Hollowing with a bowl gouge?

[Patrick Taylor]

I heard once from a guy that said he could do hollowing with a bowl gouge. Has anyone here ever tried that, and how well did it work? What was your method?

Thanks.

[George Tokarev]

Use the fingernailed portion as you would any other fingernailed gouge. swing in behind the wood near the bottom, then pull the shavings out the mouth of the turning.

If you draw back long straing wings on your gouge you can open yourself for a catch because of the lesser included angle. It'll slip in and wedge tight.

I prefer a pointed gouge with a nearly vertical grind on the edge. The point doesn't skate on a plunge, and by rolling the gouge left or right I can move a lot of shavings fast. Finishing cuts they ain't, but a fingernail will clean them up quickly. Scrapes pretty well, too.

[Dennis Peacock]

Turn your bowl gouge around, and hollow a bowl from center to the edge, which is opposite of how one would normally hollow a bowl. The gouge will be rather "challenging" to control. ;)

[Patrick Taylor]

Use the fingernailed portion as you would any other fingernailed gouge. swing in behind the wood near the bottom, then pull the shavings out the mouth of the turning.

If you draw back long straing wings on your gouge you can open yourself for a catch because of the lesser included angle. It'll slip in and wedge tight.

I prefer a pointed gouge with a nearly vertical grind on the edge. The point doesn't skate on a plunge, and by rolling the gouge left or right I can move a lot of shavings fast. Finishing cuts they ain't, but a fingernail will clean them up quickly. Scrapes pretty well, too.


Hmm.. not sure I follow... Is the idea to use the swept-back edge of the gouge as a scraper from center to edge? Or should I ride the bevel in from the mouth of the piece? Or ride the bevel starting at the center and working out? Thanks guys...

[Mark Pruitt]

Patrick, there is an inside hollowing cut that I experimented with this past weekend. It involves turning the gouge with the flute away from the workpiece at the descending point where you will be cutting, and slowly rotating the gouge counterclockwise until the edge just begins cutting, and while riding the bevel, pull (or push, depending) the gouge across the surface. The danger in this is that if the gouge is rotated even slightly too far, there will be a catch.

I didn't read about this anywhere and no one taught it to me; I just found it while experimenting. If someone wants to call me crazy for this I'm not going to argue, but nothing else was working. The bowl was too deep for the usual sweeping cut I make from the outside in. This cut was wonderfully successful. Either I discovered a new cut for myself or I got extremely lucky and am setting myself up for disaster, so take this with a grain of salt. BTW this was wet cherry (the second piece I posted in my thread yesterday).

[Reed Gray]

Almost any tool can make cuts that will hollow, it is a matter of some do it better and easier than others. Have you ever watched Roy Underhill? On occasion, he will use a 'spoon' bit to drill holes. They look similar to gouges. I have drilled holes straight down using the bowl gouge, and spindle gouges. Can't really describe the tecnique, but start with a cone, then pull to the side. Hollow form specialized tools do work better because that is what they were designed for.
robo hippy

[Jason Roehl]

I once saw Stuart Mortimer doing something like this at a wood show. He uses gouges with long flutes on them to aid in shaving removal. I don't recall the entire process, though. I think he worked from the bottom outward so that the flute would remove shavings, but, like I said, I just don't remember, it's been too long. He sure did work quickly using those gouges, too. While I watched, he hollowed a ~8-9" tall HF in about 10 minutes, because he didn't have to stop to blow/suck out shavings.

[Glenn Hodges]

I prefer to use a gouge to hollow because I find it much faster. I resort to other means when I cannot reach certain areas.

[Kaptan J.W. Meek]

I used a 1/2" bowl gouge to reach deep into my maple burl bowl 1) because it was the longest tool I had, and 2) because at the time I didn't know any better.. I started with the flute pointing almost straight down. and the rotated it clockwise to get the edge to start at the bottom of the bowl. On the side of the bowl, I would start the same way and rotate the gouge counter clockwise, just enough to get it cutting, and then push it back towards the bottom. The "corner" or transition area is the most dangerous.. I did most of it with a scraper. I think I'm going to get me a termite..I just had some flashbacks to bad memories..

[George Tokarev]

Almost any tool can make cuts that will hollow, it is a matter of some do it better and easier than others. Have you ever watched Roy Underhill? On occasion, he will use a 'spoon' bit to drill holes. They look similar to gouges. I have drilled holes straight down using the bowl gouge, and spindle gouges. Can't really describe the tecnique, but start with a cone, then pull to the side. Hollow form specialized tools do work better because that is what they were designed for.
robo hippy

It's really gouge 100. You take advantage of the curvature to make a gentle entry, then the continuation of the curve is positioned so that it deepens progressively. Key point is to make sure that the deepest part of the cut, as always, is in air, not under wood.

With the fingernail you drop the handle, enter with a roll across the grain at about 10 o'clock, then rotate the gouge as you draw so that the 12 o'clock position is the deepest point of the cut, and is below centerline so it's cutting air as it exits. You draw the shaving from bottom to rim. If you have too small a radius on the nose you are limited to a narrow shaving. With a broader, you can take a thin but broad shaving, resulting in greater depth overall.

When boring with a "D" bit or a spoon bit, you're supplying the force, with the lathe supplying, you have to make sure you don't dig the opposite flute.

[John Taylor]

HI

I use a bowl gouge for hollowing regulaly, I first drill a hole to the depth I want and then use the corner of the gougue with the flute pointing to about 10 oclock. The corner I use is arrowed in the picture below.

63726

It take a bit of getting used to but once mastered it is a very quick and safe way of hollowing.

john

[Patrick Taylor]

HI

I use a bowl gouge for hollowing regulaly, I first drill a hole to the depth I want and then use the corner of the gougue with the flute pointing to about 10 oclock. The corner I use is arrowed in the picture below.

63726

It take a bit of getting used to but once mastered it is a very quick and safe way of hollowing.

john



Thanks John, I really like the illustration. That makes sense. I plan on trying the suggestions here to see what works for me.

Thanks everyone.