Dang!

[Jeff Horton]

OK, feeling pretty disgusted right now. Just blew a bowl off the cole jaws finishing the bottom. Inside of the bowl looked like crap anyway so no great loss.

What is the technique for using a bowl gouge? Obviously I don't know it. I can not get a smooth surface to start sanding with. No tear out (thats an improvement) just the surface looks like an old 78 record. Lots of small grooves. Then when I start sanding I find small gouges and low spots that look awful. Of course these don't show till I am sanding.

I am riding the bevel and I am trying to take light cuts and to get the surface smooth but it just ain't working. Going to couch and be disgusted.

[Chris Barton]

Hi Jeff,

Don't take it too hard. I think the biggest help is just lots of experience. I continue to fight the same battles as you but, they seem much less an issue now versus about a year ago.

[Curt Fuller]

Like Chris said, I think the answer is practice. I hope it is anyway because I have the same problem with bowls. I've been told its practice at both the turning technique and the tool sharpening technique.

[Dennis Peacock]

Jeff,

One thing that helps a lot is a sharp gouge and a couple of light cuts on the final few passes. Remember to "ride the bevel" of the bowl gouge and make you movements slow, consistent, and purposeful. In other words, plan your route for the gouge on the final passes visually and then "take your time" getting it there with light cuts while rubbing the bevel.

Another thing that will help is the amount of tool pressure on the bowl as you're working inside the bowl. Trying less tool pressure. If it gets worse? Then apply more tool pressure....just don't apply enough to cause the bowl to become a projectile inside your shop!!!! DAMHIKT!!!

Most of all.....relax and think through the process and each cut you make. The best time to learn your final cuts? On wet bowls during the rough out process. Excellent practice and plenty of opportunities to improve your final passes inside the bowl.

A nice heavy bowl scraper with a fresh edge on it also helps during very fine refinement inside the bowl.

Hope this helps as it's what I've learned through experience and from talking with others.

[Bernie Weishapl]

What Dennis said. I use a 1 1/2" by 3/8" thick heavy scraper for the final passes such as the one Raffan uses. I take light cuts and it comes out pretty nice. It needs to have a good edge on it. Another thing that has helped me was Bill G.'s DVD. He shows you how to make a scraping cut on the outside and inside the bowl. That works pretty good to with light cuts. I had a walnut bowl that give me fits because I just couldn't get it to sand out smooth on the end grain. One of the suggestions on SMC here was to spritz it lightly with water and then give it the scrape cut. It took out about 90% of my problem. Hope this helps.

[Andy Hoyt]

Jeff - Are you cutting uphill or down? Do you have a curved toolrest?

[Jeff Horton]

Jeff - Are you cutting uphill or down? Do you have a curved toolrest?

Downhill. I have a square grind on the gouge and doesn't work well up hill. Tends to grab and run up hill.

No, I am working on getting some tool rests made. But I am trying to move the rest a lot so I don't have a lot of gouge hanging out. I also made on own long handles too.

[Andy Hoyt]

Jeff - Downhill is good. Curved rests are better since they allow a more fluid motion and sensibility; but straight ones work okay too.

That leaves two things. Technique and grind.

Try regrinding your bowl gouge to an irish grind. AKA ellsworth and forty seven other names. Bowls became fun when I switched.

Technique is tough to appraise from up here. Practice different things and try to keep track of it all in your head to determine what works best for you. Some elements to watch include:
Tool rest height
Angle at which you hold the tool
Bevel angle as presented to bowl
Foot position and body sway
Unsupported tool length
It's a long list, but I'll stop here.Also - Cole jaws are very capable devices but one has to remember that their primary function is not much more than to hold the otherwise finished bowl while removing the tenon on the bottom. There's just not much meat holding everything together. It's a tenuous hold at best, so light cuts are indeed essential.

If you're hoping to do more aggressive work while the otherwise finished bowl is held "bottom towards tailstock" you might consider a vacuum chuck or a longworth chuck.

Hope this helps.

[Jim Dunn]

Andy if the tenon is held bottom towards the tail stock couldn't you run the tail stock up to hold it. That's of course if you have a center. But I saw somewhere a small block of wood with a center in it, that was run up against the bottom and removed for the final finish.

Jim (outside working when I want to be inside playing----oops w-working)

[Andy Hoyt]

Jim - That'll work until you get to the point where you're trying to finish the bottom of the bowl and need to have clear access to the entire area.

And if you're trying to apply finish while still on the machine.....

Another work around is to do what you can with the tailstock in play and then manually carve off the rest when the piece comes off the lathe.

[Jeff Horton]

Thanks Andy. As for the Cole Jaws that was my fault. I did something I knew better than do. I was in a hurry (first mistake) and didn't want to move the pins to the outside. They fit the inside of the bowl. Since I worked so much on this one trying to get the walls smooth it was really thin (added to the fist mistake). Plus the inside was covered in BLO (second studid mistake). Heck I knew better but thought. I just just going to take the tennon off! Might as wells been trying to hold a greased pig. Stupid, stupid stupid!

I want to regrind my tools. Just waiting to get the diamond so I can true the wheel on the slow speed wet grinder. I don't overheat them. I am hesitant to try this on my belt sander. It gets hot slower but it still will over heat the steel.

Decided to do some flat work today and work on some of the old tools. Will get back on the lathe tonight maybe. ;) No sense turning till I am ready.

[Andy Hoyt]

Jeff - Each of your errors was the result of an assumption.

Don't know about you, but whenever I make an assumption over just about anything, it usually bites my rear end bigtime.

The upside is that we always learn lessons better when they're the result of a mistake.

So ----------- Ya did good!

Until you said,
"No sense turning till I am ready" that is.

That's an oxymoron if there ever was one. You do have two lathes ya know:D