First Impressions - Serious Toolworks Ultimate Gouge

[Roger Chandler]

Okay.....I had some time this afternoon to do a little turning with my new Serious Toolworks Ultimate 1/2" bowl gouge. I thought I would put it through a "serious" workout :D so I cut a large blank from some Norway maple that a neighbor had given to me when a few of his trees blew down in that big windstorm we had back in the summer.

This was wet......had been on the ground for about 6 months and was heavy........the blank weighed in at approx. 35-40 1bs [my estimate] and was not totally circular, but was about 12" oblong, just a bit.....and it came apart on me in the initial going.

249568 249569 I used the 1/2" bowl gouge for everything......roughing and shaping the tenon for the chuck ............that was a significant effort due to the situation I had with this blank.........but the gouge handled it well.
249570 I proceeded to shape the outside of the bowl blank.......

249571 then began the roughout on the inside...... 249572249573249574

I sharpened the gouge once on the outside ...it really was not dull, but this wood was really hard and with the broken part, I had a lot of cutting down to do, and I wanted to adjust the wing length on it from my initial grind on that one end..........I ended up putting a 40 degree bevel on the nose and swept the wings back just a little to get it cutting where I wanted it.......pretty sweet from that point on.

For the inside I also just touched it up once......again, not dull by any means and was still giving me fairly nice curlees........for the quality of the surface left I wanted a freshly sharpened edge.

This bowl is roughed out at about 10.5 inches wide and just slightly over 1 inch thick, except at the very bottom which is about 1.5 inches thick.

The gouge........first off...I am lovin' this camlock handle.......I am impressed with it and it was about 30 degrees here this afternoon and I just have a small heater in the shop......never got cold hands!!! :)

The gouge itself.........I am impressed with it.........only my first turning with it, and if comparing to what I would normally use on this piece........my pinnacle 5/8" cryogenic gouge........the edge definitely lasts a good bit longer........compared to my Thompson gouge.........I cannot say yet............I will do some comparison cutting on the same piece of wood with the two and then see how it stacks up.......I want to be fair and use them both on the same wood and see how they wear on the very same piece.

I have some boxes I need to do & get done, and a couple other things, but since this was the beginning of a review on the bowl gouge, I thought it best to actually use it to do a bowl! ;)

That is it for the moment.......

[Roger Chandler]

I meant to post a couple pics of the gouge, so here they are........

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[Roger Chandler]

Having just turned this yesterday [Sunday] I have a club meeting on Saturday.......what do you folks think of me finish turning it for the show & tell on Saturday? Looking at the grain in the last pic, do you think it is likely to crack or warp a lot if I do finish it up? :confused:

It is currently still mounted in the chuck on my lathe, and has a plastic grocery bag over it and tied closed around the chuck and tenon.

[Eric Gourieux]

Roger,
I haven't turned Norway Maple, so I can't comment on the cracking issue. The hard maple I've turned, though, would have done ok with finish turning.

I just purchased several Thompson gouges, so I'm interested in your review of this gouge. Thanks for taking the time to review this for us. It has to be torture to HAVE to turn more.

[Leo Van Der Loo]

Roger I don't understand why you would turn a piece of wood with so many splits in it to start off with ??

You really take chances to get badly hurt with wood like that, ........look at that picture,.......every wet line that shows clearly, and there are probably more we can't see, are all splits :eek:

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Turning wood like that is really scary. and that is exactly what the lady turner that got hurt real badly used, this is a picture of that piece that broke off of her blank, now look at yours and see the resemblance ??, and BTW splits that are present do not go away and will show up in your finished piece

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[Roger Chandler]

Thanks for the heads up Leo........when I first cut the blank, I knew the side where I put the faceplate on was cracked, but I turned slowly and the faceplate was in a solid area. the outside cracks seemed shallow to me, and I turned at really slow speeds, and checked every couple minutes to see if they were continuing or if I was turning them out.

Once I got the tenon on it and reversed the blank, I made sure I had tailstock support and the wood was showing integrity and the cracks were pretty much gone........only then did I turn up the speed and not all that much.......maybe 600 rpm.

I would have abandoned this if the cracks persisted........it would have become firewood.

[Harry Robinette]

Roger
I think we all need to heed the warning of cracked wood,we all turn some questionable wood. If we do as you did KEEP IT SLOW,remember those we lost and why and THINK of were we're STANDING. Yes we are taking a chance but I feel if we turn the wood smartly everyone should be able to turn SOME of the SMALL cracks out.
Just my opinion,Please don't shot me.

[Roger Chandler]

Roger
I think we all need to heed the warning of cracked wood,we all turn some questionable wood. If we do as you did KEEP IT SLOW,remember those we lost and why and THINK of were we're STANDING. Yes we are taking a chance but I feel if we turn the wood smartly everyone should be able to turn SOME of the SMALL cracks out.
Just my opinion,Please don't shot me.

Thanks Harry. Just so everyone will know.........if you look at the pics on the thread with the finished bowl, there are zero cracks in it now. I inspected this blank and saw what I believed to be a viable bowl blank that yes had some cracks, but to me they looked shallow and could be dealt with successfully if I took my appropriate carefulness to turn very slowly, and check often to see if what I thought about the shallowness of the cracks would be verified.........

My initial assessment was correct indeed.......the bowl turned out without any cracks. Now, that being said, I really appreciate Leo and others because along with them, I fully believe we all ought to do the best we can at turning sound wood. Experience plays a role here, and so does good turning technique and slow speeds........that all played a big part in my being able to do this without being hurt...........remember........always, safety first!!!

[Leo Van Der Loo]

Yes you got a bowl out of that piece and good for you on that count Roger.

The thing is, unless you have X-ray vision you can't see how far/deep a split goes, and my advise has always been (and still is) that a blank should be without splits when you start to turn it.

Unless you think you are smarter or tougher than all the other turners out there and this has proven to be bad mistakes for quite a few turners, even if they got away with just soiled drawers, there are a few (Too many) that paid the ultimate price, FOR WHAT ???

If there is a chance for unseen splits a very thin slice will show if there is or isn't by carefully bending that slice.

If there is a split, one should cut slices off until past the split, and then start to turn the blank, not only safer but also more of a guarantee for a turning without splits in the end, the other thing is that with splits they are often on one side of the blank, turning the split away rather than sawing it away, will mean that you are also turning the same amount of good wood away on the other side where there was/is no split, so that sawing the split away will give you in fact a larger blank to work with.

Oh and for giving that gouge a workout, maybe a dry piece of Black Locust or dry Mesquite, some Ipe etc. would give a better workout than a rather soft wet Maple blank ;)

[Roger Chandler]

Leo, I like your idea about cutting off thin slices to verify if a crack is shallow or the blank discarded. Good sound advice, and thank you again for helping us all do this safely. Most turners in the beginning of acquiring this hobby do not realize how dangerous it can be.........unfortunately there are serious injuries and some fatalities........prudence on our part can minimize the risks.

What you have mentioned is a prudent thing to do whenever there is a question........in hindsight, I wish that suggestion had crossed my mind when I was preparing this blank.......I should have done as you have suggested, and you are correct, Sir........I do not have X-Ray vision! Also, having been hit a couple of times.......once hard in the chest and another in the faceshield, I certainly do not think I am smarter or tougher than other turners............no ego here!

Thanks again Leo!