Which Bowl Gouge

[UKTony]

I purchased the March edition of Woodturning and there is a terrible review of the Axminster set that came with my router especially the bowl gouge since i have duplicated most of the others in my Hamlet set, i only really need to replace the the bowl gouge, but which one? A little confused as to the difference between a Sorby and the one from Peter Child, i'm also a little concerned if i buy a top of the range gouge am i likely to replicate the grind when sharpening

Many thanks

Tony

 

[trevtheturner]

Hi Tony,

My favourite for general use is probably the Henry Taylor HS40, their 3/8" 'long & strong' bowl gouge. It's currently available from Benmail, Weston-Super-Mare (01934 510497) for £21.50 handled or £18.20 unhandled. I usually buy unhandled now (now that I can make handles!) so that I can tailor them to suit - I like the handles a bit longer than those supplied, and a bit thicker to suit my large hands.

If the gouge is for general use I shouldn't worry too much about the ground profile as supplied - you will probably develop your own preferences in time, to suit yourself or the job in hand.

Any of the well-known brands of HSS gouges should perform okay so it's really a matter of personal choice, provided you avoid the cheapos. You could go up-market to the Crown ProPM tools which, apparently, hold their cutting edge far longer.

Cheers,

Trev.

 

[cd]

Tony,
FWIW My favourite is crown 1/2" ground the standard way but recently I've been considering getiing on of these just havn't been brave enough with the Ccard yet I know several turners on here have spoke very highly of it. I also remember reading a good review on Mike(cutting crew) website.
If your worried about the getting the grind right there are plent of jigs about that should do the job fine.

cd

 

[Anonymous]

Hi Tony
sorry for being a little late to this party... didn't scoll down far enough :roll:

For bowls up to 3" depth I prefer to use the short handled 3/8" bowl gouge.
I have two: one conventional grind and bevel angle; the other has ground back wings and a much reduced bevel angle which facilitates getting down to the bowl bottom whilst maintaining bevel contact and not fouling the top of the bowl... both (one Hamlet, one Crown) ...for less than the Ellsworth (great tool but too expensive for me).

It's possible to rig up the Axminster drill bit grinding jig to make the ground back wing variant... Less than £9

For me the difference between a good tool and a bad one is the number of visits to the grinder!!