Lifecycle of tools

[Burt Alcantara]

This past mid April I bought a P&N 12mm bowl gouge. It is my primary tool. After 8 weeks, I can barely get it into the vari-grind. The shank is in the handle just enough to keep it there. I figure a few more sharpenings and it's done.

I began using the gouge about the same time I took a class with Trent Bosch. He showed me how to sharpen the gouge with minimal fuss. One stroke on each side and done.

I would have thought the tool would have lasted longer. My first 2 gouges were a 3/8" & 1/2" Pinnacle gouges. I destroyed the 1/2" practicing freehand and jig sharpening. There is about 1/2" left of usable gouge that will fit into the VG.

I just placed an order for another 12mm and a 16mm.

How long do your gouges last? I'm also wondering if I'd get a better bang for the buck by trying the new alloys like 2030, 2060 and kyro. Anybody ever do a real world comparison?

Thanks,
Burt

[Frank Kobilsek]

Burt

How much do you turn?

I get a good 20 - 30 hours per week in turning in the Winter less during lawn and garden season. Work takes me away so maybe 2 months per year I might only get one or two evenings in the shop.

A 1/2 spindle gouge lasts me about 14 months. You can grind a little more clearence on the vari-grind so your ferule gets all the way in to the clamp to gain a bit more life.

On a side note. Tell me about class with Trent Bosch. I would very much like to go to one of his workshops in Colorado.

Frank

[Mike Vickery]

That don't seem right to me. Even if you were turning 60 hours a week I dont think you could wear out a gouge in 8 weeks.

I dont turn that much maybe about 8 or 10 hours a week, but have never worn out a tool in 4 years or turning. I actually sharpen more than most turners I know.

[Burt Alcantara]

Frank,
I can spend up to 10 hrs a day but not every day. I'm retired so I can do what I want, with reservations imposed by SWMBO. However, it's not the hours as much as the gouge to the wood. Lately, I'm turning 8-12" bowls, mostly willow. I manage about 2 a day. Would do more but I'm having technical problems getting my bowls true round, both inside and outside.

I use the Kelton handle for the gouge. I can adjust the length but there's hardly anything holding it to the handle. I can squeeze more life out by removing it from the handle but the VG still requires a lot of real estate.

I took Trent's Basic Bowl. Prior to the class I was the Katch King with my Gouge of Doom (doom for me that is). Within 30 minutes my catches dropped 98%, I was taught how to sharpen a perfect fingernail in 1 minute and learned a number of techniques to whip bowls into shape. Very highly recommended. He also taught a few other more advanced classes, one of which was hollow forms but that was beyond my abilities.

[Jude Kingery]

Hello Frank,

Have to say I'm with Mike on this one, I might turn 8-10 hours weekly turning and I do sharpen fairly frequently, but in the five years since we got the big lathe and a nice set of tools, I've never worn out any of my tools.

My husband was just learning how to use a bowl gouge and did get a nasty catch one time and managed to put a hairline crack in a tool handle, no blood, no foul, but that's the only tool I'm not using regularly in the whole set of tools I have. I need to turn a new handle for it and re-handle it. I do like that Wolverine sharpening jig and so far, so good as I'm terrible at free hand sharpening.

Hope you find some good recommendations and this is one of the best places to look here, that's for sure!

Jude

[Bernie Weishapl]

I have the P & N 3/8" and 1/2" now for almost 2 yrs. and haven't even come close to wearing it out. I turn a lot of walnut and black locust. It is about as hard as you can get.

[Gordon Seto]

Burt,

Mike Mahoney is producing 20~30 salad bowls a day. At your rate of using the gouges, he would be replacing his bowl gouge every 3 or 4 days.
What grinder / wheel set up you have? If you are not changing the shape of your grind; you only refresh the cutting edge.

Gordon

[Paul Heely]

Burt,
I've gone through a bowl gouge and spindle gouge in about 6 months, but these were my first tools and I ground a lot of metal learning to sharpen them freehand and with the jigs.

One thing I did find was that I was really grinding them every time and not just touching them up. My new spindle gouge is wearing much better now that I've learned to just lightly touch it to the wheel for one pass when it needs sharpening.

--
Paul

[Jamie Donaldson]

:eek: what speed is the grinder? That tool should last the average turner a couple of years! The 60 grit wheel is for shaping, and the 120 grit for "renewing the edge!"

[Bernie Weishapl]

I don't think the grinder speed has much to do with it. You just need a light touch when using either. I have both slow and fast speed grinders. I use both when sharpening gouges. I just touch the tools to the wheel and only make maybe 2 passes on each side maybe 3 at the most very lightly. It doesn't take much to put a edge on.

[Burt Alcantara]

My current grinder is the slow speed Woodcraft. Been using it for about a week. I've got a Norton SG 40 grit and a similar, but not same 80 grit. The prior grinder was a 3600 rpm Ryobi with the same wheels.

I bought the slow speed because I thought the Ryobi might have been too aggressive in removing stock. Plus, I found it difficult to get the profile that I wanted. With the slow speed, I'm getting the exact profile. Whether this is the best profile is another story but it works for me.

When I sharpen, I do a quick single pass on each side with as light a touch as I can.

[Jude Kingery]

Burt, might look at the white and pink wheels, I prefer the 80 grit and 120 grit Jamie mentioned, in fact that's all we have on our grinder since we use it pretty much exclusively for sharpening chisels. Might change it out to 40 if we're sharpening the lawn mower blade or something. Just another suggestion that might help. Jude

[Christopher Zona]

I have a fellow club member grind mine, but my guess is that your stone is way too course. Check around the site for more information on grinding set up.

[Bernie Weishapl]

I have the pink 60 and 120 on the fast speed. I have a white set of 80 and 120 on my slow speed. The 40 grit may be to aggressive. I agree with Jamie and Jude that I use the 60 to shape and 120 to finish.

[Gordon Seto]

Burt,

The Norton SG are the Cadillac of grinding wheels for lathe tools. The 46 grit is for shaping; definitely too aggressive for grinding. I use 80 grit for sharpening. The 80 grit runs cooler than 120 grit; it is less likely to overheat pointy edge.

Gordon

[Burt Alcantara]

I thinking about putting the 120 back on the grinder. Since I do a quick pass on each side I don't get any blueing. My big concern is not buying 6 gouges a year. I do recall that last week I had over an inch of spare room on the 1/2" and now I have to remove the gouge from the Kelton to grind it.

With 2 more on the way, I would like to have these last, at least, to the end of the year.

Gordon, how long are your gouges lasting since I have the same setup?

Burt

[Jim Becker]

Burt, it's sounding like you're taking a lot of metal off with each sharpening. Ideally, you should just be reconditioning the edge when you step to the grinder. My original Ellsworth gouge is still going strong since 2001...about 2" shorter in that time period, but still 4" of flute left. I use 60 and 100 grit Norton 3X wheels with the OneWay balancing system.

Light touch when freshening the edge at the grinder is all you need....

[Dick Strauss]

Burt,
You may want to consider one of those diamond honing stones to refresh the edge while taking very little off. They fit in your pocket and do a quite nice job. You'll still need to grind every fifth time or so to make sure the shape is right. HF also sells a dual grit AlOx stone for $3 that does the trick.

I've turned the equivalent of probably 100 8" bowls over the last year and haven't come close to wearing down an inexpensive BB 5/8" bowl gouge.