Tim Pettigrew]

As always I enjoyed receiving my copy of Revolutions when it dropped through the letter box last Friday.  The article by young turner Harry Rodwell was good in exemplifying the welcome take-up of wood turning by the younger generation.  However I was concerned on page 8, (paragraph 1.1) where he stated that he trued-up his cross-grained bowl blank using a Spindle Roughing Gouge. I hope that someone will tactfully educate him to the fact that this puts him at risk of serious injury.

[Bill21]

I’m no expert on wood turning tools, especially gouges so I won’t disagree with anyone on the subject.

However, I’ve seen several professional demonstrations where spindle gouges were used on cross grain pieces and bowl gouges were used on spindle work.

Personally I’m going to stick with not using a spindle gouge on a bowl but others seem to. 

I haven’t checked these out myself yet so there’s probably a caveat in there somewhere. I’m just posting for interest.

The top five hits on a Google search:





I’ve been meaning to buy one of these but never got round to it.   


https://www.ashleyilestoolstore.co.uk/turning-tools/multipurpose/12mm-1-2-martin-pidgen-all-rounder-multi-purpose-gouge

.

[Twisted Trees]

Spindle Roughing Gouge and other forged (continental spindle gouge) should never be used cross grain, and as a general rule it is safer to tell the inexperienced not to use a bar style spindle gouge on cross grain either. Richard Raffan does it a lot, but he is listening and feeling for things an inexperienced turner will miss, and I would say has a lot less probability of a catch or a too heavy cut.

I do YouTube video's and often do things that I would really do in my workshop as a matter of course, but would never teach a beginner to do, which is wrong I admit, but I do try to point out what risks I am mitigating even simple things, but you can't always think of the beginners.   

[BrianH]

Bill
A Spindle roughing gouge and a spindle gouge are 2 very different animals. Don't get too carried away with the names and work at understanding how the tool cuts. Then you can make an informed decision on what to use where.
I also wouldn't consider using a roughing gouge on cross grain work but would have no problem using bowl or spindle gouges on either orientation but, of course, those decisions would be based on my own knowledge, experience and grinding scheme.
This woody lark can be mighty confusing can't it???
Best
Brian

[Twisted Trees]

I have just re-read the article i.e. reading every word not just the paragraph headings.

Couple of points come to mind,

This was done at School, so the class teacher has a responsibility on this.
Obviously the SRG shouldn't have left the tool box.
He mentions drilling a 12mm hole to fit the bowl gouge. This indicates he possibly back hollowed with a 3/8" bowl gouge?

Obviously in an ideal world any teacher with a lathe in the classroom should do at least a foundation course in turning with a competent instructor, but as we don't live there, could the AWGB do a crib sheet especially for teachers who may not turn themselves, but are responsible for a lathe in the classroom, and find a way of getting it into the Department of Education? Perhaps with a list of AWGB resources that could educate the teachers further.

[Bill21]

Bill
A Spindle roughing gouge and a spindle gouge are 2 very different animals.
Brian

Yes, I’m aware of that. I’ve only just realised the top link in the picture I posted mentioned a roughing gouge. I should have cropped the image. 

I wouldn’t dream of using a SRG on anything other than spindle work.
It’s interesting though the reasons some folks give for not doing this, ie the weak tang that some SRG’s have. It’s a valid point in itself but there are SRG’s out there that are milled from solid rod, I have one myself made by Crown. Much larger versions are commonly available in the USA.

As for continental spindle gouges forged from flat bar these are not so common these days. They are still available new but I don’t know anyone that has one. They do seem to turn up in some very cheap sets though.

[Paul Hannaby]

I have more than one continental spindle gouges and they do get used from time to time.

I also use a spindle gouge on a bowl (usually the outside) but generally don't use a bowl gouge on a spindle, mainly because I would want a shallower bevel angle for spindle use than I put on my bowl gouges. However, there is a lot of cross-over between bowl gouges and spindle gouges. I have a deep fluted spindle gouge that has a flute probably deeper than some of my bowl gouges and I have also seen bowl gouges with relatively shallow flutes. In general terms, there is little in terms of strength between conventional round bar spindle and bowl gouges so I don't have a problem with people using them on either bowls or spindles.

I do agree that any wide spindle gouge with a reduced tang should be reserved for use on a spindle/parallel grain project. Perhaps the use of skew chisels as scrapers on bowls should also be avoided for the same reason?

[Valkrider]

An article about the turning of a Purpleheart Bowl was included in the last issue of the Revoloutions Newsletter. In the article it mentions that the bowl blank was “Trued Up” using a Spindle Roughing Gouge, this was an oversight on our part as it was not picked up before publishing. We at the AWGB in no way condone or recommend the use of this tool for this purpose in fact quite the opposite. The article was written by a young member and we should aim to guide him away from this practice in a kind and understanding way, which we will do. I find it refreshing that Harry, a sixteen year old, took the time to produce the article and only wish that others would do likewise in order to give the Newsletter more content, well done Harry Rodwell.

In fact on the same page as the article is a request for more Volunteers to help run your Association, with more help we might be able to spot these issues before they escalate, remember we on the Executive are all volunteers.
Regards Russell Gibbs [Chairman]
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The above has just been published on the News page of the website, thanks everyone for the comments.