Tool question?

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Is it safe and okay to turn say "weed pot" or a "goblet" using a spindle gouge?

How bad does one need a scraper to do the goblet?

Thanks!

[Jeff Horton]

While it may not be "smart" I have turned many bowls and a few weed pots with nothing but a cheap Craftsman set and 90% of it with the spindle gouges Just got my first bowl gauges.

It can be done. Just be careful like with any turning.

[Dale Thompson]

Is it safe and okay to turn say "weed pot" or a "goblet" using a spindle gouge?

How bad does one need a scraper to do the goblet?

Thanks!

Ken,
You can do them with a scraper alone if you wish. Contrary to what a lot of "purists" think, it is NOT a cardinal sin to use a scaper. In any event, you will probably need a scraper to, at least, get that little "nub" out of the bottom of your vessel. :) The advantage of the bowl gouge over the spindle gouge, IMHO, is that you don't have to stand on your head when cleaning out the "guts" of the goblet. I've never tried it but I would guess that it CAN be done. :confused: A bowl gouge is deep-fluted and the "sides" cut much more easily in a direction parallel to the axis of rotation. They can be much more aggressive in terms of cutting so practice with something less expensive than Cocobola or Black Walnut. :eek: :)

Ken, "scooping" out a hollow with a bowl gouge is a VERY satisfying experience. :) You WILL get some "catches" in the beginning but, with a little (read that LOTS for people like me) of practice, you will not BELIEVE how much wood you can remove with a single pass using a bowl gouge. :cool: :)

SHHHH!! Don't tell anyone, Ken, but the best way to make a goblet is to bore out the center with a Forstner Bit and round off the bottom with a scraper! :eek: Make sure you don't tell Grumbine! I hope to meet him in a few weeks over in La Crosse, WI and he may FORCE me to buy his DVD (whatever a DVD is?)! ;) :)

Dale T.

[Andy Hoyt]

Ken - For me, it depends on how I've oriented the stock.

If it's mounted centerwork style (grain parallel to the ways) and in a chuck then I'd turn the outside shape with with a roughing gouge and follow it up with a spindle gouge or maybe a skew. Why? I can get crisper detail. But for the interior - bowl gouge with irish grind.

If it's mounted facework style, then I'd use that same bowl gouge throughout.

But that's me - your mileage (and catches) WILL vary.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Ken I use a roughing gouge to begin with. I do the outside with a spindle gouge and the inside I open it up with a bowl gouge and finish with a 1 1/2" scraper or my Sorby scraper.

[Raymond Overman]

Ken,

If you're just doing a weed pot it doesn't have to be hollow throughout. You can turn the outside with a roughing/spindle gouge combination and then just use a drill bit in a jacobs chuck in the tailstock to drill the hole in the end grain at the top. You can even pre-drill the hole at the drill press and then center on it with the tailstock and turn your weed pot around it.

Remember, a weed pot just holds a few daisies out of the yard. The hole doesn't have to be big. They are great practice for spindle work.

[Tom Jones III]

I asked a similar question of a few good teachers. Here is my beginners understanding of what they told me. A spindle gouge and a bowl gouge are really only different in the angle of the bevel and the shape of the grind. As long as you are rubbing the bevel you can be making a good cut. When you are trying to reach deep into a bowl to hollow it out, you will have trouble getting the bevel to rub with the spindle gouge. Recently I used my spindle gouge whenever it was convenient when turning several bowls so that I could take my one bowl gouge to the grinder less often.

The scraper is very handy, but you could also accomplish the same thing with a lot of sandpaper. You can also use a hand held card scraper.

[Jim Becker]

Yes, if it's small, but if you turn it with end-grain orientation...it's pretty much identical to turning a spindle! (Or bonker...)

[Don Orr]

Ken, you can use your spindle gouge as a scraper to hollow out the bowl of a goblet very easily. Turn the spindle gouge up on its side so the flute is facing left. Raise the tool rest above center and the handle above the cutting edge and open the flute slightly and cut away, just like using a scraper. Saw Jimmy Clewes do it the other night in one of his videos. As someone else said, weed pots are usually just drilled straight. All this assumes wood orientation with the grain parallel to the bed of the lathe. By the way, hollowing end grain like this is also a technique used in making boxes. The advantage of scrapers for this process is that they can be ground to any shape for specific purposes-round for round projects, square for square projects, etc. And they are easy and quick to sharpen. Hollowing end grain with a spindle gouge is kind of hard on the edge, but it works.
Have fun, Don

[Corey Hallagan]

Ken, go to the Woodcraft site and in the education and video section you can watch them turn a weed pot or budvase as they call it with a spindle gouge and you use it to drill the whole as well. Also they turn a goblet as well.

corey

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Corey......I was watching that weed pot and yes....they turned it and drilled it with a spindle gouge. When I watched the goblet video....I couldn't tell if they used a spindle gouge all the way through or changed to a bowl gouge for the interior work..........

[Corey Hallagan]

Ken I guess you are right, I assumed it was which I guess I shouldn't do :)

Corey