Tear out

[Paul Singer]

I am new to turning and I am having trouble with tear out. I was turning a green Cherry bowl this evening and had the outside just the way I wanted. Turned it around to do the inside and it was a little out of round so I thought I would just true it up with a little bowl gouge. Got it almost done and the gouge took a big chunk out of the side. I am having this problem with green and dry wood and I am not sure what I am doing wrong. I thought originally that I did not have the right gouges so I bought a set of bowl gouges from PSI. They work good but I am still catching chunks. I know it is hard to tell me what I am doing wrong without seeing me in action but is there a trick or something that might help. I have watch numerous utube videos and I am not seeing what I am doing different unless it might be speed. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[Toney Robertson]

Order Bill Grumbine's DVD on bowl turning. It is a great video. He is funny and informative. I would bet that would get you straightened out.

Good luck.

Toney

[Steve Schlumpf]

George - Welcome to the Creek!

I'll second Toney's recommendation of Bill Grumbine's video 'Turned Bowls Made Easy'. Lots of great information!

Hard to suggest improvements without knowing how you are turning, how you are holding the gouge, angle of cut, speed, wood - etc. There are a lot of variables that come into play when turning and it may just be easier for you to get with an experienced turner and have them demo proper techniques.

You don't list where you are from - any chance you can join a local turning club? Folks in the clubs love to help out!

[David Christopher]

welcome to the creek George. if you are getting catches in green wood, it could be that the tool is not sharp enough or you need to turn the gouge a little farther clockwise or both

[Mark Hubl]

Hey George,

I will second or third Bill's videos. They are very good. I too have not been turning for too long and still experience catches. These happen when you least expect them. Sometimes just not paying attention, sometimes a little too aggressive with my tools. Once you have taken a deep breath and calmed down from the catch, turn off the lathe, place the tool into the catch and observe the relationship of the bevel to the wood. This will sometimes show you why the catch occurred. You will see that the bevel changes through the cut or the wing of the chisel runs out and your grab a corner. Some of this comes with practice, but I think even the fellows that have turned thousands of bowls will get a catch now and then based on the wood, or an oops. Practice develops the hand skills, but I find I must still always pay attention to the tool presentation and the fine moves that must be made to keep the tool in the correct presentation through the entire cut. If you notice you are having problems at a particular place in a long cut, you may have to shorten the cut and have several angles of attack. Each tool will move differently through an exact same cut. That is why I will turn off the lathe and slow motion through the cut with the hand wheel to see how the tool is going to do it's work. Helps me. Good luck.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Welcome to SMC George. +1 for Bill's DVD. He is very good at explaining multiple cuts with the bowl gouge and that should help.

[Mark Burge]

Welcome George, I have also had the problem of taking a huge chunk out of my turnings now and again. I generally attribute that to an unsharp tool and my being too aggressive in taking off wood. It seems to happen most when I am getting tired too, so I suspect it has something to do with my tool presentation. But I wouldn't call that tear out. Maybe I'm wrong, but I call tear out those fibers that get kinda ripped out of the wood rather than cleanly cut. Tear out is a small thing not big chunks, I would call that a dig in.

[Richard Madison]

That would indeed be a "catch", not tearout. Good thought by Mark Hubl about trying to reconstruct the scene of the crime (in slow or zero motion) in order to help determine what caused the problem. And good advice from others too. Welcome to the forum.

[Kyle Iwamoto]

Has anyone mentioned Bill DVD's yet?:)

One thing I recently learned, (I learn slow) is a sharp, sharp tool when you finish cut. For a long time, I was turning with a "sharp enough" gouge, and while it does cut and cut well, it was light the light came on for me. Sharpen the tool and you'll get less tear out. Won't help with catches though. Well, maybe you'l get a cleaner catch....:eek:

[Paul Singer]

Thanks for all of the help. I really like that idea of going thru the cut in slow motion. I will give that a try. I also am going to join the local club. Went to their last meeting as a guest and was impressed.

Thanks again.