End grain and dry wood

[Chris Hachet]

Will a regular bowl gouge work in end grain in dried wood? Wanting yo make some goblets and an experienced tutner told me I needed a tool called a termite.

I can just use a bowl gouge and bowl scraper right?

[John Keeton]

A shallow 1/2 or 3/8” spindle gouge works pretty well. There are several videos on how to do it. Just don’t have deep, swept back wings on the gouge.

[Leo Van Der Loo]

Will a regular bowl gouge work in end grain in dried wood? Wanting yo make some goblets and an experienced tutner told me I needed a tool called a termite.

I can just use a bowl gouge and bowl scraper right?

I think that as you don’t want to believe an experienced turners advice, you could go and try it with your bowl gouge.

I would rather use my Termite, scraper for rough hollowing or a spindle gouge can be used, there are other special tools to hollow turn wood, but a termite can give you a nice finish and would work well if used properly.

[Brice Rogers]

Leo,

I made my own termite hollower out of some high carbon steel. It works okay but sometimes the center will plug up with chips. Perhaps I need to change the interior profile.

But, isn't the cutting action/operation of a termite similar to using a hook tool? (and perhaps the Hunter Osprey and Hercules?) But the hook tool doesn't have a center to plug. But also, don't hook tools have a tendency to grab/catch?

[Leo Van Der Loo]

Leo,

I made my own termite hollower out of some high carbon steel. It works okay but sometimes the center will plug up with chips. Perhaps I need to change the interior profile.

But, isn't the cutting action/operation of a termite similar to using a hook tool? (and perhaps the Hunter Osprey and Hercules?) But the hook tool doesn't have a center to plug. But also, don't hook tools have a tendency to grab/catch?

Brice the Termite is in a sense like a gouge at 90 degrees to the handle, yes the tool can plug up,though the wood curls do not need to go through the opening, they can curl and ride the edge of the tool depending how you present the tool and what part of the tip you use, though I usually just tap the tools shaft on the toolrest to dislodge the wood out of the ring.

If you look at the hook tool use here at about 3 min 45 sec into the video, you can see (not very sharp video there) that the wood shavings don’t come towards the camera but fly more to the left as they curl away.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81PXrIXfCYQ


Hook tools certainly are to be used correctly, the same with the carbide cutters, and like a skew, but cut well and give a very nice finish.

[John Waddell]

I sometimes use a scraper or negative rake scraper on end grain. On something as small as a goblet that may work.

[Chris Hachet]

A shallow 1/2 or 3/8” spindle gouge works pretty well. There are several videos on how to do it. Just don’t have deep, swept back wings on the gouge.I was able to get this to work ptetty well after some practice and sone you tube videos.

[Barry McFadden]

I use the Oneway Termite tool for all my end grain hollowing and also use it to finish off my face grain bowls especially when I'm undercutting the rim...I wouldn't be without it..

[John K Jordan]

Will a regular bowl gouge work in end grain in dried wood? Wanting yo make some goblets and an experienced tutner told me I needed a tool called a termite.
I can just use a bowl gouge and bowl scraper right?

End grain responds well to scrapers. I hollow goblets like I do other end grain things - with spindle gouge, scraper, Hunter tool, etc. A small bowl gouge might work but I haven't tried one. For the best results cut "downhill" which means from the center to outer diameter on the inside of a end grain piece. This doesn't leave much maneuvering room for a bowl gouge used like you would on a bowl (which would be cutting in the wrong direction anyway). I often remove the bulk of the waste in a goblet or box with a scraper pushed straight into the end grain, or even with a parting tool in the case of these bells for handbell ornaments - these are sort of like goblet bowls:

377801

Curved negative rake scrapers work well for smoothing, depending on the wood. I sometimes smooth the inside with the small Sorby teardrop scraper turned downward at an angle. Often I smooth the inside with the wing of a spindle gouge used like a negative rake scraper. Start sanding with 400 or finer paper (for hard exotic woods). The insides of the end grain goblets, small bowls, lidded boxes, small forms etc end up smooth as glass. (I usually don't buff the inside but leave a satin surface.) Ebony box done this way:

377803

I had a Termite but I gave it away - I find the Hunter tools more efficient and give a better surface. The thing about experienced turners is all of them have different experiences.

JKJ

[Brice Rogers]

Thanks Leo for your comments. When I get bored, I think that I'll make a hook tool. I have a supply of high carbon steel that is good for experimenting. If it works well, I might make one out of a HSS like 01.

[Leo Van Der Loo]

Thanks Leo for your comments. When I get bored, I think that I'll make a hook tool. I have a supply of high carbon steel that is good for experimenting. If it works well, I might make one out of a HSS like 01.

Brice I have made a few small hook tools, just to try how they behaved also other small tools, especially for turning miniatures, some worked well, others not so much ;).

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