Detail Gouges

[Ray Jonnes]

HI Guys, I mostly lurk, picking up good bits of information. I got a detail gouge a few months back that I've played around with, but was curious how others ground this tool. I attached a picture (picture quality is not too good) of how it looked originally when it was given to me. If I use my traditional finger nail spindle grind the nose is pretty sharp, like the photo. So, I've been grinding it at about 45 degrees and not grinding the wings much if any (sorry no picture of how it looks now). It does seem to work pretty well for final details and cutting beads, less well for coves. I was just curious how others ground their tools? If you can a picture would be great. Thanks a bunch, Ray

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Ray,

That is very similar to the way I grind mine.

Glad to see you posting. We can learn from you.

[David E Keller]

Mine looks just like that, Ray.

[Mike Stephens]

Mine also look like the pictured gouge.

[Mark Levitski]

I've got two detail gouges now, one 1/2" and one 5/8". They have a long, flat angle (maybe 35-45 degrees, same as when I got them) and a pretty long sweep. Great for reaching into corners, but when grinding on an 8" wheel and using a single bevel, there is a slight concave to it which gets in the way if riding the bevel on some normal gouge cuts. So........what I do is grind away the heel and sort of round it over so I can steer the gouge better. Similar to the Ellsworth detail gouge. I have also ground secondary bevels (basically rounding off excess material that gets in the way) on some of my other bowl gouges. Just look at the CSUSA catalog to see what Mahoney is doing for secondary bevels. These secondaries don't need to be very perfect--do it by hand instead of the jig. I have used my big detail gouge on troublesome wood to prevent breakout similar to using what I use the most--a bowl gouge. It seems to somehow more sharply cut the fibers even against a freshly-sharpened bowl gouge. However, unless I removed and concavity in the bevel, I was unable to steer this gouge around the curves necessary for the cut.

Beads and coves might be another story, though I do use the smaller detail gouge to cut my beads on the exterior of my bowls. Something I learned from a Raffan book. Quick, but requires a little learning curve. I am not much of a spindle turner yet and can do a better job this way rather than using a skew.

[George Morris]

Mine Too Looks like the one in the pic.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Ditto looks like mine.