Tool question

[dennis kranz]

If you already had a skew, parting tool and a spindle gouge and you wanted to do some boxs or small bowls what would be your next tool. What size and what bevel would you set it up for. Money is kind of tight but for one tool, maybe.
Dennis

[Joash Boyton]

I have found, that with a skew, parting tool, and spindle gouge, you can turn anything small. I would say to go and get a bowl gouge. With that, you can do a lot. I use my bowl gouge for 90% of everything i do.

[Rich Souchek]

Dennis,
My normal advice would be to buy the red handled set of turning tools from Harbor Freight and then add a 3/8" bowl gouge. This should keep you covered for spindle turning (including pens) and bowls that can be turned on a Jet mini lathe.
The red handled set of turning tools from Harbor Freight has two continental type spindle gouges, a nice 5/diand point and concave scraper. I use all these tools often except the spindle gouges and think they are work the $30 or so the set cost.
The weak area on the set is bowl gouges, they don't have one. If it was me, I would order one through Woodchips http://www.woodchipshome.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=WC&Category_Code=BG
They have a Crown 3/8" Pro-PM Bowl Gouge (http://www.woodchipshome.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=WC&Product_Code=241PMW&Category_Code=BG) for about $50 right now, or even the 1/2 Crown masterflute bowl gouge for $55. Either bowl gouge would work well by itself now or in the future as part of a set.
Rich S.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Dennis you might look at Penn State Industries. You can get a 5/8", 1/2" and 3/8" for $46 plus $8 shipping. I started out with these when I first started out and money was tight. They are a good set. I still reach for them and use them a lot. I don't think you can go wrong and have 3 sizes.

[Bill O'Conner]

Ryan at Woodturningz.com might be able to do a better price on them than PSI, he is a reseller for them.

Bill

[Reed Gray]

A small bowl gouge, and a small round nose scraper, and a small square scraper for the bottom and sides of the boxes.
robo hippy

[Jude Kingery]

Dennis, I'd go with that - a bowl gouge. As mentioned by several others I use it for about 90% of everything I turn, very versatile. Then I like a square scraper if I want to do boxes. Let us know what you decide! Best wishes. Jude

[Brodie Brickey]

Dennis,

If you're doing a lot of end grain turnings, a bowl gouge would be very usefull, but I'd also consider a drill chuck. It attaches to your tailstock to drill out whatever is on your faceplate or chuck.

You can get one for about $35-$40 from WoodCraft and a number of other places. It will allow you to drill out the inside of a box to the depth you want and then lightly touch up the bottom with a scraper to remove dimples caused by the forstner bit.

Small boxes under 4" wide really don't have any room for bowl gouges. A spindle will work just as well in those instances. With a drill chuck you can turn baby rattles, lidded boxes, goblets, and a number of other things that slip my mind at the moment.

[Steve Trauthwein]

Drillling is a good thing on hollow forms, but in my opinion not so necessary on boxes or bowls, it can also be accomplished by finding your center with the point of a skew and pushing a handled drill in at slow rpm's.

I think your best bet is a bowl gouge at this time. Benjamins Best is a good buy for the money and you won't feel you have to get rid of them when you can upgrade.

For boxes I think it is great to have an offset scraper (called box scrapers).

Regards, Steve

[Patrick Taylor]

Another vote for a bowl gouge, if you want to do side-grain work. I use that for almost everything. Put the swept-back elsworth grind on it and it's like 2 tools in one. :)

[Gordon Seto]

I think the best buy in gouges currently is the unhandled A-11 steel Thompson gouges. For the price of the off-brand regular HSS gouge, you can get a gouge that has better wear resistance quality. A-11 steel gouges are selling 2 to 3 times (around $100 and above)at turning catalogs than you can buy direct from Doug.

Doug Thompson is a member of our Club. As he explained the A-11 steel, the cryogenic and triple heat treating process are very expensive. He is a turner and believes if he uses the regular channels to sell his gouges, a lot of turners won't be able to afford them. The only way to make them affordable is eliminating any middle man. The only problem is he makes a lot of different gouges. Different flute shapes for different style of usage; you will have to know how you use it in order to get the one that suits your style best.

I still believe in the 8-pc HF set for different reason. They are cheap enough for you to practice grinding on. Some of the pieces are not very useful as is. I converted some to special scrapers. I can't even get HSS steel for less from Enco etc.

Gordon

Disclosure: I have no financial tie to any of his tools sales.

[TYLER WOOD]

Gordon, Do you have contact information on Doug Thompson, or an internet address. I would much like to see his stuff. Birthday is coming in a couple of days and I would like bowl gouges for it, but something cheap, yet good is always in my vocabulary!!!

[Gordon Seto]

Yes, Doug Thompson is a member of SMC. You can email him from member profile:
http://sawmillcreek.org/member.php?u=7910

Gordon

[TYLER WOOD]

Thanks, I sent him an email and hope to order from him if the price is right. Thanks for the info!