Newbie needs help

[Jim Colombo]

I'm having a terrible time shaping the base of a wine glass. I keep getting catches whether I use a spindle gouge or spindlemaster.
The pictures show the position I start the spindle gouge and near where I end. The catches occur mainly when I try to start the cut but some occur at the junction of the stem and base.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[Robert Snowden]

move your tool rest closer to your work.

[Steve Mawson]

My suggestion would be to cut downhill. That means in this case that you start the cut next to the stem and move out to the edge of the base. As you move across the base you will be making a shear cut, this is a light cut without much pressure with the tool on the wood. Looks like some very nice wood by the way. Clear as mud hopefully??

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Jim,

Look at the rotational angle of your gouge..the flute. The manner you show in your picture is correct for starting on the outside edge of the base but you should be rotating it CCW as you near the stem just like you would as you approach the bottom of a cove.
And ride that bevel.

[Jim Colombo]

The tool rest is as close to the work as I can get it without hitting the work or the chuck.
If I start the cut at the junction of the base and the stem and go up the base, what angle would I have the gouge at start and finish?

[JohnMichael Schlim]

Make sure your tool is sharp, your speed is right and if our tool rest is too far away use a smaller rest to get closer. keep some down pressure on the rest. So far so good!

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Jim,

You don't want to start at the junction of the stem and the base and cut towards the base as you are cutting against the grain.


Watch this video and pay attention to the angle of rotation as the guy is making the base. He starts at or near the outer edge of the base with the flute rotated to approximately 3 o'clock position as he nears the base, he' s rotated it to near the 12 o'clock position.
[/URL]
Watch the video:
[URL="http://www.woodcraft.com/Family/2000681/Cherry/videos.aspx#videos"]http://www.woodcraft.com/Family/2000681/Cherry/videos.aspx#videos (http://www.woodcraft.com/Family/2000681/Cherry/videos.aspx#videos)

Good luck!

[Reed Gray]

The catch problem is in the transition area between the base of the goblet and the stem. In picture 2, with the flutes at about 45 degrees, when you get to the transition, the nose of the gouge will be cutting on the base, while the flutes are cutting on the stem. This is a lot of steel on the wood at once, and since the stem is small, it breaks. Having the flutes more on the side (90 degrees), will help. As you near the transition area, you will want the handle of your gouge, swinging much more towards the headstock, rather than at 45 degrees like in the picture. This is a common problem when turning bowls. The more sharp the transition is, the more difficult the cut is. The shallower the transition is, the easier the cut is to make. If you have a bottom of the bowl gouge, with the back of the bevel ground off, it may work better than a spindle gouge. I can't see a spindle master working very well here. You could also, drop the tool rest a bit and drop the handle of your gouge quite a bit to make more of a shear cut here, rather than having the handle level.

robo hippy

[Kyle Iwamoto]

You could try my favorite go to tool. 80 grit on a dowel. Followed closely by my less favorite tools, 150/220/400.

[Rob Cunningham]

Ken, thanks for posting the link to that video. I never knew the tool-rest should be that high when using the skew. That might be part of my problem with my skew. He sure does make it look easy.

[Ruth Niles]

Jim, it looks like you have the tool at the right angle. Are you talking about getting catches on any wood or specifically the one in the picture? That wood looks like it's asking for a catch. :D

Did that video help? It was very well done and it sure helped me.

Ruth